The Walker Woolen Mill was built in

Wilton, Maine Wilton is a New England town, town in Franklin County, Maine, Franklin County, Maine, United States. The population was 3,835 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Situated beside Wilson Pond, the former mill town is today primarily a re ...

, in 1840, using virgin and virtually extinct forest pine from the southern

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. It was largely built over the next 40–50 years, with local large local pine and wood eventually shipped using the

transcontinental railroad A transcontinental railroad or transcontinental railway is contiguous railroad trackage, that crosses a continental land mass and has terminals at different oceans or continental borders. Such networks can be via the tracks of either a single ...

. Maine is the most wooded state in the United States, and has a long history of manufacturing everything from shoes to paper. Owner Charles Forster is called the "father of the toothpick" and built the world's first toothpick mill here in 1881. Once owned by New York real estate magnate

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

as part of a greater acquisition of other properties, the site is famous enough to commonly have its own postcard still sold on

eBay eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became a ...

, and a lively recent history, with recent attempts to dismantle it and sell the

steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...

and

wood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin th ...

that started growing 600 years ago coming against funding issues. Plans to take do a "hybrid deconstruction" that will necessitate using one of the world's largest

excavator Excavators are heavy construction equipment consisting of a boom, dipper (or stick), bucket and cab on a rotating platform known as the "house". The house sits atop an undercarriage with tracks or wheels. They are a natural progression fro ...

s to gently take down the four story structure and salvage the materials are in the works, and expected to commence April 2013.

References

{{coord missing, Maine Industrial buildings completed in 1840 Wilton, Maine Textile mills in Maine Wooden buildings and structures in the United States Buildings and structures in Franklin County, Maine Economy of Franklin County, Maine