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HomeMy WebLinkAboutUncasville Mill HD SR 1 CTSRHP Nomination Form (August 2011) Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism Historic Preservation and Museum Division/State Historic Preservation Office CONNECTICUT STATE REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES REGISTRATION FORM This form is for use in nominating individual properties and districts to the Connecticut State Register of Historic Places (C.G.S. Chapter 184b, Sec. 10-409(2). See instructions in How to Complete the Connecticut State Register of Historic Places Registration Form. Complete each item by marking “x” in the appropriate box or by entering the information requested. If an item does not apply to the property being documented, enter “N/A” for “not applicable.” For functions, architectural classification, materials, and areas of significance, enter only categories and subcategories from the instructions. Place additional entries and narrative items on continuation sheets. Use a typewriter, word processor, or computer, to complete all items. 1. Name of Property historic name Uncasville Mill Historic District other names/site number 2. Location street & number 42, 46 Pink Row; 3,7, 15, 19, 23, 27, 35 Crescent Street; 5, 7, 11, 15, 19, 23, 25 Blumenthal Drive; 362 Route 32 (dam) city or town Montville vicinity county New London zip code 06832 not for publication 3. State Agency Certification I hereby certify that this nomination meets does not meet the documentation standards and criteria for registering properties in the Connecticut Register of Historic Places. (See continuation sheet for additional comments.) State Historic Preservation Officer Date 4. Classification Ownership of Property Category of Property Number of Resources within Property (Check as many boxes as apply) (Check only one box) (Do not include previously listed resources in count.) private building(s) Contributing public-local district public-state site 23 buildings public-federal structure 2 sites object 1 structures objects Property Owner name Multiple 26 Total address city state code zip code phone 2 Uncasville Mill Historic District Montville Name of Property Municipality 5. Historic Preservation Council Approval date Comments 6. Function or Use Historic Functions Current Functions (Enter categories from instructions) (Enter categories from instructions) INDUSTRY/PROCESSING/EXTRACTION: manufacturing facility INDUSTRY/PROCESSING/EXTRACTION: waterworks INDUSTRY/PROCESSING/EXTRACTION: manufacturing facility DOMESTIC: institutional housing DOMESTIC: single dwelling COMMERCE/TRADE: business DOMESTIC: multiple dwelling TRANSPORTATION/rail related VACANT: not in use 7. Description Architectural/Archaeological Classification Materials (Enter categories from instructions) (Enter categories from instructions) LATE VICTORIAN: Romanesque n foundation Stone, brick LATE VICTORIAN: Italianate walls Stone, brick, clapboard, synthetics OTHER: Vernacular roof Asphalt shingle, roll material other Narrative Description (Describe the historic and current condition of the property on one or more continuation sheets.) SEE CONTINUATION SHEET 3 Uncasville Mill Historic District Montville Name of Property Municipality 8. Statement of Significance Applicable Connecticut Register Criteria Levels of Significance (local, state) (Mark “x” in one or more boxes for the criteria qualifying the property for State Register listing.) Local 1 That are associated with events that have made a significant contribution to our history and lives of persons significant in our past; or Areas of Significance (Enter categories from instructions) Architecture 2 That embody the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction, or that represent the work of a master, or that possess high artistic values, or that represent a significant and distinguishable entity whose components may lack individual distinction; or Community planning and development Industry 3 That have yielded, or may be likely to yield information important in prehistory or history. Significant Dates 1823 1848 1964 Significant Person N/A Cultural Affiliation (Complete if Criterion 3 is marked) N/A Architect/Builder Unknown Narrative Statement of Significance (Explain the significance of the property on one or more continuation sheets.) SEE CONTINUATION SHEET Uncasville Mill Historic District Montville Name of Property Municipality 9. Major Bibliographical References 4 Bibliography (Cite the books, articles, and other sources used in preparing this form on one or more continuation sheets.) Baker, Henry A. History of Montville, Connecticut. Hartford: Lockwood & Brainerd Co., 1896. Beers, F. W. Atlas of New London County Connecticut. New York: F. W. Beers, A. D. Ellis & G. G. Soule, 1868. Bicentennial Committee. Montville Connecticut Bicentennial 1786-1986. Montville: Town of Montville, 1986. Chase, Jon B. Montville. Portsmouth, New Hampshire: Arcadia Publishing, 2004. Cunningham, Jan and Elizabeth A. Warner. “480 Route 32.” History and Architectural Resource Survey of the Town of Montville, Connecticut. Hartford: State Historic Preservation Office, 2001. Decker, Robert Owen . The Whaling City: A History of New London. New London: Pequot Press, 1976. in Richard H. Fawcett, ed. “Somewhere in Time: A brief glimpse into Montville’s past with some little attention given to the present.” unpublished monograph . Forino, Michael. “Faria Company.” Connecticut Historic Resource Inventory form. June 22, 2016. Fowler, A. N. “Rhode Island Mill Towns,” Pencil Points, May, 1936. Montville, Conn., Sanborn Map Company, 1924, Sheet 5. Pierson, William H., Jr. Technology and the Picturesque, the Corporate and Gothic Styles. vol. 2, American Buildings and Their Architects. New York: Oxford University Press, 1978. Roth, Matthew. Connecticut: An Inventory of Historic Engineering and Industrial Sites. Washington, DC: Society for Industrial Archeology, 1981. Roth, Matthew and John Herzan, “Quinebaug Mill/ Quebec Square Historic District, “ National Register of Historic Places nomination, 1985. Town of Montville Land records, v. 59, 186 and 59, 184. “Founder - In Memory,” Faria Beede Instruments, Inc. http://www.faria-instruments.com/ accessed July 12, 2016. “Railroad Gets OK to Drop Line,” The Day, New London, February 24, 1983. 10. Geographical Data Acreage of Property 44 Municipal Map, Block and Lot Number and UTM Coordinate (If possible) (Place additional UTM references on a continuation sheet.) Map Block Lot 1 3 Zone Easting Northing Zone Easting Northing 2 4 See continuation sheet 5 Verbal Boundary Description (Describe the boundaries of the property on a continuation sheet.) The boundary of the Uncasville Mill Historic District begins at the northwest corner of the property at 35 Crescent Street, runs along he northern border of that property and then turns south on its eastern border until it reaches the northern border of the property at 5 Blumenthal Drive. The border then runs east along the south side of Blumenthal Drive until it reaches the northwest corner of the property at 25 Blumenthal Drive, where it continues east until it reaches Pink Row. It turns south along the west side of Pink row until it reaches the southeast corner of the property at 42 Pink Row, where it turns west to run along the north side of Pink Row until it reaches the southeast corner of the property at 4 Depot Road. It then turns to run along the eastern border of that property and turs west at its northeast corner until it reaches the eastern border of the property at 362 Route 32. The boundary turns south until it reached the southeast corner of this property and then west to run along its southern border. The boundary turns east at the northwest corner of 362 Route 32 until it reaches the southwest corner of the property at 3 Crescent Street, where it turns north to run along the east side of Crescent Street until it reaches it beginning. Boundary Justification (Explain why the boundaries were selected on a continuation sheet.) The boundaries of the district include the property of the Uncasville Mill complex, including the dam that was originally used to power the mill. They also include former worker houses built by the Uncasville Manufacturing Company on Crescent Street and Blumenthal Drive, as well as a former factory store on Crescent Street. 11. Form Prepared By name/title Tod Bryant organization Heritage Resources date July, 15, 2016 street & number 23 Morgan Avenue telephone 203-852-9788 city or town Norwalk state CT zip code 06851 6 CTSRHP Nomination Form (March 2010) Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism Historic Preservation and Museum Division/State Historic Preservation Office CONNECTICUT STATE REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES REGISTRATION FORM – Continuation Form Uncasville Mill Historic District Montville Name of Property Municipality Map showing boundaries and location of Uncasville Mill Historic District 7 CTSRHP Nomination Form (March 2010) Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism Historic Preservation and Museum Division/State Historic Preservation Office CONNECTICUT STATE REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES REGISTRATION FORM – Continuation Form Uncasville Mill Historic District Montville Name of Property Municipality Narrative Description The Uncasville Mill Historic District includes an intact and functioning nineteenth century mill complex, the dam that was its original source of power, an abandoned railroad right of way and a group of houses built by the mill for its workers. Assets in the district are the nine interconnected buildings of the mill itself, along with one freestanding building (Photos 1-7), the dam and head race to the west of the mill complex Photos (8-10) and part of the former Vermont Central Railway right of way to the north of the mill buildings (Photo 11). It also includes four former millworker houses, a former store and one former mill office on Crescent Street (Photos 12-17), as well as eight former millworker houses on Blumenthal Drive to the north of the mill complex and rail right of way (Photos 18-23). The district encompases approximately 44 acres, with the mill complex property accounting for approximately 10 acres of the total area. The district is roughly bounded on the south by Depot Road and Oakdale Road, on the west by the western boundary of the property around the mill reservoir; on the north by the northern boundary of the mill reservoir property and Blumenthal Drive; on the east by Pink Row. Topographically, the mill complex straddles Oxoboxo Brook on a site that is bounded on the north by a driveway that connects Pink Row and Route 136. The site slopes down to the south from the driveway to the brook, where it levels out until it reaches the southern boundary of the mill property at Depot Road (Route 32). Depot Road rises to the west until it reaches The Norwich – New London Turnpike (Route 163), where it levels off and the dam site to the west. The land rises rapidly to the north of the driveway toward Blumenthal Drive and the Vermont Central Railroad right of way runs east-west along the terraced side of the rising topography. Water flows by gravity from Picker Pond to the mill and then on to the Gat Cemetery Pond and the Thames River to the east. Crescent Street runs north-south up the hill from the northwest corner of the mill site and an intersection with Route 32, to another intersection with Route 32 further north. Blumenthal Drive is a dead end street that runs east along the top of the hill from its intersection with Crescent Street. The perimeter of the mill site is overgrown as is the slope to its north. Land around the dam has been cleared. Crescent Street is a two lane, two-way thoroughfare without sidewalks. Former mill houses are all on the east side of the street and they are set back about fifteen feet on level, open lots with little or no landscaping. There is one dilapidated garage and a Modern union hall outside the boundaries of the district on the west sided of Crescent Street. Blumenthal Drive is a two lane, two-way dead end thoroughfare without sidewalks. Former mill houses are all on the south side of the street. Houses numbered 5, 7, 11 and 15 are set well back from the road with setbacks of about ninety feet. Number 19 is set back fifty-five feet at its center. The houses are on lots that are level in front of the buildings to the north, but slope away sharply toward the mill behind the buildings to the south. The lot at number 5 Blumenthal Drive is heavily wooded and the house cannot be seen from the street. Lots at 7, 11 and 15 have open, level lawns with a few mature trees and a palisade fence between numbers 11 and 15. Number 19 is sited below the grade of the street and the site slopes gently down to the south. There is a small parking lot to its northwest and a row of mailboxes to the east of the parking lot. It is landscaped with a few shrubs at the edge of the street. There is a trailer park outside the boundaries of the district on the north side of Blumenthal Drive. Pink Row is a two lane, two-way thoroughfare without sidewalks that runs north-south along the east border of the district. Connecticut Route 163 is a two lane, two-way thoroughfare without sidewalks that runs east-west along the south border of the mill site. It is called Depot Road between Pink Row and Route 32, where its name changes to Oakdale Road. Norwich-New London Turnpike (Connecticut Route 32) runs north-south through the district between the west border of the mill site and the dam. It is a two lane, two-way thoroughfare without sidewalks. 8 Mill Complex The Uncasville Mill is an intact example of an early ninteenth century cotton mill that has been enlarged with many interconnected additions. All buildings were constructed during the ninteenth or early twentieth cnturies and all are shown in the 1924 Sanborn Map Company map of the area (Figure 1). The entire grouping presents a unified example of a typical Connecticut manufacturing facility of that era. The original, four story, stone and brick mill building and c.1900 smokestack dominate the site. Later additions are all of brick construction and no more than two stories in height. All mill buildings are still in use and retain a high degree of integrity, except that nearly all windows were replaced in 2008. The entire mill complex shares the same street address, but each building is numbered in the sketch map in Figure 2. Building descriptions are keyed to this map. Building 1. This is the orignal mill building constructed in 1823. It is five stories tall and measures 42 feet wide by 122 feet long. The walls of the lower four stories are of random ashlar granite with a rough finish. The upper section of the gable ends are brick and there is a full height brick stair tower on its north elevation. A cupola and bell that once sumounted the stair tower (Figure 3) has been removed. It has a gable roof covered in asphalt shingles with a clerestory monitor that runs the full width of the roof on the east and west elevations. Window openings are rectangular with granite lintels and sills. This building is connected to Building 2 on its west elevation and to buildings 3 and 5 on its west elevation (Photos 1 and 2). Building 2. This is a one and one half story end gable brick building with a gable roof covered in asphalt shingles. It has a corbelled brick cornice and rows of eight windows with granite sills on its north and south elevations. The corbelled brick cornice continues onto the façade. There is a doorway surmounted with a stone arch on the north side of the façade and an opening surmounted by a granite lintel in the center of the façade. This opening has wood shingles at its top a window on its north side and a door on its south side. There is a single window with rusticated granite lintle and sill in the gable. This building is connected to Building 1 at its west elevation (Photo 3). Building 3 is a two story end gable brick building with a low-pitched roof covered in roll roofing material. It has a corbeled table at the corince with rows of dentils. There are rows of six windows with rusticated granite sills and arched cobbeled lintels on both stories of its north and south elevations and two identical windows on each story of its east elevation. This buiding is attached to Building 1 on its west elevation and to Building 4 by an enclosed bridge on the center of the second story of its east elevation (Photo 4). Building 4 is a a two story end gable brick building with a low-pitched roof with exposed rafter tails. The roof is covered in roll roofing material. It has three, widely spaced windows with rusticated granite sills and arched cobbeled lintels on both stories of its north and south elevations and a row of round iron wall ties at the cornice and in the center of these elevations. There is an enclosed entrance centered on the façade and a single window in the gable. This buiding is attached to Building 3 by an enclosed bridge on the center of the second story of its west elevation (Photo 5). These buildings are almost unchanged since 1940, as shown in a photograph by Jack Delano for the Office of War Information (Figure 4). Building 5 is a brick two story former powerhouse with a flat roof. It has a 150 foot tall, yellow brick chimney, built c. 1900, attached to its east elevation. The chimney has the words “Faria Meter” in black block letters on 9 its west elevation. This building is attached to Building 1 on its west elevation and to Building 6 on its east elevation. Building 6, along with Buildings 5 and 7, form a continuous structure that extends east from Building 1. A narrwow ell runs from the center of the south elevation of Building 7 to connect it to the north elevation Building 9. Oxoboxo Brook (the former tail race of the mill) runs under the center of the ell. It is a one story brick building with a low-pitched gable roof covered in built-up roll material. There are rows of wide windows with rusticated granite sills in arched openings on the north and south elevations, with four similar, but smaller, windows on the east elevation(Photo 6). These buildings are also relatively unchanged since 1940 (Figure 5). Building 8 is perpendicular to the center of Building 5 and it connects it to Building 9. It is a brick, one story building with a low pitched roof covered in built-up roll material. It has rows of windows with rusticated granite sills in arched openings on the east and west elevations. Oxoboxo Brook (the former tail race of the mill) runs under the center of this building. Building 9 is to the south of and paralell to, the Building 5-6-7 complex, to which it is connected on its north elevation by Building 8 and the ell of Building 7. It is a brick, one story building with a low pitched roof covered in built-up roll material. It has rows of windows with rusticated granite sills in arched openings on the east and west elevations. There is an entrance centered on its façade (east elevation) (Photos 1 and 7). Building 10 is a brick, one story building with a low pitched roof covered in roll roofing material. It has rows of windows with rusticated granite sills in arched openings on all elevations. Dam The Uncasville Mill was originally powered by water from Oxoboxo Brook. The flow of the brook was not powerful enough by itself to turn the mill’s waterwheel. Mill owners followed standard practice for the time and built a dam to increase water pressure. The dam retains a high degree of integrity. The system is centered on a granite dam and spillway located west of the mill on the west side of Route 32 (Photo 8). A granite retaining wall extends south from the spillway toward Route 163(Photo 9). The granite-strewn remains of the head race are located north of the spillway (Photo 10). Railroad Right-of-way The Vermont Central Railroad right-of-way runs east west along a 20 foot wide terraced section of the hillside on the north of the mill property. The tracks have been removed. A short section of the eastern section of the right-of-way has been paved for use as a driveway, but the remainer remains unpaved (Photo 11). Mill Worker Houses All existing houses on Crescent Street and Blumenthal Drive appear on the Uncasville inset of the map of the Town of Montville in the Atlas of New London County, published in 1868 (Figure 6).1 Most of them are identified as tenant houses belonging to the Uncasville Manufacturing Company, the owner of the mill at that time. A history of Montville states that the houses were built by the mill about 1840 when it belonged to 1 F. W. Beers, Atlas of New London County Connecticut, W. W. Beers, A. D. Ellis & G. G. Soule (New York: 1868). 10 theLewis brothers. 2 The exceptions are 23 and 25 Blumenthal Drive, which are identified as tenant houses for the Johnson Wood Dye Works. However, deed research reveals that these houses were later acquired by the Sidney Blumenthal Company, when it owned the mill.3 The houses at 3, 7 and 35 Crescent Street and 5 Blumenthal Drive retain a very high degree of architectural integrity. Other houses have been covered in vinyl siding and have been modified to some extent, but they retain their original form and location. Both streets are excellent suviving examples of small-scale mill worker housing. Crescent Street There are six contributing buildings on the east side of Crescent treet between it southern intersection with Route 32 and the beginning of Blumenthal Drive and one contributing building on the east side of Crescent Street, north of Blumenthal Drive. 3 Crescent Street, c. 1840, is a two story, wood frame, cross gable Vernaclur dwelling with a porch on the south side of its façade. It is larger than the worker houses to the north of it and has more decorative elements. Windows on the first story and in the gable have dentiled lintels and the main entrance is surmounted by a small hood supported by decorative brackets with pendants. Ut is buitl into the side of the hill has an extra story on its east elevation. (Photos 12 and 13). 5 Crescent Street, c.1840, is a one and one-half story, wood frame, Side Gable Vernacular building that faces west onto Crescent Street. It has a one story, full-width enclosed porch with a hipped roof on the façade and two hipped dormers. The house is covered in vinyls sidingand all windows are replacement units. The roof is covered in asphalt shingles. It retains its original form and, much of its fenestration pattern (Photo 14). 15 Crescent Street, c. 1840, is a one story, side gable Romanesque brick building with an exposed ashlar stone foundation with a rusticated finish. It has a brick center chimney and the roof is covered with asphalt shingles. The building faces south, rather than facing he street to its west. Its entrance is centered on a one bay deep ell with a flat roof in the center of the façade. The doorway is surmounted by a fanlight set into a round arch. All windows are original one-over-one wood sash with rusticated granite sills and flat arched litels. There is a bracketed table at the cornice of the main block and the entry ell (Photo 15). The realtionship of this building to the mill is clear in a 1940 Office of War Information photograph (Figure 7) 19, 23 and 27 Crescent Street, c.1840 These three houses are identical examples of mid nineteenth century mill-built worker housing. They are all the east end of their north elevations. They all have one story porches that wrap around their north elevations and the ell (the northen section has been conveted into a car port on number 23). Porches are protected by shed roofs that are supported by square columns. They all have a single window in the gable. All are now covered in vinyl siding and the porch of 23 Crescent Street has been enclosed, but they retain their original form, fenestration patterns and architectural character (Photo 16). 35 Crescent Street, c.1840 This Cross Gable Vernacular home is an unchanged example of the houses further south on Crescent Street and it features Greek Revival decorative elements. The house retains its original trim, clapboard siding on its body 2 Henry A. Baker, History of Montville Connecticut (Hartford: Lockwood $& Brainerd Co., 1896) 625. 3 Town of Montville Land records, v. 59, 186 and v.59, 184. 11 and wood shingles on the porch knee wall. It also features a porch that spans the façade, wraps around the north elevation of the main block and continues onto the west elevation of the ell. It has a roof overhang supported by modillions on the façade and on the north elevation of the ell. The window in the gable has a simple, flat pediment and the window surround has typical Greek Revival “ears.” This Greek Revival motif continues on windows on the first story and the door surround at the main entrance. (Photos 17 and 18). Blumenthal Drive The houses at 5 and 7 Blumenthal Drive (c.1840) are much simpler in form and ornament than those on Crescent Street. They are both one story Side Gable Vernacular homes that face north onto Blumentthal Drive. As the south elevation of number 5 reveals, they were built with wide clapboard siding and brick center chimneys (Photo 19). Both houses were built at the peak of a hill and they have exposed basement walls on their south elevations. Number 7 has been covered in vinyl siding, but it retains its original form and fenestration pattern (Photo 20). Numbers 11 and 15 Blumenthal Drive also have exposed basement walls on their south elevations. They appear on the 1924 Sanborn Map Company fire insurance map as two family dwellings, but they have been converted to single family occupancy.4 They have also been covered in viyl sidning, but the retain their original form and, except for the façade of number 15, their original fenestration patterns (Photo 21). The unusual building form at 19 Blumenthal Drive appears on the 1924 Sanborn as a three family dwelling and it continues to be used as such in 2016. It is covered in vinyl siding, but it retains its original form (Photo 22).5 23 and 25 Blumenthal Drive (c.1840) These houses are similar to those on Crescent Street, but they were built by a different mill owner. They are one and one half story, wood frame End Gable Vernacular houses with a one story kitchen ell centered on their west elevations. The mill for which they were built, the Johnson Dye Wood Works, was located to the west of these houses at the mouth of Oxoboxo Brook, so their facades are oriented in that direction (Photo 23).. Noncontributing The only noncontributing building in the district is the Ranch house at 46 Pink Row. It was built in 1988 on a lot previously ocupied by a two family mill worker house.6 4 Montville, Conn., Sanborn Map Company, 1924, Sheet 5. 5 Ibid. 6 Town of Montville Tax Assessor, Vision Property Card, 46 Pink Row. 12 Uncasville Mill Historic District Inventory Number Street Style Contributing/ Noncontributing 5 Blumenthal Drive Side Gable Vernacular Contributing 7 Blumenthal Drive Side Gable Vernacular Contributing 11 Blumenthal Drive Side Gable Vernacular Contributing 15 Blumenthal Drive Side Gable Vernacular Contributing 19 Blumenthal Drive Side Gable Vernacular Contributing 23 Blumenthal Drive Cross Gable Vernacular Contributing 25 Blumenthal Drive Cross Gable Vernacular Contributing 3 Crescent Street Cross Gable Vernacular Contributing 7 Crescent Street Side Gable Vernacular Contributing 15 Crescent Street Romanesque Contributing 19 Crescent Street Cross Gable Vernacular Contributing 23 Crescent Street Cross Gable Vernacular Contributing 27 Crescent Street Cross Gable Vernacular Contributing 35 Crescent Street Cross Gable Vernacular Contributing 42 Pink Row Factory, Italianate Contributing 46 Pink Row Ranch Noncontributing 362 Route 32 Dam and pond Contributing 13 CTSRHP Nomination Form (March 2010) Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism Historic Preservation and Museum Division/State Historic Preservation Office CONNECTICUT STATE REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES REGISTRATION FORM – Continuation Form Uncasville Mill Historic District Montville Name of Property Municipality Narrative Statement of Significance The Uncasville Mill Historic District is significant under Criterion 1 because it was one of the earliest cotton mills in Connecticut and only the second mill to be built in Uncasville. It is the oldest surviving mill on Oxoboxo Brook and the only one still in industrial use. It is also significant because of the surviving mill worker housing built by the Uncasville Manufacturing Company and the Johnson Dye Wood Works in the mid-nineteenth century. It is significant under Criterion 2 because of the design of the original mill building, constructed in 1823, and its later additions. The design of the original building is one of the earliest American mill building forms and it is one of the few existing examples with such a high degree of integrity. The design and layout of the mill worker housing on Crescent Street and Blumenthal Drive is typical of early mill villages in Connecticut. Uncasville Uncasville is a village located in the southeast corner of the Town of Montville, Connecticut. Montville is on the west bank of the Thames River, about halfway between Norwich to the north and New London to the south. It was once known as the North Parish of the Town of New London (established 1646), but it was made a separate town in 1786.7 The land where the town was founded was first occupied by the Mohegan tribe under its chief, Uncas (c.1588-c.1683). Uncas allied himself with the English Settlers during the Pequot War of 1634-1638 and he was treated with great respect by the Colonial government. An agreement with Governor John Winthrop, Jr. in 1646 gave Uncas control of a large parcel of land on the west bank of the Thames River from the north bank of the Cochiknack (now Oxoboxo) or Saw Mill Brook. The south bank of Oxoboxo Brook was set at the northern boundary of New London. Despite the fact that Colonial law at that time prohibited individuals from contracting with the Indians for land, Uncas made many grants of property to colonists. Samuel Rogers had a long, friendly relationship with Uncas and he was given a valuable tract of land on the north side of Saw Mill (Oxoboxo) Brook near the Thames River in 1670. Rogers built a fortified homestead on the property and thus became the first European settler on Mohegan land. Uncas and his warriors were frequent guests in the Rogers home and the area became known as Uncasville.8 The Uncasville Mill The Industrial Revolution in the United States can be said to have started with Samuel Slater’s 1793 cotton mill in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Previous attempts at large scale textile production in the United States had failed due to lack of proper equipment and organizational skills. 9 Samuel Slater (1768-1835) arrived in New York in 1789 after having spent six years apprenticed to Jedidiah Strutt (1796-1797) at his Milford textile mills in England. Strutt and his partner, Richard Arkwright (1732-1792), had established the first commercially successful cotton mill in England. They made use of Arkwright’s invention of the roller spinning frame and his improvements of the carding engine, both of which replaced human hands with machines. These inventions made it possible to economically produce large qualities of cotton cloth in 7 “History,” Town of Montville, http://www.townofmontville.org/Content/History/ , accessed July 10, 2016. 8 Baker, History of Montville, 71-72. 9 Charles Edwin Case, “New England Textile Mills and the Mill Village,” unpublished monograph, University of Florida George A. Smathers Libraries, 20. http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00103257/00001/1x , accessed July 11, 2016. 14 a single building.10 The mills were first established In Nottingham, where they relied on horsepower to run the machinery. Rapid success and the need to increase production led Strutt and Arkwright to move their operation to the confluence of two rivers in Cromford, where they built a water powered mill in 1771.11 Slater’s Pawtucket mill used the same principles that had made the English mills so successful. 12 He built his own versions of Arkwright’s machines from memory and installed them in a water powered mill.13 In so doing, he set the pattern for the mills that initiated the Industrial Revolution in the United States. Uncasville Manufacturing Company History Oxoboxo Brook falls 350 feet in the six miles from its source at Oxoboxo Lake to its mouth at the Thames River. It was quickly recognized by early settlers as a good source of water power. The first mill privilege on it was granted in 1653 for a sawmill that was built in Uncasville near the mouth of the brook.14 In 1798, this mill site became the location of the first water powered mill in the United States to produce woolen cloth. This mill would later become the Johnson Dye Wood Works.15 The second mill privilege on Oxoboxo Brook was granted to Levi Lester for a grist mill in 1794. The site and its water rights were purchased by Peter Richards and his son, Henry R. Richards, in 1823. That same year, the Richards’ built the stone mill building that was to become the core of the Uncasville Manufacturing Company.16 They were following a trend in American business that led to the establishment of many textile mills in the northeast. A strong market for domestically produced cloth was created by a combination of The Embargo Act of 1807, which banned imported goods from entering the United States, and the disruption of commerce during the War of 1812. Investors were quick to see that cotton grown in the American south and processed into cloth in New England was a natural combination.17 The Richards’ business failed and the mill was purchased by brothers Charles A. and George R. Lewis in 1830. The Lewis brothers presided over one of the most successful eras in the history of the mill. Historian Henry A. Baker, writing in 1896, states, “Since that time [the Lewis’ purchase of the mill] the business has been carried on successfully, and many improvements have been made by the company in the erection of new tenement houses and enlargement of the mill.”18 They incorporated as the Uncasville Manufacturing Company in 1848 and began building the brick additions to the original mill shortly thereafter.19 After the death of the last of the Lewis brothers, the mill came into the possession of Charles A. White, who also owned an interest in a mill in Versailles, Connecticut. The principal product of this operation was denim and the two mills together produced 7 million yards of it annually by the end of the nineteenth century.20 The business was purchased by the Sidney Blumenthal Company in 1923. This concern also had a mill in Shelton, Connecticut and the Uncasville mill became known as the Uncasville-Shelton Mill.21 The Blumenthal Company produced cotton plush and other upholstery products in Uncasville until the1960s. The Mill complex was purchased in 10 Case, “New England Textile Mills,” 9. 11 Ibid., 16. 12 Ibid., 23. 13 Russell F. Whitehead, A. N. Fowler, “Rhode Island Mill Towns,” 14 Matthew Roth, Connecticut: An Inventory of Historic Engineering and Industrial Sites (Washington, DC: Society for Industrial Archeology, 1981) 218. 15 Baker, History of Montville, 623-624. 16 Ibid., 624-625. 17 William H. Pierson, Jr., Technology and the Picturesque, the Corporate and Gothic Styles, vol. 2, American Buildings and Their Architects (New York: Oxford University Press, 1978) 45. 18 Baker, History of Montville, 625. 19 Jon B. Chase, Montville (Portsmouth, New Hampshire: Arcadia Publishing, 2004) 74. 20 Bicentennial Committee, Montville Connecticut Bicentennial 1786-1986 (Montville: Town of Montville, 1986) 21 Michael Forino, “Faria Company,” Connecticut Historic Resource Inventory form, June 22, 2016. 15 1964 by the Richard G. Faria Company (now Faria Beede Instruments, Inc.) which continues to manufacture gauges and other instruments for vehicles and boats in the mill buildings.22 Its Architecture The stone, 1823 Mill building is the most architecturally significant in the mill complex. Its design is directly linked to Arkwright’s English mills and to early nineteenth century American factory design innovations. Arkwright’s “Lower Mill” built in Cromford in 1777, included an element that would influence the design of almost every American mill in the early nineteenth century. In this building, he raised a section of the roof on both sides of the ridge and added a continuous row of clerestory windows that spanned the entire length of the building. It also included a cupola at the gable end of the building.23 The monitor roof form, which later became known simply as the “factory roof,” increased the height and illumination of the attic work space to make it more productive. It also, “…gave a new vigor and monumentality to the factory, qualities unmatched in any other building type.”24 The Uncasville Mill building takes full advantage of this element (Photo 1). The Uncasville Mill building also has a tower on its north elevation. The tower was originally surmounted by a cupola with a bell (Figures XX and XX). The tower first appeared on American mill buildings as early as 1816 at the Boston Manufacturing Company in Waltham, Massachusetts and this element was in general use by the time the Uncasville Mill was constructed. Towers were usually used for stairs, as this one is, and sometimes for toilets or fire protection equipment.25 The Uncasville Mill’s tower at the gable end of the building and its steeple-like cupola/ bell tower recall the form of the New England meetinghouse. These two buildings served distinctly different purposes, but both were monumental structures that demanded special attention and both were centers of community activity. Both institutions used their bells to call the community to them – the church for worship and the factory for work (Photo xx).26 Later brick additions to the mill complex, all of which were probably added during the ownership of the Lewis Brothers, followed the Italianate architectural style preferences of their era of construction. Characteristic design elements include the low pitched roofs and arched windows seen on these buildings (Photos 1-7). Mill Village When Strutt and Arkwright decided to build their new mill near a source of water power, rather than a population center, they realized that they would have to attract and house workers. The Uncasville inset on the 1868 map from the Beers Atlas of New London County shows buildings identified as “Tenant Hoses Uncasville Mfg. Co.” (Uncasville Manufacturing Company), on what are now Crescent Street and Blumenthal Drive. This map also identifies five houses as “Tenant Houses Johnson,” which refers to the nearby Johnson Dye Wood Works. Along with these houses the map identifies a store, a school and a Methodist Episcopal Church. A building identified as, “Superintendent’s House” is just to the north of the group of tenant houses.27 Taken together, this grouping constitutes a classic New England Mill Village. It is not as large as some later mill villages in Connecticut, but it serves the same purpose. The district contains many of the key elements of the type: the rows of nearly identical worker houses, a larger house for boarding single workers, the company store, a school and the mill buildings themselves. Some houses outside the district are shown as belonging to the Uncasville Manufacturing Company and they may have been used by them as worker housing. However, it is also likely that these building were part of their strategy to protect water rights on 22 “Founder - In Memory,” Faria Beede Instruments, Inc. http://www.faria-instruments.com/ accessed July 12, 2016. 23 Pierson, Jr., Technology and the Picturesque, the Corporate and Gothic Styles, 32. 24 Ibid., 42. 25 Ibid., 46-47. 26 Ibid. 43. 27 F. W. Beers, Atlas of New London County Connecticut. 16 Oxoboxo Brook. The company owned almost every house in the area for a short period of time. They would purchase a property and then sell it a few years later, while retaining its riparian rights.28 The worker houses are a relatively well-preserved example of company-built housing found throughout eastern Connecticut. It is not as large as some later mill villages in Connecticut, but it serves the same purpose of housing workers near their jobs. The district originally contained the key elements of the type, including rows of nearly identical worker houses, a larger house for boarding single workers, a store, a church or chapel, a school and the mill buildings themselves. The store has been converted into a single family residence and the school, church and chapel have been demolished, but the rows of nearly identical worker houses remain. Several motives were involved in the creation of a mill village. Perhaps the most important was the necessity to house workers in otherwise remote areas that were not ready for a rapid population increase. A second, more self-serving motive, involved binding the workers closer to the company by making them dependent on it for housing, as well as nearly all of their daily needs. There was also a paternalistic element to mill villages, since houses such as those in Uncasville were clearly intended to provide very adequate accommodations for workers who might otherwise be unable to afford good housing. “Rents in the 1850s ranged from $35 to $55 annually at a time when unskilled male labor brought $.75 to $1.00 a day.”29 In terms of planning, the Uncasville mill village represents the first stage of company towns, when mill owners most often simply constructed the worker houses in a line along nearby roads. Architecturally, the houses in the village are typical of the type: plainly detailed vernacular buildings, some with multiple entries, and chimneys near the center of the roof. The relationship between architectural ornament and social status is clear on Crescent Street and even more pronounced on Blumenthal Drive.. The “Supt.’s House” (Superintendent’s House) labeled on the Beers map has been identified with the Johnson Dye Wood Works.30 However, he 1869 map identifies one residence near the south end or the street with W. R. Wood.31 The United States Census of Montville for 1850 identifies Willet R. Wood as a “Manufacturer.” 32 In 1860, he is listed as, “Superintendent of Mill.”33 By 1870, he is shown as a, “Cotton Manufacturer.”34 The exact house could have been either of the first two houses at the south end of Crescent Street. Based on the location of the house and his identification with a cotton mill, it is likely that he was the Superintendent of the Uncasville Mill. The southernmost house, 3 Crescent Street, has a slightly higher level of ornamentation, including dentiled lintels at each window and small hood supported by decorative brackets with pendants Photos 13 and 13). The house at 5 Crescent Street is smaller and is unlikely to have been a Superintendent’s house for over twenty years (Photo 14). Ornament on the house at 35 Crescent Street, the only one other than 3 and 15 Crescent Street, with its trim intact, is simpler and flatter, except for modillions at the roof overhangs. These houses may have been meant for managers (Photo 17 and 18). The houses on Blumenthal Drive were clearly meant for ordinary workers. They are smaller, simpler in design and, based on the unsided example at 5 Blumenthal Drive, lack all ornament (Photo 19). The masonry building at 15 Crescent Street appears on the 1868 map as a store, probably the Company Store.35 It later became the mill paymaster’s office and then a doctor’s office (Photos15).36 It is currently vacant. By the middle of the twentieth century, all of these buildings were still owned by the Sidney Blumenthal Company. They were all sold to private owners between June and September of 1954 and they remain in private hands in 2016.37 28 Bicentennial Committee, Montville Connecticut Bicentennial 1786-1986. 29 Matthew Roth and John Herzan, “Quinebaug Mill/ Quebec Square Historic District, “ National Register of Historic Places nomination, 1985. 30 Jan Cunningham ND Elizabeth A. Warner, “480 Route 32,” History and Architectural Resource Survey of the Town of Montville, Connecticut (Hartford: State Historic Preservation Office, 2001). 31 F. W. Beers, Atlas of New London County Connecticut. 32 US Census Montville 1850 33 US Census Montville 1860 34 US Census Montville 1870 35 F. W. Beers, Atlas of New London County Connecticut. 36 Bicentennial Committee, Montville Connecticut Bicentennial 1786-1986. 37 Town of Montville land records, 17 Railroad Right-of-way An abandoned railroad right-of-way runs east-west near the base of the steep slope on the north side of the mill site. It was built c.1850 for the tracks of the New London, Willimantic and Palmer Railroad. The first train on this line ran from New London to Palmer, a distance of 66 miles, in three hours, twenty minutes on August 31, 1850. It was never as successful as its investors had hoped, partly because of the number of other railroads in the area at the time. It eventually merged with the New London Northern Railroad and, after a number of other mergers, the tracks became the property of the Central Vermont Railroad System. 38 The Uncasville route was abandoned in 1983.39 38 Robert Owen Decker, The Whaling City: A History of New London (New London: Pequot Press, ) 1976. in Richard H. Fawcett, ed., “Somewhere in Time: A brief glimpse into Montville’s past with some little attention given to the present,” unpublished monograph . 39 “Railroad Gets OK to Drop Line,” The Day, New London, February 24, 1983. 18 CTSRHP Nomination Form (March 2010) Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism Historic Preservation and Museum Division/State Historic Preservation Office CONNECTICUT STATE REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES REGISTRATION FORM – Continuation Form Uncasville Mill Historic District Montville Name of Property Municipality Geographic Data Latitude - Longitude WGS84 Point latitude longitude 1 41.0560045 -73.55468591 2 41.05927355 -73.55526896 3 41.06002668 -73.55442206 4 41.06012639 -73.55325487 5 41.06078229 -73.55365576 6 41.06179265 -73.55417182 7 41.06491718 -73.55436134 8 41.06501306 -73.55373797 9 41.0659551 -73.55421293 10 41.06702479 -73.55388358 11 41.06697075 -73.55289569 12 41.06632032 -73.55106439 13 41.06683299 -73.55079869 14 41.06650455 -73.54979738 15 41.06616376 -73.54947086 16 41.06582176 -73.55149145 17 41.06095754 -73.55041449 18 41.06117119 -73.54821117 19 41.06073715 -73.54813536 20 41.05887669 -73.54816302 21 41.05811761 -73.54986605 22 41.05815953 -73.55149828 23 41.05648803 -73.55067203 24 41.05603882 -73.55058595 25 41.0561741 -73.55303511 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 Uncasville Mill Historic District Photo Key 1, 2, 7 3 6 5 4 8 10 9 11 11 13 14 16 15 18 17 20 19 21 23 22