BUSINESS BUZZ
Hills, mills and pork pies By Barry French
Fall River is famous for its hills, textile mills, an unsolved murder, and pork pies. Specifically, Hartley’s Pork Pies.
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he city once had more than 120 cotton textile mills, but while the old mills have gone silent, what holds on strong is the British cuisine for those who want to be transported to a time and place of more than a century ago. It’s the handmade British-style pork pies, which can be served hot or cold, as a snack or a meal. Hartley’s Pork Pies was established by Thomas Hartley, an Englishman who came to the United States in the late 1800s to work in Fall River’s textile mills. Family folklore claims it was Mrs. Hartley’s idea to make the move. With a dislike to work in any mill, Mr. Hartley opened an English fish and chip business on South Main Street in 1900. It did okay, but he added pork pies from a recipe he brought from England. They were a huge hit right from the start, thus the beginning of Hartley’s Pork Pies over 120 years ago. Their popularity hasn’t slowed a bit for the little bitty pies. The business was a huge success, as mill workers who were mainly immigrants, including many from the British Isles,
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would pay a nickel for a pie for lunch or a snack when their shifts ended. The popularity gave rise to a Fall River slogan: “The city of mills, hills, and pork pies.” Hartley’s pork pies have a blended aroma of pie crust and roast pork. The pie is three inches in diameter, and two to three
March 2021 | The South Coast Insider
inches high. Its flaky crust is imprinted with an “H” from one of the pie presses modified by Mr. Hartley’s son-in-law, Chuck Siegel. The filling is lean ground pork mixed with spices, predominantly salt and pepper. There is a well-kept secret of just exactly how much gravy or broth is added through a slit on top right after the pie comes out of the oven. Some people would buy them by the dozen for five and seven cents each back 100 years ago when the mills were operating full throttle. Berkshire Hathaway was right across the street.
