You Think It Was Tough To Find A Z Before …

A plant that has been churning out millions of wooden letters for the Milton Bradley board game, Scrabble, will be closed in six months and 87 workers will be laid off.

In a half-page typed letter delivered to the Fairfax Selectboard late Wednesday, Milton Bradley Co. said the plant would close about Sept. 1. “This closure is permanent,” the letter said.

The plant is the only one making the letter tiles and is being closed as part of a global reorganization by Milton Bradley’s parent, Hasbro Inc.

The company has not decided where it will make the wooden tiles after September, said Mark Morris, spokesman for the Milton Bradley Co., a Hasbro division in East Longmeadow, Mass.

Scrabble tiles have been made in Vermont since 1979.

State, county and local officials were caught off guard by the news.

“We’re in the process of calling the company to see if this is final, to see if there’s anything we can do to keep it here,” said Rob Miller, the state’s economic development commissioner.