Joseph P Pitman (1809-1883) established Pitman, Tilton and Company in 1868. It was renamed the Pitman Hosiery Manufacturing Company and was the city’s largest manufacturer of ladies' and children's hose at the time.
The Pitman-Tilton Mill and its neighbor, the Eastman Grist Mill, burned to the ground on February 8, 1875. They were rebuilt.
On November 1, 1938, Lawrence Winfield Guild (1902-1984) established the Guild Mills Corporation, formerly named Guild-Northland Mills and Tilton Worsted Mills. Worsted wool is a high-quality type of wool yarn. "Worsted" yarns/fabrics are distinct from woolens (though both are made from sheep's wool). The former is considered stronger, finer, smoother, and harder than the latter. Worsted wool fabric is typically used in the making of tailored garments such as suits, as opposed to woolen wool, which is used for knitted items such as sweaters.
The Pitman Hosiery office building (which was also used to board socks, a heating process to give socks their shape before packaging), located at 100 Union Avenue, and its nearby 1922 brick mill structure at 84 Union Avenue, remain today. In 1958, the property was leased by Browning Labs (producer of CB radios) until 1964. The office building at 100 Union Avenue was also at one time occupied by the Pierson Doll Clothing Company. It was later known as the Mill Shop and sold socks of local manufacture.
In the 1970s and 1980s, for a brief period, a couple of restaurants (River Mill Pub, Union House, and Granite Pub) operated in the building.
Today both buildings have been put to adaptive reuse.