The American Net and Twine Company Factory is a historic
factory
A factory, manufacturing plant or a production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. T ...
at 155 2nd Street in
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...
. It was built in 1875 by the nation's first manufacturer of cotton fishing nets. It now houses corporate office space. It was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 1982.
Description and history
The former American Net and Twine Company Factory stands in a formerly industrial area on the south side of
East Cambridge
East Cambridge is a neighborhood of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Referred to in modern times as Area 1, East Cambridge is bounded by the Charles River and the Charlestown neighborhood of Boston on the east, the Somerville border on the north, Broa ...
. It is located on the west side of Second Avenue between Charles and Rogers Streets, spanning most of the block between Second and Third Streets. Its parking area is formed out of a truncated part of Bent Street, which continues both east and west of the property. It is an L-shaped three-story brick building, exhibiting industrial Italianate styling. Windows are set in segmented-arch openings, and the truncated gable roof carries a row of gabled dormers. The long leg of the L is oriented east-east (just north of the former alignment of Bent Street), with a projecting four-story stairwell tower near the center of the south elevation. Flat-roof sections to the left, creating the L and interrupting the former Bent Street alignment, are late 19th and early 20th century additions. The sections are stylistically similar to the original portion, also built of brick.
[
The American Net and Twine Company was founded in 1844, and was the first company in the United States to produce fishing nets made from cotton instead of hemp. Prior to its founding, fish netting was imported from the ]United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
.Ivers Whitney Adams
Ivers Whitney Adams (May 20, 1838 – October 10, 1914) was an American baseball executive and businessperson, and founder of the first professional baseball team in Boston, the Boston Red Stockings.
Baseball
Adams was the founder, organize ...
was president of the company at one point.
This building was built by the company in 1875 to accommodate rising demand for its products, and was twice expanded between 1886 and 1916.[ It is currently used as offices, including those of One Laptop per Child and ]Disney Research
Disney Research is a network of research labs supporting The Walt Disney Company. Its purpose is to pursue scientific and technological innovation to advance the company's broad media and entertainment efforts.
It has facilities in Los Angeles, Z ...
among other tech firms.
See also
*
References
External links
Building web site
{{DEFAULTSORT:American Net And Twine Company Factory
Commercial buildings completed in 1875
Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts
Buildings and structures in Cambridge, Massachusetts
National Register of Historic Places in Cambridge, Massachusetts