Davol Mills is a historic
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 ...
complex located at the corner of Plymouth Avenue and Rodman Street in
Fall River, Massachusetts
Fall River is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. The City of Fall River's population was 94,000 at the 2020 United States Census, making it the tenth-largest city in the state.
Located along the eastern shore of Mount H ...
. It was built in 1867 and expanded in 1871. It 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 as part of the
Corky Row Historic District The red brick mills are unique in the city, built in the
Second Empire Second Empire may refer to:
* Second British Empire, used by some historians to describe the British Empire after 1783
* Second Bulgarian Empire (1185–1396)
* Second French Empire (1852–1870)
** Second Empire architecture, an architectural styl ...
style.
History
The Davol Mills Company was organized in 1866, with nineteen persons, with initial capital set at $270,000, and named in honor of William C. Davol, a machinery builder who is credited with importing the Roberts Self-acting Mule from
Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...
to Fall River in the early 1840s. Mill No. 1 was built in 1867 at the corner of Rodman Street and Eight Rod Way (now known as Plymouth Avenue). The machinery was in operation by March 1868. The Davol Mills initially produced cotton shirtings, sheetings, silesias and fancy fabrics.
In 1871, Mill No. 2 was built along Hartwell Street, connected to the first mill. By 1917, the Davol Mills contained 44,000 spindles and 1,258 looms.
[1917 Textile World Journal, Clarence Hutton, Bragdon, Lord & Nagle, New York.] The company acquired the nearby
Tecumseh Mills in 1924. It shut down in 1935.
The site was recorded as part of the 1968 New England Textile Mills II, and photographed by
Jack E. Boucher of the
Historic American Buildings Survey
Heritage Documentation Programs (HDP) is a division of the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) responsible for administering the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), and Historic American Landscapes ...
.
See also
*
List of mills in Fall River, Massachusetts
The city of Fall River, Massachusetts once had over 120 cotton textile mills and was the leading cotton textile center in the United States during the late 19th century and early 20th century.
There are currently about 65 historic textile mills rem ...
*
References
{{Reflist
External links
Historic American Buildings Survey - Davol MillsDavol Mills, Fall River, Mass. - NYPL
Textile mills in Fall River, Massachusetts
Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts
Historic district contributing properties in Massachusetts
Buildings and structures completed in 1867
Cotton mills in the United States
National Register of Historic Places in Fall River, Massachusetts