Historic Mills of Connecticut

Companies Associated w/Complex

• Chemical Conversion Corp. 1964-late 20th c.
• M.T. Stevens & Sons Co. 1934-1951
• Minterburn Mills Co. 1906
• Minterburn Mills Co., div. Hockanum Mills Co. 1906-1934
• Rockville Warp Mills Co. 1888-1906

Use (Historic)

• Rubber & Chemicals
• Textiles

Largest Documented Workforce

225 (1906).

Historic Narrative

The Rockville Warp Mills Company was organized by Henry Adams in 1891. During the early 1880s, Adams acquired a three-story stone mill (since demolished) on the north side of East Main Street that had previously been occupied by the Rock Manufacturing Company and he continued that firm’s production of cotton warp into the early 1900s. Adams made significant improvements to the former Rock Manufacturing Company mill during the 1880s and 1890s, and in 1888 he erected a new two-story brick mill on the south side of East Main Street. In 1906, the entire plant was sold to the Minterburn Mills Company, a manufacturer of woolen and worsted goods organized in mid-April 1906 by Francis T. and William Maxwell and David A. Sykes of Vernon, Connecticut; Robert Maxwell of New York, New York; and Thomas W. Sykes of North Adams, Massachusetts.

The Minterburn Mills Company made immediate and substantial improvements to the Rockville Warp Mills Company mill, this namely through the construction of a new five-story, 300’ x 56’ reinforced concrete factory on the north side of East Main Street. The mill was the largest and most modern in Rockville at the time of its construction, however, the firm continued to use the brick building on the south side of East Main Street for mixed office, weaving, and storage purposes. The Minterburn Mills Company operated independently for less than a month as it joined three other Rockville firms, the Hockanum Company, Springville Manufacturing Company, and New England Company in forming a holding company, the Hockanum Mill Company, in late April 1906. The Hockanum Mill Company retained the Minterburn Mills Company’s name and its roughly 225 employees into the 1930s. In 1934, however, the Hockanum Mill Company was acquired by the North Andover, Massachusetts-based textile conglomerate, M.T. Stevens and Sons Company.

In addition to its Rockville holdings, the M.T. Stevens and Sons Company also operated textile mills in Andover, North Andover, Lowell, and Haverhill, Massachusetts; and Peacedale, Rhode Island. Like many of these plants, the American Mills Company suffered from declining demand for woolens as synthetic fabrics became more popular during the late 1940s. The M.T. Stevens and Sons Company closed all of its Rockville mills in 1951 and the Minterburn Mills Company plant was in turn leased to a variety of industrial tenants. In 1964, the brick mill on the south side of East Main Street was acquired by the Conversion Chemical Corporation, a firm formed in Rockville in 1955 that specialized in the manufacture of chemical surface treatments for non-ferrous metals. The company doubled the size of the facility through the construction of several additions on its south side during the mid-1960s and late-1970s and occupied the plant into the late-20th century.

Number of Existing Buildings

Roughly three (3) adjoining primary blocks.

Dates of Construction

1888, ca. 1940, ca. 1965, ca. 1980.

Architect

n/a

Builder

n/a

Building Type

• Mill

Architectural Description

The former Rockville Warp Mills Company plant is comprised of three adjoining primary blocks located on the south side of East Main Street, roughly 150’ east of East Main Street’s intersection with Snipsic Street. The oldest block associated with the plant is the last surviving building associated with the Rockville Warp Mills Company. The building was originally constructed as a two-story, 88’ x 44’ red brick structure in 1888, however, it was enlarged to its present footprint of 138’ x 44’ following an addition on its west side ca. 1940. The two periods of construction share similar details including red brick walls, brick piers, segmental-arched window openings, corbelled cornices, eaveline brackets, and a low-pitch side-gabled roof. The 1888 section, however, has brownstone sills, while those throughout the ca. 1940 block are concrete. A three-story red brick stair tower is centered on the façade (north elevation) of the 1888 block. This appears to have lost its original roof as the broad frame cornice and presently flat roof do not appear in line with the level of detail found throughout the building.

Two two-story steel-frame and concrete block additions were erected adjoining the south side of the mill ca. 1965 and ca. 1980. They measure 80’ x 56’ and 80’ x 50’, respectively, and have concrete foundations, concrete block walls, rectangular window openings with concrete sills, plain cornices, and flat roofs.

Exterior Material(s)

• Brick
• Concrete Block

Structural System(s)

• Load Bearing Masonry

Roof Form

• Flat
• Gable

Roof Material

• Asphalt

Power Source

• Electricity
• Steam
• Water (Turbine)

Condition

Fair

Condition Notes

The complex is in fair condition. Although the majority of the windows throughout the plant have been infilled with brick or are boarded up and in presumably poor condition or missing, the facility as a whole appears to be structurally sound.

Specific Location

One 3.02-acre parcel (210 East Main Street) located on the south side of East Main Street, roughly 150’ east of East Main Street’s intersection with Snipsic Street.


Located in the City of Rockville Historic District (1984).
http://npgallery.nps.gov/nrhp/GetAsset?assetID=dbc02af8-eea0-4694-92fb-72190cecb3a7

Adjacent To

• Water (for Power)
• Main Roads

Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Parcel ID / Assessor Record Link

• 45012200001 / Link →

Acreage

3.02

Use (Present)

• Vacant

Form Completed By

n/a

Date

n/a

Bibliography

n/a