Mill Number 6 by Tom Beardsley and Pete Zizka 7-8-2023 |
Those who remember Threadmill Square will certainly remember Mill Number
Six. 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 wanted
the new mill's frontage to be parallel to Mill Five, and to face the
street. In this way ATCO could, at some time in the future, join the two
mills to create more production space. The alignment entailed a slight
re-routing of Main Street. Boss conferred with city officials, and the
necessary work was done immediately. On June 29, 1907, ATCO formally
announced that the forthcoming building of Mill number Six. 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
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 criticized for 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. The concrete crosswalk
over Windham Road, which once connected Mill Number Five with Mill
Number One, was built in 1917
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