Historic Mills of Connecticut

Companies Associated w/Complex

• Somersville Co. 1852-1879
• Somersville Mfg. Co. 1879-1969
• Spencer and Chaffee c.1835-1852

Use (Historic)

• Textiles

Largest Documented Workforce

400 (1950s)

Historic Narrative

Woolen manufacture at this site began in 1837 when Spencer and Chafee produced satinets in their saw and grist mill. Their 1840 frame mill still stands. Ownership of the mill changed frequently in the next 40 years but it operated most of the time. Employment peaked in 1860 with 55 workers. The 3 sets of carding machines, 1,040 spindles and 36 looms on hand in 1860 were still around in 1870, but employment had dropped to 30 workers. Rockwell Keeney, a veteran of Cheney Brothers silk mills in Manchester, CT, bought the mill in 1879. Keeney and his sons expanded the plant to ten times its former size. By 1886 they employed some 200 people and had increased capacity to 10 sets of cards. The Keeneys first produced cassimeres, then in 1893 they brought in Arthur Goldthorpe, a Yorkshire woolen worker who introduced manufacture of kerseys and meltons. The Keeneys ran the mills until the mid-1960s. The tenanted buildings now serve a variety of industrial and commercial functions. (Roth)

Number of Existing Buildings

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Dates of Construction

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Architect

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Builder

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Building Type

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Architectural Description

The 1840 frame mill, 3 l/2-story and 92' x 36', still stands; it has a gable roof with cupola and single-ply flooring with joists (therefore not slow-burn flooring). Frame outbuildings (picker, tenter, store and dye houses) from the 1840s are gone. The frame mill gained a 40' x 40' extension and a 110' x 30' shed addition in the early 1880s. In 1884-85 the Keeneys built a 3 1/2-story, gable-roofed, brick mill (100' x 40') across the Scantic River from the frame mill. A 2 1/2-story, gable-roofed brick pumphouse (80' x 70') and a 1-story, brick picker house (70' x 38') were built around the same time. In the mid-1890s a 3-story, brick-pier mill (about 160' x 60') with mansard-roofed stair tower was erected; another floor was later added. Around 1905 the last major structure was built: a 2-story, brick-pier mill (about 220' x 70') with near-flat roof. A brick boiler house and several smaller outbuildings also continue to stand. The power system, rebuilt around the turn of the century, still operates. The concrete and stone dam (90' long, 15' high) channels water through wooden headgates, underground brick and tile headrace and 6'-diameter steel penstock to a turbine-generator set. (Roth)

Exterior Material(s)

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Structural System(s)

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Roof Form

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Roof Material

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Power Source

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Condition

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Condition Notes

Much of the mill burned in 2012.

Specific Location

Three parcels at 40 and 49 Maple Street and at 27 Quality Avenue; the majority of the mill buildings are located on the west side of Maple Street and the dam, opposite the intersection of School Street straddling the Scantic River.

Located in Somersville Historic District (1995).
http://npgallery.nps.gov/nrhp/GetAsset?assetID=477f387b-6381-44cd-8d98-aed7d528e84a

Adjacent To

n/a

Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Parcel ID / Assessor Record Link

• 04/ 39A / Link →
• 04/ 39/ 01A / Link →
• 21/ 54A / Link →

Acreage

0.52; 5.38; 1.08

Use (Present)

• Abandoned
• Commercial
• Other: DECD awarded $65,730 for investigation at former main mill site for potential new residential construction 6/2021. Building at 27 Quality Ave (mixed use) for sale 9/2022.

Form Completed By

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Date

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Bibliography

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