The Plainfield Woolen Company Mill is a historic mill building on Main Street in
Plainfield, Connecticut
Plainfield is a New England town, town in Windham County, Connecticut, United States. The town is part of the Northeastern Connecticut Planning Region, Connecticut, Northeastern Connecticut Planning Region. The population was 14,973 at the 2020 U ...
. Built in 1901, the building played a vital role in revitalizing the local economy, which was stagnating at the time. It remained the site of active textile manufacturing until 1984. The building is a visually distinctive landmark in the community, in part because of its unusual
monitor roof
A monitor in architecture is a raised structure running along the ridge of a double-pitched roof, with its own roof running parallel with the main roof. The long sides of monitors usually contain clerestory windows or louvers to light or ventilat ...
.
The building was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
in 1985.
It has been converted into
condominia.
Description and history
The Plainfield Woolen Company is located on the south side of the town's Centre Village, on the west side of Main Street near its junction with Norwich Road. It stands on bounded by the road and the
Moosup River
The Moosup River is a river in the U.S. states of Rhode Island and Connecticut. It flows approximately .U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 1, 2011 The river is named a ...
, historically its source of power. The mill pond is southeast of the plant. The mill is composed of a series of attached brick buildings, roughly forming a J shape. The main structure of the complex is four stories in height, and is covered by a roof with a
monitor
Monitor or monitor may refer to:
Places
* Monitor, Alberta
* Monitor, Indiana, town in the United States
* Monitor, Kentucky
* Monitor, Oregon, unincorporated community in the United States
* Monitor, Washington
* Monitor, Logan County, Wes ...
section at its center.
[
The site of the mill had been used at least since 1827, when a ]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 good ...
was established there. By the later decades of the 19th century, that mill had suffered from repeated flooding and increasing competition from more efficient producers, and had failed. The size and scale of the Plainfield Woolen Company operation was larger, and was focused in the production of high end woolen fabrics for use in men's suits and coats. At its peak it employed 300 people, with the machinery mainly operated by men. The mill remained in some sort of textile production, under a series of ownership changes, until 1984.[
]
See also
*
References
{{National Register of Historic Places
Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Connecticut
Industrial buildings completed in 1901
Buildings and structures in Windham County, Connecticut
Textile mills in the United States
National Register of Historic Places in Windham County, Connecticut
Plainfield, Connecticut