The Wannalancit Mills (formerly the Suffolk Mills) in

Lowell, Massachusetts Lowell () is a city in Massachusetts, in the United States. Alongside Cambridge, It is one of two traditional seats of Middlesex County. With an estimated population of 115,554 in 2020, it was the fifth most populous city in Massachusetts as of ...

is an early American

cotton mill A cotton mill is a building that houses spinning (textiles), spinning or weaving machinery for the production of yarn or cloth from cotton, an important product during the Industrial Revolution in the development of the factory system. Althou ...

, parts of which date to the 1830s at the earliest. Its namesake is a corruption of Wonalancet, a

sachem Sachems and sagamores are paramount chiefs among the Algonquians or other Native American tribes of northeastern North America, including the Iroquois. The two words are anglicizations of cognate terms (c. 1622) from different Eastern Al ...

or sagamore of the

Penacook Penacook, originally called "Fisherville", is a village within the city of Concord in Merrimack County, New Hampshire, United States. It lies along Concord's northern border with Boscawen. The name comes from the Pennacook tribe that lived in the ...

Native American tribe. Today the complex is home to office space, conference center, and university research facilities.

History

Operations

In 1830, the Suffolk Textile Company was established. Running off of

hydropower Hydropower (from el, ὕδωρ, "water"), also known as water power, is the use of falling or fast-running water to Electricity generation, produce electricity or to power machines. This is achieved by energy transformation, converting the Pot ...

and later

steam power A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be trans ...

, the mill's buildings were soon built during the mass building mills in the city. During the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

, the mill was closed and rebuilt. In 1926, the Suffolk Mills were sold. The

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

textile industry was in decline by

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and collapsed after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

yet the mill hung on. In 1950, the Wannalancit Textile Company moved into the mills, renaming them. In 1969,

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

n workers were brought in as they were skilled weavers and knew how to operate textile machinery. The mills finally closed in 1981.

Reuse

Today, the Wannalancit Mills are an example of adaptive re-use as they contain offices. Part of the mills are owned by the

University of Massachusetts Lowell The University of Massachusetts Lowell (UMass Lowell and UML) is a public research university in Lowell, Massachusetts, with a satellite campus in Haverhill, Massachusetts. It is the northernmost member of the University of Massachusetts public u ...

as well as Farley White Interests, a Boston-based real estate investment and development company. Farley White purchased 75% of the complex in 1998 and began a significant renovation and re-tenanting campaign. This effort culminated in the repointing of the property's smokestack. In 2000, the owners of the mill utilized their smokestack for the city's largest

Christmas tree A Christmas tree is a decorated tree, usually an evergreen conifer, such as a spruce, pine or fir, or an artificial tree of similar appearance, associated with the celebration of Christmas. The custom was further developed in early modern ...

, reaching 256 feet in height. Yearly lighting costs are around $30,000. In 2010, the "tree" wasn't put up as owners cited costs of lighting to be a determining cause. since that year the lighting has reappeared. In years when the lights are up, the tree uses 5,440 green bulbs placed on 32 cables anchored to a 102-foot diameter base. A 19-foot star is placed on top of the tree. Today the Mill is home to over 50 commercial tenants working in research, social services, environmental studies and communications product development.

References

{{University of Massachusetts Lowell Textile mills in Lowell, Massachusetts University of Massachusetts Lowell Middlesex Community College (Massachusetts) Cotton mills in the United States Articles containing video clips

History

Operations

Reuse

See also

References