The Jillson Mills (Officially known as the Willimantic Linen Company Mill Complex) is a mill complex in Willimantic,

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

. The mills produced cotton thread throughout the lifespan of the operation of the mill.

History

The mill was first built in 1824 in the same style as the current one by William Asa and Seth Jillson. In 1854 the old mill was purchased by investors from Hartford. They ended up forming the Willimantic Linen Company, even though they never produced

linen Linen () is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant. Linen is very strong, absorbent, and dries faster than cotton. Because of these properties, linen is comfortable to wear in hot weather and is valued for use in garments. It also ...

. The company ended up rebuilding the mill in 1880 to near its current state. The last mill built on the complex was built in 1910. The mill ended up under control by the

American Thread Company __FORCETOC__ The American Thread Building is a historic building located at 260 West Broadway on the corner of Beach Street in the TriBeCa neighborhood of lower Manhattan, New York City. The eleven story building was designed in the Renaissance ...

in 1898 due to the merger of the previous ownership of the mill. The mill was closed in 1985 due to the company moving operations to the

South South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...

Current Status

Mill #4 burned down in 1995 due to a fire caused by local children. The wooden swing bridge connecting the mills was closed permanently shortly thereafter. The mills lay dormant until the former grounds started to be purchased for commercial and residential purposes.

ArtSpace Artspace may refer to: * Artspace (website), an online marketplace based in New York City * Artspace, New Haven, an art gallery in downtown New Haven, Connecticut * Artspace Mackay, Mackay, Queensland, Australia * Artspace NZ, a visual arts cent ...

currently has its Windham apartments located in this complex. The old chimney was demolished between 2012–2014.

Garden on the Bridge

The Garden on the Bridge is located in the complex of the former mills. It is a stone

arch bridge An arch bridge is a bridge with abutments at each end shaped as a curved arch. Arch bridges work by transferring the weight of the bridge and its loads partially into a horizontal thrust restrained by the abutments at either side. A viaduct ...

built in 1857, that formerly was used for automobile until the

Frog Bridge The Frog Bridge (officially known as the Thread City Crossing) is a bridge located in Willimantic, Connecticut which carries South Street ( CT 661) across the Willimantic River. It is known as the Frog Bridge because it has four copper frog sculp ...

was opened in 2000. It is currently a pedestrian bridge with flora all over, giving the bridge a natural look. The bridge was temporarily closed until 2006 when it was reopened for its current purpose.

National Register of Historic Places

The complex 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 ...

on July 30, 2014 along with other historic mills across the section of the state. This makes it the one of 22 on the list in the town of Windham. File:American Thread Co. Mill.jpg, The main mill in the 1912 File:Willimantic River with bridge.jpg, leftThe Garden on the Bridge

References

External links