|
REGIONAL
ARCHITECTURAL
HISTORY
ae 683
prepared
Prof. F.
for
Blair Reeves
Charles Edwin Chase
November 24, 1974
prepared for
Prof. F. Blair Reeves
Charles Edwin Chase
November 24, 1974
New England Textile Mills and the Mill Village
Outline
I. History of Cotton Manufactures
A. effects of the Industrial Revolution
B. cotton manufactures in Britain
C. cotton manufactures in America
D. development of large scale corporate mills
II. Architecture of the resulting cotton mills and their villages
A. physical characteristics
1. geography and the demand for water power
2. antecedant types of mills in England
B. evolution of the mill in America
1. early home village mill
2. individual mill buildings
3. improvements in construction
4. later construction (additions to the mills)
5. supporting buildings and improvements
a. firetowers
b. boilers
c. canal digging
d. elevators
e. fire protection systems
C. mill workers and housing
1. company responsibility
2. development of company owned sites
3. styles of housing
4. rise of independent housing
5. executive housing
D. surrounding town
1. religious buildings
2. civic architecture and its function
E. differences in New England and Southern developments
1. lifestyle
2. geography
3. economic
F. futures of mill architecture in its surviving state
New England Textile Mills and the Mill Village
Outline
I. History of Cotton Manufactures
A. effects of the Industrial Revolution
B. cotton manufactures in Britain
C. cotton manufactures and the corporate mill in America
II. Architecture of the resulting cotton mills and their villages
A. physical characteristics
1. geography and the demand for water power
2. antecedant methods from England
B. evolution of the mill in America
1. individual mill buildings
2. improvements in construction
3. later construction (additions to the mills)
4. supporting buildings and improvements
C. mill workers and housing
1. company responsibility
2. development of company owned sites
3. styles of housing
4. rise of independent housing
5. executive housing.
D. surrounding town
1. religious buildings
2. civic architecture and its function
Undershot wheel.
Breast wheel.
Overshot wheel. These three
drawings and that on the fol
lowing page are from Olier
Evans, The Yc ung Mil.-
Wright and Miller's CGde
12th ed. (Phila., InIsi
pls. 13,14, 15. "
pls.
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
The purpose of this study is to investigate the
development of New England textile mills from an
architectural standpoint. It has been the case in
the past to analize the growth of mills and textile
manufacturing from an economic and business aspect.
It has even been researched from the standpoint of
those who have actively involved themselves in its
development. However, there has only been a small
attempt to understand and communicate the generative
nature of the resulting architecture.
Textile mills and their respective villages and towns
display the impact of the Industrial Revolution in
the United States. From 1790 with the arrival of
Samuel Slater and the further interest of Francis
Cabot Lowell textiles have developed into one of the
largest and most influential industries in America.
With it towns have grown into cities and populations
have moved out from urban centers on the east coast
into the interior of our country. Their location
checked only by the need for a power source and
transportation.
The intent of this research is to display the subsequent
development of industrial architecture and the other
building types which combined create the mill village
of the nineteenth century. Attention will be paid to
the antecedant types, precisely British, the solutions
to mill construction,to the development of low cost
housing, as well as civic and religious centers.
Combined these elements are the unique fabric of the
past century which still prevails in this century.
HISTORY OF COTTON MANUFACTURES
The Rise of the Industrial Revolution and the
Cotton Industry
Mechanization and industrialization in Europe and
especially in Great Britain had its roots in the slowly
changing, conservative culture of the eighteenth cent-
ury. However, with a rising class with increased wealth
and a certain ability to be mobile, this afforded
England because of its rising mercantile class, the
shift to modern machine production. Before 1800 power
had been supplied solely by animal and human labor,
reinforced by levers, pullies, running water, and mov-
ing air. The process by which man has replaced human
toil by powered machinery is what is meant by the
Industrial Revolution.
As Britain had staked out markets with her colonies in
America and in Europe, it built with it a mercantile
marine and a demand for her goods. The profit motive
as the driving force behind the British merchant took
an attitude of higher sales upon increased productivity.
The doors of cotton manufactures were open providing a
good probability of profit, if mechanization could
produce the volume necessary. The risk could be en-
dured with the potential for high returns.
As a result starting in the 1760's with the invention
of the spinning jenny, a long list of inventions were
developed revolving around the textile industry. This
was to last until the 1840's in England and the 1850's
in America due to the Civil War. Cotton was easily
industrialized as it was a new enterprise in England
and the Continent in comparison with the woolen trades
which was comfortable in its customary mode of operation.
Cotton then as a relativley new object of trade became
an outlet for the inventive mind of the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries.
Because textiles along with iron production led the
way in manufactures, it holds for this century an analogy
of what has happened not only in the processes of mech-
anization and technology, but also in the social and
cultrual aspects of life. The architecture which resulted
is a social indicator of the period in which it was
built. In this time segemht of the nineteenth century
in particular with textiles a major economic force not
only in home industries but in mercantile trade, it
is an example of industry dictating a need for a variety
of building types to house a changing and expanding
factory system, to shelter its workers, and to provide
for the community to which cotton manufactures were to
grow.
The development of textiles in America as in many of
the social, cultural, and industrial energies was the
product of Britain. It is no surprise then to see a
similar pattern develop in America, and it is easier
to understand the American analogy in investigating the
British reality.
Section o.a.
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Plan at 3rd. Storey
cale to10 0 to 20 o 40 so a F t.
Fig. 3.-Milford Warehouse, 1792-93
CORN
tMARtKrT',--*
WA
Col'
REHOUSES FOR
TON & CALICO
so0 0 10 200 Fact
Fig. 2.-The Derby Mills in 1820
(Drawn from Particulars of [the Strutts'] Derbyshire Estates According to the
Surveys of i8ig and i82o)
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2 Arm transmitting motion from saw
frame to the feed pole. It is attached to
an axle (not shown), and from this axle
an arm, 4 carries the upper end of the
feed pole, 3. The arm has a series of
holes so that the distance of the feed
pole end from the axle can be varied,
thus regulating the feed applied to the
rack wheel.
5 Rack or wrag wheel.
6 The carriage carrying the saw log.
7 The tracks it slides on.
8 The fender posts.
9 The saw and its frame that slides in
the fender posts.
ii The flutter wheel that drives the
saw.
14 The gig wheel for gigging back the
carriage.
16 The log to be sawed.
20 Iron dogs for holding log to carriage.
Note The teeth on the underside of
the carriage that mesh with a small gear
on the rack wheel shaft and propel the
carriage are not shown.
Sq!& o 200 3Q Fect
Fig. 5.-William Strutt's Mills at Milford
(The Forge, Footbridge, Carpenter's Shop, the East Wing of the Old Mill and the
Mechanic's Shop were demolished during 1952-7)
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Fig. 6.-Belper West Mill, 1793-5
Feet.
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WEST LILL,- e..
179S
JUNCTION
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1806
I]CHOOL
Fig. 9.-William Strutt's Mills at Belper
Development of the Factory and Mill Community in Britain
The British cotton industry owes its first major factory
developments to Jedediah Strutt and Richard Arkwright.
Their inventiveness and shrewd business manner went hand
in hand to develop cotton spinning in England. Their
first 'successful' cotton factory of 1769 was a coopera-
tive venture which was to facilitate the growth of tex-
tiles to encompass all the fibres, natural and man-
made. It was the work of these men in the establishment
of the factory system in textiles which was to bring about
the mills and their villages. Still existing today, these
mills set the standard for the growth and development
of mills in America and in Europe. These leaders
in thier need for intelligent men are responsible for
the employ and education of people such as Samuel Slater.
Jedediah Strutt, financier, teamed together with William
Arkwright, inventor, to produce cotton goods. As a
result the first spinning mill was located in Notting-
ham. A slow county patent right and the factory's
success dictated a move in 1771 to establish the Crom-
ford mills powered by water rather than horsepower.
The Cromford site was located geographically at the
confluence of the upstream mines and the Derwent River.
Here there was no pre-existing village and no labor force.
Geography and its water resource for the first time
dictated location. This was to strongly influence
Samuel Slater in later years in America. The village
had to be built and workers employed. This was to
initiate a drastic change in the rural northern landscape.
Strutt and Arkwright as a result found themselves
not only in the mill and cotton spinning business but
also in housing.
In 1778 Strutt developed the Belper Mills, Milford
and earlier in 1777 the Birkacre site was developed in
conjunction with John Chadwick. Both utilized nearby
ironworks for the. manufacture of new equipment.
The Birk^acre site fell prey to the 'Ludites' on
October 4, 1780 at which time it was destroyed by
fire.
The stone and brick mill structures similar to the
commonplace agricultural barn and the 'not uncomely'
cottages were really new communities much like that
of Mellor and New Lanark, Robert Owens' utopian
mills. The mill village was not uncommon as ..."iron
masters and coal owners had to provide in some fashion
for their labour in remote parts...". The factory
village was an extension of the feudal village known
to the generation affected by this new industrialization.
The Derbyshire factories were the first model for the
cotton industrynot only in its buildings but in the
treatment of factory workers. Benevolent at the
most, workers labored at two shifts covering twenty four
hours in the day and were cared for not only in wages
but in inexpensive housing and in the company store.
The religious needs were also taken into account
with the construction of churches both at Belper and
Cromford. Education was strongly linked with religion
in the learning process and in 1784 the first sunday
school was opened at Cromford. It was a cheap solution
to two problems.
The American Revolution had little effect on the develop-
ment of the trade and by 1801 factory communities were
well established. The labor force was secure in women
and children with a few men for supervision as well as
mill building, machine making, and up keep. "The Arkwright
and Strutt Mills were multi-storeyed housing 300-400
workers apiece; each mill had its own water wheel and
the group was added to by the building of similar mills
close by."
By 1816 Robert Owen's New Lanark Mills and the Strutt's
Mills at Belper and Milford were the largest operations
in England. "The firms were essentially factory colonies."
Both were developed form mill units dependant upon
water power and remained faithful to water-spinning.
Their demise was slow and resulted from improvements
in technology which was realized by cheaper, increased
production elsewhere. These mills,however, have been
operating in the twentieth century.
Out of these developments Samuel Slater arose and
came to America to further develop his ideas and
the techniques that were used in England. The influence
of Arkwright and Strutt can be seen in almost every
aspect of mill community life. Slater and the men like
him who migrated into this country brought with them
not only the established norms of English mill communities
but their ideas of change. It is in this fashion that
America's industrial wealth began to grow.
It.,
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Te -1St
The South Mill, Blclpcr
-17
Textile Mills in America: Soutern New England and the
Waltham Plans
The establishment of the textile industry in America
was never contemplated by the British Government as
far as the colonies were concerned. Spinning and
weaving known to the settlers as a home industry was
accepted by all as a necessity. The responsibility
primarily fell to the females as it was their job to
provide the clothing for the immediate family. The
long process would produce just enough for their needs
so the danger of the English merchant losing buyers
was nonexistent. As long as the B itish ships brought
goods to the colonies there was no danger or need to
produce more textiles in this country. However, as the
colonies grew they sought reprieve from the taxes and
high prices of the British crown and merchants.. With
this the urge for independence grew stronger. The only
means by which the colonies could control their economic
lives was to develop their own means of self-sufficiency.
"As early as 1787, a Society was formed in Philadelphia,
under the name of the "Pennsylvania Society for the
Encouragement of Manufactures and the Useful Arts",
which made some progress in the manufacturing of various
goods, such as jeans, corduroys, fustians, plain and
flowered cloth, flaxen linens, and tow linens." The
machinery and equipment was the crudest. There were
minor attempts in Massachusetts at this same time to
promote textiles. Alexander and Robert Barr of Scot-
land were hired by a Mr. Orr to make spinning and roving
machines. Their work was completed in 1786 and along
with the work of Thomas Somers these were the first
cotton machines made in the United States.
The Beverly Company inaugurated manufacture in 1787 as
the first company to make progress in the manufacture
of cotton. However, none of the American enterprises
could compete with the British mills developed by
Strutt and Arkwright.
Other areas such as Rhode Isalnd (1788) attempted to
produce cloth, but it was not until after 1790 that any
progress was made. Moses Brown of Providence and
Almy and Brown of Providence were two concerns which
sought to develop textiles on a lager scale. But these
attempts seemed futile.
Samuel Slater, apprentice to Jedediah Strutt for over
six years at the Milford mills, came to America in 1789.
He had learned almost every aspect of the cotton production
process and memorized not only the process but the mech-
anics of reproducing the British method. No drawings
were available to him as it was prohibited to remove
them from the country, so he dedicated them to memory.
Almy and Brown secured his services and settled in
Pawtucket. In an old pulling mill in a clothier's
building the first yarn and cloth was produced by the
Arkwright waterpower principle. In 1793 Almy, Brown and
Slater built a small mill in the same community. Known
as Old Factory it was soon enlarged and continued to
grow. Five years later Slater went into partnership
with Oziel Wilkenson, Timothy Green, and William
Wilinson. They opened Samuel Slater and Co.,shortly
thereafter with Slater owning fifty percent of the stock.
From this mill five or six men removed themselves during
a riot and strike for higher wages. These men went on
to other communities on the premise of establishing
their own businesses. It did facilitate the spread
of the cotton industry in the New England area, however,
they did not rise above the standards of the Slater
mills for many years.
Another boon to the cotton manufactures in the United
States was British and European upheavals at this time.
From the American Revolution and the desire to be
self-sufficient brought about the Embargo of 1807
where imported goods were banned from the ports of the
United States. This along with the war of 1812
separated American economic concerns from the traditions
of Europe. The fact that cotton was grown in the South
and New England supplied the transportation and machinery
made textiles a self-sustaining commodity ready to fill
the gap of the lost European imports.
The second group of mills in the progression of American
textiles was those that were developed by Francis Cabot
Lowell. The Waltham factory was the first to house
all processes of raw cotton to woven fabric under one
roof, thus stepping into a new era of manufacturing.
Lowell went to England in 1812 and was welcomed as a
businessman/importer and probably was shown a great deal
of the manufacturing process while at the mill sites.
He digested a great deal of technical information and
came back to establish his own mills at Waltham in 1814.
Lowell as a businessman knew the need for cheap goods
at volume sales and that his products must have outlets
specializing in marketing, distribution, and collecting.
The product which started could not be financed singly
resulting in the formation of the Boston Associates.
They were the financial backers and the executive board
members for the rising mill indusrty of Lowell's creation.
This group in the succeeding years became so entwined
that they overlapped ownership and management to include
the mills of Manchester, N.H., Lawrence, Chicopee, and
Tauton, Massachusetts, as well as York and Saco in
Maine.
This corporate body is an example of the developing
corporate mill fothe early to mid 1800's. Their
financial backing allowed for greater expansion and
improvements in processes. They were far from the
single mills of Souhtern New England which had developed
earlier. Lowell and Manchester with the Amoskeag mills
are two examples of the large corporate mills in America.
It is from these mills that the town schemes can be
more fully comprehended. Just as Arkwright and Strutt
found themselves supplying not only mills but housing,
so too these major American factories were faced with
the same problems. The mills and manufacturing came first
but the executives and workers alike dictated the develop-
ment of the mill villages, towns, and eventually the
urban manufacturing centers of the Northeast. Even as
late as 1815 this country was hostile toward manufactur-
ing. It was the opening of new agricultural lands in
the west that allowed an easing of tension and the
expansion of the east coast as an industrial center.
AMERICAN COTTON MILLS AND THEIR VILLAGES
AMERICAN COTTON MILLS AND THEIR VILLAGES
Physical Characteristics
The mills of Britain and especially those of Arkwright
and Strutt established the use of water rather than
horse power to drive the spinning and weaving machinery.
As a result when Slater began to promote and develop
mills in New England, the basic criteria for location
was water as an available power source. New England
in direct comparison with the South had a bountiful
supply of rivers whose fall lines were close to the
coast.
From the lower coast of Maine to the borders of New
York State, including their interiors, rivers provided
the power necessary. In addition this region's
humidity as well as its portcities provided the added
incentive along with the financial basis for location.
Transportation of goods and materials as well as workers
was provided by water. The many factories existant
by 1814 were of the single mill variety utilizing the
river to its fullest.
The mills that further developed in the nineteenth
century were usually located along the more powerful
whose force could be diverted by canal to suppo t
many wheels. The Saco River in Maine, the Piscatiqua
in New Hampshire, the Merrimack in Massachusetts,
the Connecticutt and Housatonic Rivers,in Connecticutt,
and the Blackstone River in Rhose Island are examples
of rivers whose potential were not met prior to the
War of 1812.
The antecendant mill of England not so much out of
tradition but out of necessity for power determined
the building location. However, in the early part
of the nineteenth century, steam and its application
to mechanics altered the approach to location. It
was now any available water source rather than the
thrust of a powerful downward flow that positioned the
mill on the landscape. Steam and the turbine became
a new source of power for the mills and it increased
the carrying capacity of any given river system.
This allowed the growth of mill complexes along
the river banks rather than scattered developments
of little consequence.
Cross Section of the Pitched Roof Type of Mill
The pitched or barn roof
on an Early Mill
An Old Mill with the "Factory Type" Roof
A, ,""C i,
I. ... .... 4 o 1
Cross section of the "factory" or "lantern"
type of roof
-,\
t ;:.
Evolution of the Mill Building
The buildings were a form generated by the equipment
and the necessity of light, air, and free flowing
interior space. The elimination of columns, the extraction
of dust and lint, the insulation against the cold
climate, as well as the maximization of floor area
for continuous assembly line processes established and
predicted changes in the building form. Style as
we shall see later was decoration rather than function.
The major imput was from the inventor/engineer and
styles were a recessive rather than a dominant character-
istic.
The original textile mill structure in the United
States established by Slater was in a clothier's
warehouse. This then was to be the prototype used not only
by Slater but by those who copied him. The necessity
of the inclusion of those elements mentioned previously
were accomplished in a manner of modifying the existing
form of storage facilities such as these. The barn
or warehouse form with modification has become the
textile mill. This is not to neglect that the American
type is a duplicate of the British whose antecedants
date to the feudal village and the new construction
prompted by the mercantile expansion of urban areas.
The early mill building such as a gristmill or sawmill
would have been the place of initial development of
single mills as water power was readily available
and shelter provided for. However, it must be
emphasized that such industry was discouraged by the
British crown in the colonies and it wasn't until
Slater's arrival in 1790 that a single building type
appeared in New England.
Steady improvements in construction and form followed
closely the developments in new equipment and machinery.
The development of cast iron was of primary importance
during the growth of textiles, causing not only a
change in machinery but in the building materials
used in construction of the mills.
It must be noted that America opposed manufactures of
any sort until the Embargo of 1807. It was an over-
all fear of disrupting the rural, agricultural, social
structure of this developing period in America.
Their fear was deep seated in the British examples of
northern rural areas turned into slums of industrialization.
However, in America the small cotton mill escaped notice
for a time and was centered in only a small segment
of the reaches of the Northeast. It was demanded that
the larger mills such as Lowell and Amoskeag provided
the solutions to the problems of a new social structure.
The individual mill stucture soon grew to encompas
the physical attributes, of weirs and dams, machine
shops, houses, inns, truck shops, churches, chapels,
and manager's mansions, This was to become a typical
factory system community or mill village. In England
the Derbyshire Mills were to take on these characteristics
first.
Improvements in Construction
The greatest impact upon construction of American
mills was the development of the Zachariah Allen
Mills in North Provedence, Rhode Island. In 1822
Allen erected a mill utilizing heavy timber and plank-
ing for floors and mortar-set shingles for roofing,
seeking a means of reducing the cause of fire and
the high insurance rates from the then existant insur
ance companies. Being distrubed by the lack of protec-
tion that current building materials afforded and the
danger of combustion he outfitted his building with
an unusual amount of fire extinguishers, pumps, hydrants,
pipes and hoses. Even though such precautions were
made the insurance company refused to reduce his rates.
Thus in 1835 on July 18 Allen and the board members
of the mill inaugurated the 'Mutual Fire Insurance
for Mills, Machinery, Etc.' The requirements for
coverage soon developed into a construction and
materials schedule allowing for little room for
modification from the standard type.
Exterior materials went from the early clapboard
structures to stone and brick allowing for increased
height as well as fire protection. It also increased
the amount of floor loading that could be transferred
to the ground. The factory monitor roof soon disap-
peared along with the steeply pitched roofs prevalent
in the English prototype. The attics were converted
from storage to work spaces with the double later roof.
In many cases the attic floor had been attached to
the ceiling by iron rods. This was to be abandoned
when it was discovered that during a fire the roof
and floor would fall into the floors below.
By 1850 thin 1" thick stock wood construction with
2" X 12" planks 2' on center was the practice,for
roofs. This too was discovered to be too much fuel
for the fire. As a result 'slow-burning'construction
came into being in 1852. Thick planking with a mas-
sing of joists into one beam became the practice.
First applied in Manchester, N.H. timbers were 8'to
10' on center with 3" planking covered with a 1"
overlay. This was to parallel the development of
castiron and only to be exceeded when metal became
an economical item.
The Strutt mills in the 1790's utilized some cast iron
and were to become the first 'fire resistent' multi-
storeyed buildings. The French did however, utilize
earthenware pots and tiles in the Theatre du Palais
Royal, Paris. This was not accepted here aa a
standard building practice primarilyAto the manufacture
of brick and the availability of timber.
Although iron was used in 1795 for beams in the West
Mills and the Derby Mills in 1796 it was not until
after 1804 when the rebuilding of the North Mills
occurred that a total building was framed in iron
for the purpose of textile manufactures. An excerpt
from the Rees's Encyclopedia of the period states:
The Mill: side and end walls are
built up as usual. The several floors
are composed of brick arches, with
mall rise and 9'-0" span. Arches
spring from iron columns,erected one
upon the other through the entire
height of the mill. They are connected
by cast iron beams and girders, one of
which extends fromthe top of every
column to the next. In an opposite
direction to these girdets., each pair
of columns is tied together, across
the arch, by a wrought iron bar,
which has an eye at each end, to be
hooked over the tops of the columns.
This resists the lateral thrust of
the arch. Thus, though every floor
is formed of a system of arches,
like a bridge, yet the lateral strain
of each is supported by iron ties,
so that each arch stands by its own
supports, independent of its neighbors.
The arches are of only one brick thick-
ness, and are covered over at the top
by a floor of paving bricks to make
a flat surface above, the haunches
of the bricks being filled by rubbish.
The iron ties across the arches are
concealed within the brickwork of
the arch. The roof is of cast iron.
The space between the two columns in
the roof forms a small room, which
is used as a school room for the work
people on Sunday.
The mill conatins fifteen arches
in length. The floors are continued
beyond the end wall by two additional
arches, giving a small room on each
floor, which was occupied by the count-
ing room staircase, and the stove
which warms the mill in winter, and
also a cranefor drawing up the goods
to the machines once the various floors.
The wing which consists of six arches,
projects from the middle of the' mill.
The width, both of the mill and the
wing, is composed of three lengths
of arches, having three iron girders
that they rise from, and two columns
to support them. The arches in the
ground floor, or cave of the mill,
are supported by very strong piers,
instead of fion columns. These piers
are founded very firmly in the earth,
and every precaution taken to prevent
their subsiding under the great weight
they carry. The columns of the first
floor are erected immediately on the
tops of these piers.
The tower so often seen as a part of the mill factory
was often the storage area or holding tank for water.
The tank and fire stair occupied the familiar tower
and cupola. This element in particular became the
single most decorated or styled part of the entire
mill. The succeeding revivals in architecture
can be seen slightly in the mill facade but it was
in plan a purely functional relationship. Allen's
insurance company who had initiated changes inthe
building practices of mills in this country, stabilized
its form in the requirements which were dictated.
It had little aesthetics and often times restricted
innovation. As a result the mill remained basically
the same however its safety was far superior to
those that had come before.
*Is 24 30
I nr-he a
Fig. 4.-Milford Warehouse, 1792-93
Structural Details
EVOLUTION
OF
BEAM DESIGN
1792-1803
CAST IRON BEAMS
W. 'l
F *(d) LEEDS - ) DELPER
SIIs 1802-03 0. 1803-04
S4b4om pan B AGE bm span TR u
54 ")&. YLa4L
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Cu414
w^-' X(^/^ ^^ ^ ^
Fig. 11.-Bearns in Belper North Mill
(Goodrich, Journal, August, 1804. Although Goodrich, does not
state that he was in Belper when he made the drawing, the accuracy
of his work has been confirmed by H. R. Johnson and A. W.
Skcmpton. The same sheet of the Journal contains a description of
the Belper Round Mill)
^
floor lee
ScalIe1 0 1 2. a 4 6Ee~
Fig. 12.-Detail of 17-foot Beam in Belper South Mill, I8I 1-12
c
View of a Portion of Ceiling Showing the Arrangement of
Parmelee's Patent Automatic Fire Extinguisher
*7~Q -
___________ 1'
I ______
'H ____
1' ____
Fig. i. Map of Lowell, 1820-25
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75 TioV i [Ii I'
Fig. 2. The Plant of the Merrimack Manufacturing
Company ca. 1850
I. I L I'
MILLS .1
Uu Fig. 3-
i -A Map of Part of
S! , '' i Lowell ca. 1852,
- Showing the Plant
n "- *' and Housing of the
Merrimack Manufac-
i rAda'cn it'.P o Ip er t
during Company and
i1 Adjacent Property
(Moulthrop)
-it r~ i-
J 11
The Mill Worker and Housing
With the development of the Mill building and textiles in New
England housing has been a necessary part of its growth. Dur to
the 'rural' nature of new factories settlements had to be provided
for the workers, who whether immigrant or city dweller, had neither
the time nor the financial resources at the outset to provide their
own housing. As an incentive the mill owners sought to attract
both skilled, unskilled, adults and children to their factories
by providing adequate comfortable accommodations.
It is with the development of the factory system that rental
living was initiated. Through the peak of textile manufacturing
prior to the Civil War this was the case at any major factory
site. The popular idea of Robert Owen's utopias spring from the
period of development when worker housing and factory conditions
began to decline.
In America however, two major factories provide a prime example of
the town development associated with textiles; Lowell, Massachusetts
and Manchester, New Hampshire. Both of these enterprises were
concerned with a total living-working complex both for workers
and executives alike.
In particular Lowell wished to create an independent industrial
city. He saw it as a utopian financial venture not a social
Owenism. Central in his thoughts were work and the resulting
city was strictly divided into employees and citizenry. Lowell
purchased the necessary acreage and built with little regard to
the environs until the company needed room to expand. The
expansion of both mills and housing disrupted the internal
community as it expanded along the river.
The Merrimack Company buildings both mills and housing were
arranged around a quadrangle with a grassy plot. This subdivision
allowed a neighborhood scheme to grow without disrupting the
smaller grouping.
In both instances and including the insurance mills of New
England the row house was characteristic. Long and narrow, the
row house was usually three stories in height with adjacent
masonry fire walls and central stair hall. The apartments of
today have not altered much from this concept, however the rooms
of the row house were small and anywhere from 2-6 people would
reside in a room.
The style was modest and easily recognized by its starkness.
Entries were grouped in pairs with numerous window openings and
dormers in the attic rooms. Its conservativeness states the
condition of the worker.
It must be said that the worker in the factory had possibly an
equal standing with the rest of the population as this was not a
new condition.
The boarding house and double houses were detached living units for
the single young women and children and the male worker/supervisor
respectively. Boarding houses often offered shelter at 1/3 1/2
the cost to the worker and meals were often provided.
Housing was a part of the mill complex as a rule with the factory
building as the focal point. The street plan was regular and simple,
planned and self contained including tenements, row houses, boarding
houses, church, school or library and the company store. The
growth of the town as the mill increased production and population
followed a decline from an idealistic view to one of 'unbridled'
nationalism. The rest has been ugliness and sordiness.
Real estate sales adjacent to mills began to hem the mill in and
increase its density. Manchester, New Hampshire was the only city
to include in its establishment zoning ordinances. Conditions
were set before land was sold.with material restrictions on the
exterior and also provided for special financing. In this way
35 1/2 acres were developed, however, there was no consideration
for the housing of construction crews. As a result slums appeared
for the poor and underpaid workmen. There had been a desire to
separate the skilled workers from the unskilled within this scheme.
The rise of independent housing was more often controlled by the
mill owner through property sales. This however, did not protect
the mill surroundings from being altered after the initial sale.
By the 1830's non mill buildings: housing, commercial structures
and transient accommodations began to appear more regularly.
Inns and hotels developed rapidly with the growth of the mill and
the inclusion of rail travel ancillary to goods transport.
The single family house was usually wood framed 1-1 1/2 stories
in height and often were double houses with side entrances. These
houses were not substandard however. Their lack of the decorative
style of the period visually indicates a lesser economic level.
Executive housing on the other hand was designed and constructed
with the latest revival style. These men and their families were
not only more financially able but their knowledge through travel
and leisure allowed them exposure to the vogue of the period. Not
unusually large, the executive houses were more typical of what
might be found in more urban areas. Greek Revival, Italienette and
the other styles are represented and are modifications of the
building plan of a half century earlier.
/
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Pig. 4. View of Dutton Street Looking Northeast (Noyes)
Fig. 5. Plan of 22 Dutton Street (Moulthrop)
SNO. 22 DUTTON ST.
WAW I
" LOWELL, MASS
A5 BUILT CA. 1825
KITCHEN
SCALE
5 t 10- 20 1 Fl.
SECOND FLOOR
FI RST FLOOR
THIRD PLOOR
NEW BLOCK I
-" J LOWELL, MASS
BED
M. AS BUILT CA. 1845
BED SCALE
0 S 1o0 S o0 21 FT.
D P 6BED RM.
BED RM. BED RM.
BED BED RM. BED RM.
SECOND FLOOR TI4IRD FLOOR
Fig. 42. Plan of the "New Block" of Boarding Houses
Built in Lowell ca. 1845 (Moulthrop)
Fig. 43. Alley behind the New Block, Lowell (Noyes)
7.. . ,:
'*' ' A ~ u( 1
The Surrounding Town
The inclusion of religious structures in the mill complex was from
the start a product of men like Lowell who sought to provide not
only for his workers but for himself. As immigrants increased so
too the demand for different religious meeting places increased.
These usually were conservative in design following the New England
meeting house style. Revivalism in style can be seen more clearly
in the later structures of the 1830's and 1840's.
The problem of dealing with education as well as religious needs were
combined into the sunday school system. Inaugerated in England
in 1784 it was to grow in the factory communities.
The rise of the commercial function started with the company store.
The necessary goods and supplies were provided initially by the mill
however, when the town surrounding the mill increased the volume
was handed over to private enterprise. These shops were taken
directly from urban and port cities linked to their supplies by
river traffic and the new rail system.
The mill town by the end of the last century had been fully engulfed
by external building. The decline of many of the smaller mills saw
the dissolution of the factories and its housing modified beyond
recognition. Those mills that have found alternative industries
in this century have held only a fragment of the system developed
during the period of 1790 and 1860. Today, the destruction of these
mills are being carefully scrutinized and alternatives found.
Their construction and enormity warrents re-use within the
community. North Adams, Massachusetts, cities in New Hampshire;
Manchester, Dover, Rochester, and others have all sought to hold
on to this segment of industrial architecture for it is these
elements around these towns that have grown, developed and
given economic meaning to their existence.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Coolidge, John Mill andMansion: 1820-1865
New York: Columbia University Press, 1942.
Dick, Rudolph C. Nathanial Griffin (1796-1876) of
Salem and his Naumeg Steam Cotton Company,
New York: Newcomen Society of North America,
1951.
Edwards, David F. Saco-Lowell 1813-1950,
New York: Newcomen Society in North America,
1950.
Fitch, James Marston American Building: The Historical
Forces That Shaped It, New York: Schocken
Books, 1973.
Gidion, Gigfried Mechanization Takes Command, New York:
Oxford University Press, 1948.
Griffin, Richard Origins of Southern Cotton Manufacture:
1807-16, Textile Historical Review, Vol. 1,
Muncie, Indiana: Cotton History Group, 1960.
Hamlin, Talbot Greek Revival Architecture in America,
New York: Dover, 1944.
Historic American Buildings Survey The New England
Textile Mill Survey; Series 11, Washington:
United States Department of the Interior, 1971.
Little, Frances Early American Textiles, New York:
Century, 1931.
Manufacturers Mutual Fire Insurance Co. The Factory
Mutuals: 1835-1935, Providence: M.M.F.I.Co.,
1935.
Olmstead, Frederick Law The Cotton Kingdom, New York:
Knopf, 1970.
Rhyne, Jennings J. Some Southern Cotton Mill Workers
and Their Villages, Chapel Hill: Universityof
North Carlina, 1930.
Simpson, William Hays America's Textile Industry,
Columbia, S.C.: R. L. Bryan, 1966.
Life in Mill Communities,
Clinton, S.C.: P. C. Press, 1943.
BIBLIOGRAPHY cont.
Simpson, William Hays Southern Textile Communites,
Charlotte: Dowd, 1948.
Straw, Col. William Parker Amoskeag in New Hampshire:
An Epic in American Industry, New York:
Newcomen Society in England: North American
Branch, 1948.
Textile Historical Review [ed.] Notes on the Arcadia
(Florida) Manufacturing Company, Textile
Historical Review Vol.2 Muncie: Cotton History
Group, 1961.
Ward, Elmer L. A Healthy Tradition, The Colorful
Romance of the Horse Blanket, the Angora Goat,
and Goodall-Sanford, Inc., New York: Newcomen
Society in North America, 1951.
White, George S. Memoir of Samuel Slater connected with
A History of the Rise and Progress of the Cotton
Manufacture in England and America, New York:
Augustis M. Kelly, 1907,(reprint).
Zimiles, Martha and Murray Early American Mills,
New York: ClarksonN. Potter, 1973.
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