Monument Mills

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Monument Mills

Monument Mill, Housatonic, Massachusetts.jpg

Cotton Mill #1
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Location Park and Front Sts., Great Barrington, Massachusetts
Coordinates 42°15′19″N73°21′52″W / 42.25528°N 73.36444°W / 42.25528; -73.36444 Coordinates: 42°15′19″N73°21′52″W / 42.25528°N 73.36444°W / 42.25528; -73.36444
Area 13.25 acres (5.36 ha)
Built 1851, 1892
Architect C. R. Makepeace & Company
NRHP reference # 83003927 [1]
Added to NRHP November 29, 1983

Monument Mills are historic textile mills at Park and Front Streets in the Housatonic village of Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Developed beginning in the mid-19th century, they were a major American producer of jacquard fabrics, operating until 1955. The mill complexes were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. [1] Today, the some parts of the complex house artists and small businesses.

Housatonic, Massachusetts Census-designated place in Massachusetts, United States

Housatonic is a village and census-designated place (CDP) in the town of Great Barrington in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,109 at the 2010 census. It was named after the Housatonic River.

Great Barrington, Massachusetts Town in Massachusetts, United States

Great Barrington is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 7,104 at the 2010 census. Both a summer resort and home to Ski Butternut, Great Barrington includes the villages of Van Deusenville and Housatonic. It is the birthplace of W. E. B. Du Bois. In 2012, Smithsonian magazine ranked Great Barrington #1 in its list of "The 20 Best Small Towns in America".

Jacquard loom loom fitted with a Jacquard machine for weaving complex patterned fabrics

The Jacquard machine is a device fitted to a power loom that simplifies the process of manufacturing textiles with such complex patterns as brocade, damask and matelassé. It was invented by Joseph Marie Jacquard in 1804. The loom was controlled by a "chain of cards"; a number of punched cards laced together into a continuous sequence. Multiple rows of holes were punched on each card, with one complete card corresponding to one row of the design. Several such paper cards, generally white in color, can be seen in the images below. Chains, like Bouchon's earlier use of paper tape, allowed sequences of any length to be constructed, not limited by the size of a card.

Contents

Description and history

The Monument Mills are a prominent central feature of Housatonic village, lining both sides of the Housatonic River, from which they initially drew their power. The number one mill is located near the northern end of the village, between the railroad tracks and the river's west bank. The number two mill is located on the east bank of the river, just north of Park Street bridge. [2]

Housatonic River river in the United States of America

The Housatonic River is a river, approximately 149 miles (240 km) long, in western Massachusetts and western Connecticut in the United States. It flows south to southeast, and drains about 1,950 square miles (5,100 km2) of southwestern Connecticut into Long Island Sound. Its watershed is just to the west of the watershed of the lower Connecticut River. Birds and fish who live in and around the river contain significant levels of PCBs and present health risks.

The Monument Mills Company operated a textile business at these sites between 1850 and 1955. The first mill, operating at the northern end of the complex, was fitted for cotton fabric production, and was joined by the second mill, under separate ownership, in 1866. The second mill specialized in the production of jacquard fabrics for bedspreads; its success prompted the first company to buy the second, and expand production. A decline in demand and changing tastes in textiles brought about reduced business, and the mills closed in 1955, which thereafter suffered from vacancy and neglect. [2]

The company was also responsible for the construction of the Glendale Power House further up the Housatonic River in Stockbridge; this facility was one of the first hydroelectric power stations built to provide power for industrial work, and is also listed on the National Register. [3]

Glendale Power House

The Glendale Power House is a historic power station on the Housatonic River, just off Massachusetts Route 183 in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. The 1905 power house, built for the Monument Mills, was the one of the first places in the United States where electricity was generated for the purpose of providing power to an industrial facility. The station was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. The facility has been rehabilitated and converted into modernized hydroelectric power generation plant.

Stockbridge, Massachusetts Town in Massachusetts, United States

Stockbridge is a town in Berkshire County in western Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,947 at the 2010 census. A year-round resort area, Stockbridge is home to the Norman Rockwell Museum, the Austen Riggs Center, and Chesterwood, home and studio of sculptor Daniel Chester French.

See also

National Register of Historic Places listings in Berkshire County, Massachusetts Wikimedia list article

This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Berkshire County, Massachusetts.

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References

  1. 1 2 National Park Service (2008-04-15). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service.
  2. 1 2 "NRHP nomination for Monument Mills". Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Retrieved 2012-12-04.
  3. "MACRIS inventory record for Glendale Power House". Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Retrieved 2013-12-02.