Pilgrim Mills is an 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 ...
located at 847 Pleasant 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 ...
. The mill was built in 1911 from red brick and was the first mill in the city powered entirely by electricity, provided from the local grid. It was one of the last mill complexes built in the city. The property 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 1983.
Description and history
The Pilgrim Mills complex is located east of downtown Fall River, on the north bank of the
Quequechan River
The Quequechan River is a river in Fall River, Massachusetts, Fall River, Massachusetts, that flows in a northwesterly direction from the northwest corner of the Watuppa Ponds, South Watuppa Pond through the heart of the city of Fall River, M ...
, south of Pleasant Street near 18th Street, and separated from Quarry Street by a strip of commercial development. The main buildings of the mill, its spinning and weaving houses, are three stories in height and built out of brick. A boiler house and chimney are attached to the west side, and a picker house is attached to the main mill at its northwest corner. A three-story brick storehouse stands angled to be parallel to Pleasant Street near the north end of the main mill.
The structure was designed by Charles W. Praray, a mill architect and engineer from
New Bedford
New Bedford (Massachusett: ) is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts. It is located on the Acushnet River in what is known as the South Coast region. Up through the 17th century, the area was the territory of the Wampanoag Native American pe ...
.
[''Fibre and Fabric'' 15 April 1911: 25. Boston.] Praray was the son of
Charles A. M. Praray, a prominent mill designer from
Providence
Providence often refers to:
* Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion
* Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in Christianity
* Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...
who had practiced with
Charles R. Makepeace, who had died in 1910. The contractors were Beattie & Cornell of Fall River.
At its peak of production, it had a capacity of 53,568 spindles.
In 1945 the factory was acquired by Louis Hand, Inc., which manufactured curtains. It was later known as Aberdeen Manufacturing and most recently as CHF Industries. The plant closed in March 2008. In May 2011 there was a plan to demolish the mill for residences, but it was rejected. The mill was occupied by a book warehouse
[book warehouse] https://www.heraldnews.com/news/20170302/dollar-book-outlet-closing-shop-on-saturday-march-11 that closed in 2017.
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
{{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts
Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts
Textile mills in Fall River, Massachusetts
National Register of Historic Places in Fall River, Massachusetts