Imperial Place

What is today called Imperial Place consists of the buildings of the former Vesta Knitting Mills and Imperial Knife Company. The Vesta Knitting Mills (originally Elba Woolen Mills) grew from 35 knitting, carding and spinning machines in 1888 to 175 knitting machines in 1908, producing women’s, men’s and children’s underwear. That same year, Vesta built a second L-shaped factory, as an investment, to house jewelry manufacturing. In 1916, Italian immigrants Felix and Michael Mirando founded the Imperial Knife Company to produce specialized knives for jewelers. By the 1930s, it had become one of the largest pocket knife manufacturers in the world. One of its best-sellers was the Kamp-King camping knife.