Holland Mills
by Pete Zizka
6-17-2023
Many people remember that until Willimantic’s redevelopment period, there was a line of brick buildings, several of them mills, along Valley Street. If we were taking a walk in the 1950s, on the south side, beginning at Church Street we’d have seen the old Natchaug Silk Mill. It had been built in 1870 as the Paisley Silk Mill and had been bought by Dwight Chaffee. In the 50s, it was home to the Church Street Package Store, Jack’s Self Service Laundry and Mayor F.J. Bergeron’s sheet metal shop. Next were the William Brand Company’s buildings which had started out as the Morrison Machine Company and the Windham Silk Company. At the corner of Bank and Valley Streets was the Trade School. That had started out in 1889 as the Turner Silk Mill. What we did not see in the 1950s, and what only the oldest residents would remember, were the Holland Silk Mills that once dominated the northeast and northwest intersection of Church and Valley Streets and, together, were the largest silk mill employers in Willimantic. In 1836 James H. and H.Goodrich Holland established the Holland Manufacturing Company, the first silk industry in Willimantic and built the first mill. In 1873, the company erected a brick building, similar in size to their first building, on the opposite corner. By 1875, they employed about 200 workers and manufactured about one thousand pounds per week and later stories attested to the fact that the volumes of production and business had steadily increased. The material, “is finished and made ready for the market in their own factories. They make sewing; silk and machine twist for tailors, dress makers, boot and shoe makers, harness makers, and the like craftsmen and women.” Unlike the thread mills along the river, these mills relied on steam power and the Holland Mills had two large steam engines. The Holland Silk Company was very socially conscious and was generous to its employees and the town. Pay increases were regularly given, two of the largest being 10 percent in 1916 and 12½ percent in 1923 .  When several of its employees who were among the National Guardsmen were called to duty at the Mexican-American border in 1916, the company gave their families “a good portion each week of the wages which the men were earning.” The company left open the possibility that the families could receive extra money as well since, “the company is anxious to do its share for the men who left their work and families to do service…for their country”. Several events at the mills kept Willimantic residents watching. The mills needed a substantial amount of water for the boilers and so the Chronicle noted that there was intense interest in 1880 as “an immense well was dug”. In 1888 it attempted have a 107 foot artesian well drilled in order to supply water for use at the dye shops. “Though a solid rock was pierced one hundred feet the hope of obtaining a flowing well was not realized and the project was abandoned.” And so the company’s president tried sinking gun powder into the shaft hoping that the explosion that would open seams that would issue an abundant supply. “The  second explosion was successful and it is supposed that the charge descended near the bottom of the well before exploding. Water spouted it is said over one hundred feet into the air and drenched the party who were watching the effect.” Another event that drew crowds occurred in 1928 when the mill was updating its machinery. A four ton flywheel, ten feet in diameter had to be removed from the east mill’s engine room. Part of a brick wall was torn out  and the engine was lifted from its pit and wheeled to the street. The engine that had powered it had been donated to Henry Ford for use at his museum several days earlier. In late 1932, the company decided to move operations to Stroudsberg, PA. The mills had been operating using electricity and it was felt that ample water power would be available in Stroudsberg, along with lower taxes. In 1937, however, even though the company had moved and the buildings had been razed, Windham Community Memorial Hospital received a $3,000 gift from Mrs. Mae Holland Gutterson. Her father had been one of the founders of the company and she had spent much time in Willimantic. The money fulfilled a promise made during the hospital’s building campaign and became the last gift of a company that had always cared for its workers and the community.

 

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