George Kunhardt first came to Lawrence in 1886 to establish the woolen manufacturing firm, Philips & Kunhardt. Philips & Kunhardt purchased the then bankrupt Lawrence Woolen Mill known as Perry's Mill, once owned by Captain Perry, son of the famous Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry. His financial partner, Stanhope Philips remained in New York to handle sales. George Kunhardt was only 25 when he started this firm after having worked at the Germania Mill in Holyoke, MA and had extensive training in England and Germany in textiles at a very young age.
Phillips and Kunhardt soon expanded and modernized the mill and started to produce high quality woolen and worsted goods for men. production and sales included Earncliffe worsteds, Philip and Kunhardt cheviots, Hockanum goods. (Fibre & Fabric, Sept 4, 1886) Selling agents for the George E. Kunhardt Corporation were in New York, Boston and Chicago.
By 1895, George Kunhardt was in sole control and became the President of the firm now known as the George E. Kunhardt Corporation with the retirement of Stanhope Philips due to illness. Over the years, from 1890 to 1923, George Kunhardt expanded the size of the company by continued expansion of mill buildings and renovations from 1890 to 1923. He was also the Director of the Arlington Mills.
Kunhardt retired from the firm in 1932 due to declining health; his sons managed the firm till its bankruptcy. During the Depression, the George E. Kunhardt Corporation failed and its inventory and machinery were sold at a loss.