The Billerica Mills Historic District is a historic district between the

Concord River The Concord River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed October 3, 2011 tributary of the Merrimack River in eastern Massachusetts in the United States. The river drains ...

, Treble Cove Terrace, Kohlrausch Avenue, Indian Road, Holt Ruggles, and Rogers Streets in the village of

North Billerica, Massachusetts North Billerica is an unincorporated village of the town of Billerica, Massachusetts, United States, one of the nine sections (hamlets) that make up the Town of Billerica. It is the home to Faulkner and Talbot mills and the North Billerica Train ...

(part of the town of

Billerica Billerica (, ) is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 42,119 according to the 2020 census. It takes its name from the town of Billericay in Essex, England. History In the early 1630s, a Praying India ...

). The C.P. Talbot & Company mill building still stands in the center of the district. The buildings were planned and sited over decades, spanning from the mid-19th century until the 1920s. The Talbot brothers were able to secure land bordering the Concord Falls from the defunct

Middlesex Canal The Middlesex Canal was a 27-mile (44-kilometer) barge canal connecting the Merrimack River with the port of Boston. When operational it was 30 feet (9.1 m) wide, and 3 feet (0.9 m) deep, with 20 locks, each 80 feet (24 m) long and between 10 and ...

Company (MCC) in 1851. The dam, water power and of MCC land were secured for $10,000. In 1857, CP Talbot secured additional property from neighbor Faulkner and an agreement with Faulkner over water power rights. Also in 1857 they partnered with the Lowell-based Belvidere Company for 5 years, supplying water power while Belvidere gave the equipment and know-how. The exact date of the large brick building and clock tower is not known, but likely between 1865 and 1870. It was at this time that the Talbot brothers built the first tenement company housing for workers as well. The company operated and existed for 100 years until 1956. The Talbot brothers were the children of Charles and Phoebe (White) Talbot (married in 1802) whose children were Charles P. (b. 1807) and

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the Ap ...

(b. 1818) among six others. From

Cambridge, New York Cambridge is a town in Washington County, New York, United States. It is part of the Glens Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area. The town population was 2,152 at the 2000 census. The town of Cambridge contains part of a village, also called Camb ...

, they moved to

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

and then

Northampton, Massachusetts The city of Northampton is the county seat of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of Northampton (including its outer villages, Florence and Leeds) was 29,571. Northampton is known as an acade ...

, where the brothers learned the trades of the

textile mill Textile Manufacturing or Textile Engineering is a major industry. It is largely based on the conversion of fibre into yarn, then yarn into fabric. These are then dyed or printed, fabricated into cloth which is then converted into useful goods ...

s. The district, which encompasses the mill complex and worker housing along Wilson Street and Talbot Avenue built by the Talbots, was added to 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 1983.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts National Register of Historic Places in Middlesex County, Massachusetts Historic districts in Middlesex County, Massachusetts Buildings and structures in Billerica, Massachusetts Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts

See also

References