by Tom Beardsley
10-15-2022
Those who remember Threadmill Square can’t help but remember Mill Number 6. Eugene Stowell Boss, the agent at ATCO's Willimantic mills, had staked out a plot of land just south of the 1899 finishing Mill Number Five, and when ATCO's New York-based executive committee toured the Willimantic site on April 26, 1907, it was greatly impressed with the proposed location and the plans that Boss had prepared. The committee suggested to Boss that they preferred the new mill's frontage to be parallel to Mill Five, and face the street. In this way ATCO could, at some time in the future, join the two mills to create more production space (The two mills were joined in 1916). The alignment entailed a slight re-routing of South Main Street in an easterly direction. Boss conferred with city officials, and the necessary work was done immediately. On June 29, 1907, ATCO formally announced that the mill forthcoming building of yet another mill. Boss was greatly pleased, and forecast that when the new mill was finished and fully staffed, ATCO's Willimantic plant would be employing some 3,000 workers. ATCO planned to commence production in the new, four-story Mill Number Six by January 1, 1908, and it asked building contractors to have all bids in by July 15, 1907. A firm from Worcester, Mass., the Bishop Company, was awarded the mill-building contract because they guaranteed a workforce large enough to complete the job within the specified time. At the beginning of August, the Worcester firm brought in a large number of Italian laborers, and paid them $1. 75 a day to dig out the mill's foundations. The Italian workers were housed in a temporary shantytown in the city, some 500 yards from the building site. Mill Number Six was virtually identical to Mill Number Five, except that it was one story higher, supplying an extra 111, 600 square feet of floor space. The brickwork commenced in September at the east end of the new mill. Foundation work continued at the west end, and dynamite was used to remove the solid gneiss stone, which had defeated the Italians' pick axes. Crowds watched the speedy construction of Mill Number Six with fascination, particularly when the Bishop Company employed a giant crane with a 70-foot mast and 68-foot boom. The work on the walls continued until January 7, 1908, when the mortar froze. A mild spell of weather followed, and the brickwork was completed before the end of January 1908. A well-known local firm, Moriarty and Rafferty, were awarded the contract for the plumbing of the new mill. The interior work began in early February 1908 and the floors of the mill were laid with maple wood in March. The new building was connected to Mill Number Five by the means of a three story high bridge, consisting of a steel frame covered with corrugated iron, replete with windows at each level, so access was made between the two mills on three levels (This was demolished when the two mills were connected in 1916). During April, 1908, the new mill was fitted with an automatic fire fighting system, and a large band stand and refreshment booths were erected in the center of the mill's first floor in preparation for a dedicatory ball. A combined dedicatory and charity ball took place in the new Mill Number Six on Friday evening, April 24, 1908. The maple floor was waxed, and over 1,200 tickets were sold. The "gay throng of promenaders and spectators "were illuminated by temporary incandescent electric lights. The resultant profits were donated to the recently completed St. Joseph's Hospital on Jackson Street. The mill lay empty for several weeks, slowed down by a strike and a recession in the domestic cotton thread trade. Production didn't commence until the late summer of 1908. The mill wasn't fully equipped until 1910, when a boom in the trade called for extra production. Eugene Stowell Boss, ATCO's Willimantic agent, had been criticizedfor building such a large unused mill, and for adding an extra floor to the original design. He was vindicated, however, by the rush of orders which led ATCO to build a new bleach house in Willimantic in 1910. It was built directly opposite the Windham Textile & History Museum's building, and was demolished by Windham mills in March, 1995. Mills Five and Six were connected in 1916, and the concrete crosswalk, which connects Mill Number Five with Mill Number One, was built in 1917.
Click on photo for larger version