Historic Mills of Connecticut

Use (Historic)

• Textiles

Largest Documented Workforce

n/a

Historic Narrative

See state register nomination form completed by The Mill Works and the Friends of the Mill Works, February 2014. Gardiner Hall, Jr. founded this thread firm in 1860. Hall Co. bought yarn (silk before 1862, cotton after), then doubled and twisted it and ran it onto the firm's own birch spools. In 1870 the spool shop alone employed 9 men, who turned out 4.3 million spools; they used 4 roughing lathes, 3 finishing lathes and 1 drill to machine the spools. That same year 30 women and 11 men worked in the thread mill on 36 winders, 6 doublers and 3 spoolers. Two men worked in the print shop, making and applying Hall's labels to the spools. From 1872 through 1878 Hall built tenements, a boarding house and a community building for his growing workforce. A cluster of eight, 2-story tenements still stands along Village St., just south of the mills. All are frame dwellings, two with gable roofs and six with hip roofs. (Roth) Gardiner Hall Jr. managed the Gardiner Hall Jr. Company until his death in 1915, when his son, William Henry, took over until his death in 1922. William's sister, Rosa O. Hall served as president from 1927 until the factory closed in 1954. Gardiner Hall Jr. held several patents, including a 'Thread Dessing Machine' (1861), a 'Machine for Printing Labels on Spools' (1870), and a 'Tension-Regulator for Sewing Machines' (1879).

Number of Existing Buildings

Five (5) primary blocks.

Dates of Construction

1860, c.1865, 1881, 1906, 1916

Architect

n/a

Builder

n/a

Building Type

n/a

Architectural Description

The 1860 thread mill (3-story, 78' x 58') and c.1865 spool storehouse (1-story, 40' x 25') remain from Hall's first decade of operation. Both are frame structures. The mill has a near-flat roof and rubble foundation; the storehouse has a gable roof, and it spans between the rubble walls that channel Conant Brook as it passes the mill. These walls were built in the 1860s but the earth buttress dam that impounds the brook above the mill was rebuilt in 1920. Three later brick-pier mills also survive: 2-story, 80' x 46' with gable roof, built in 1881; 3-story, 96' x 64' with near-flat roof, built in 1906; 3-story, 120' x 65' with flat roof, built in 1916. The last mill contains a Lecourtensy Co. rotary fire pump and 150-horsepower gas engine, both installed in 1916. (Roth)

Exterior Material(s)

• Brick

Structural System(s)

• Load Bearing Masonry
• Wood Frame

Roof Form

• Flat

Roof Material

n/a

Power Source

• Water (Turbine)

Condition

Excellent, Good

Condition Notes

n/a

Specific Location

Two legal parcels totaling 3.46 acres on the east side of River Road, north of the intersection with Depot Road

Located in South Willington Historic District (2016)
No link as of 12/6/2016

Adjacent To

• Water (for Power)

Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Parcel ID / Assessor Record Link

• 15/ / 027-00 / Link →
• 15/ / 027-0A / Link →

Acreage

1.74; 1.72

Use (Present)

• Mixed-Use
• Other: 156 River St for sale 11/2023. 35k sq ft.

Form Completed By

n/a

Date

n/a

Bibliography

1. Roth, Matthew, et al, Connecticut: An Inventory of Historic Engineering and Industrial Sites (Washington DC: SIA, 1981).