Mill Record Greenwich

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Disclaimer: Content for these properties was compiled in 2014-2017 from a variety of sources and is subject to change. Updates are occasionally made under Property Information, however the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation (dba Preservation Connecticut) makes no representation or warranty that the information is complete or up-to-date.

Complex Name (Common)
New Mill and Depot Building, Hawthorne Woolen Mill
Complex Name (Historic)
  • New Mill and Depot Building, Hawthorne Woolen Mill
Address or Location
350 Pemberwick Rd., Greenwich
County
Fairfield
Historic Designation
Associated Mill Community
What can you do at this mill?
Historic Information

Companies Associated w/Complex

  • American Felt Co. 1899-1968
  • General Anilne and Film Corp. 1968-1978
  • Glenville Manufacturing Co. c.1848-1852
  • Glenville Woolen Mills 1852-1875
  • Hawthorne Woolen Mills 1875-1899

Use (Historic)

Largest Documented Workforce

n/a

Historic Narrative

For historical significance see National Register application: https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/7715da4e-a51d-4fa6-a3b3-19fd7fa3423c/ and photos: https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/1a6eec49-b16b-4b83-92e0-14d301d3740d See also NR nomination for Glenville Historic District: https://greenwichhistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Glenville-Historic-District-NRHP.pdf. Excerpts from pg. 6-9: "One of a number of distinct villages within the Town of Greenwich, Glenville is defined by its historically industrial character.... In fact it can be accurately categorized as a New England mill village, the most comprehensive example within the town and southern Fairfield County as well.... Its location was essentially selected by Josiah Quinby, a Quaker from nearby Westchester County, New York, who was given permission by the town to build two mills on the Byram River, a sawmill in 1717 and a gristmill in 1718.... ....the gristmill would become the nucleus for the industrial complex of later years.... The first factory building was apparently constructed in 1814, mentioned in the deed from Jared Peck to the Byram Manufacturing Company in September of that year but not in January when Peck bought the property from Jonathan Secor. The Byram Manufacturing Company had been organized the year before "for the purpose of manufacturing cloth and fabrics of woolen and cotton." In 1820 this company constructed a stone building that would become the nucleus of an extensive factory complex. In 1829 the property and its buildings were sold to Samuel G. and George Cornell of Brooklyn, who converted most of the factory to the production of lead for paint. The 23-year ownership of the Cornell family was largely responsible for the manner in which the village would develop.... Besides transforming the existing hamlet then known as Sherwood's Bridge into a bona fide village, Cornell may have also coined the name Glenville which appeared in print as early as 1848 when Cornell organized the Glenville Manufacturing Company to produce "sheet lead, lead pipe, linseed oil, litherage, red lead, cotton goods, and grinding plaster and grain of every kind." In 1852 Ralph Henry Isham acquired the property from Isaac Cornell, built a new 4-1/2-story mill around the stone mill, and introduced the manufacture of felt at the mill, while keeping "Glenville" in the new company's name: The Glenville Woolen Mills. Under various ownerships, the woolen mills continued to grow into a sizable assemblage of factory buildings and increasingly specialized in the production of felt, producing the first woven felt in the United States, previously only manufactured in Europe. In 1867 the currently existing, cut-granite dam was constructed, producing the present shoreline of the millpond. By 1875 the complex consisted of seven connected buildings and about a half dozen separate buildings prominently depicted in a sketch and survey drawn for the mill's new owners, William J. Tingue and Charles House, who merged two woolen companies in which felt was a major product and manufactured their products under the name Hawthorne Woolen Mills, named after Tingue's felt mill destroyed by fire in Hawthorne, New Jersey, in that same year. [possible image of Hawthorne NJ mill: https://www.skinnerinc.com/auctions/3835T/lots/1004] Under Tingue's direction the two mill buildings that remain today and the superintendent's house were constructed, their architectural distinctiveness reflecting the success of the mills' operations. The Depot Building or Picking House at 334 Pemberwick Road was built in 1879 as the company's freight depot for a railroad that was never built, and utilized for the storage of raw materials: wool, fur and hair. The New Mill was built in 1881 as the mill's centerpiece and focal point, appointed with an array of modern facilities including an automatic sprinkler system, the area's first telephone system, the second electric generator produced by Thomas Edison (now on display at Ford's Edison Institute at Greenfield Village, Dearborn,Michigan), and the first electric lights in the area. The latter enabled night shifts at the factory and created a tourist attraction because of the novelty, people taking the train to Port Chester and switching to horse-drawn carriages to take them to Glenville. The superintendent's house at 6 Glenville Street was built in 1886 on a large landscaped lot comprising the north end of the mill yard and located across the millpond from the site of Cornell's castle. This imposing Queen Anne mansion continued the symbolic presence of the factory's upper management in the heart of the village and formalized the property's open space with park-like landscaping, thus extending the village's central open space initiated with Cornell's castle yard 45 years earlier. The 1880 census revealed that Glenville had grown into a village of 474 people with two-thirds of its households including from one to nine individuals employed at the woolen mills. The company owned 21 dwellings, including single and double houses and at least one boardinghouse." Hawthorne Woolen Co: woolen and cotton goods American Felt Co: felt

Architectural Information

Number of Existing Buildings

2 on east side of Byram River (the 2 buildings to the south are modern construction); 1 on west side

Dates of Construction

Depot 1875, East Mill 1881, 1940

Architect

n/a

Builder

n/a

Building Type

Architectural Description

For description see National Register application: http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NRHP/Text/90000152.pdf and photos: https://npgallery.nps.gov/pdfhost/docs/nrhp/photos/90000152.pdf

Exterior Material(s)

Structural System(s)

Roof Form

Roof Material

n/a

Power Source

n/a

Condition

Good

Condition Notes

n/a

Property Information

Specific Location

Located on the west side of Pemberwick Rd., south of Glenville Rd. in the village of Glenville.

Adjacent To

Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Parcel ID / Assessor Record Link

n/a

Acreage

n/a

Use (Present)

  • Mixed-Use
  • Other: Rehab of 1881 mill building as luxury apartments in the works 2019 and completed 2021 with 26 luxury units (newer building across the river also rehabbed into 33 luxury apartments)
  • Residential
Sources
Representative View(s)Click on image to view full file


Photographer

n/a

Photography Date

n/a