The Russell Company Upper Mill is an historic structure in

Middletown, Connecticut Middletown is a city in Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States. Located along the Connecticut River, in the central part of the state, 16 miles (25.749504 km) south of Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford. Middletown is the largest city in the L ...

, at the junction of Russell Street and East Main Street in South Farms, at the end of East Main Street's commercial and industrial development areas. Built in 1836, it is 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 ...

. There is a small pond to the south. Small businesses border the street to the north, followed by the buildings of Russell Manufacturing Company, the area's most dominant feature. Russell Street crosses Sumner Brook nearby and ascends to a large residential district to the west. The mill is currently a condo-apartment complex.

Significance

This factory was erected by the Russell Manufacturing Company in 1836, and is the oldest surviving

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 ...

building in the city. It was incorporated in 1834 by Samuel Russell, Samuel Hubbard. In 1841 it was the first site where elastic webbing was produced on

power loom A power loom is a mechanized loom. Shuttle looms The main components of the loom are the warp beam, heddles, harnesses, shuttle, reed, and takeup roll. In the loom, yarn processing includes shedding, picking, battening and taking-up operations ...

s.National Register of Historic Places
/ref> By 1896, it manufactured a wide variety of woven products and was the nation's largest manufacturer of

suspenders Suspenders (American English, Canadian English), or braces (British English, New Zealand English, Australian English) are fabric or leather straps worn over the shoulders to hold up skirts or trousers. The straps may be elasticated, either entir ...

. Approximately 900 workers were employed in the company's seven mills. The original brick structure, identified as the "Webb Mill" on the 1859 Walling map, runs parallel to Sumner Brook. A

mill race A mill race, millrace or millrun, mill lade (Scotland) or mill leat (Southwest England) is the current of water that turns a water wheel, or the channel ( sluice) conducting water to or from a water wheel. Compared with the broad waters of a m ...

once flowed through it. The long main factory section has a

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

d roof trimmed by a

corbel In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal keyed into and projecting from a wall to carry a wikt:superincumbent, bearing weight, a type of bracket (architecture), bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in t ...

ed brick

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative Moulding (decorative), moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, ar ...

moulding. The exterior has vertical metal supports that reinforce the brick walls. The two mansard roofed

ell An ell (from Proto-Germanic *''alinō'', cognate with Latin ''ulna'') is a northwestern European unit of measurement, originally understood as a cubit (the combined length of the forearm and extended hand). The word literally means "arm", an ...

s, added prior to 1874, have a number of gabled

dormer A dormer is a roofed structure, often containing a window, that projects vertically beyond the plane of a Roof pitch, pitched roof. A dormer window (also called ''dormer'') is a form of roof window. Dormers are commonly used to increase the ...

s. A smokestack and decorative towers that crowned different parts of the roof were removed after 1896. The building, and nearby dam and pond, reflect South Farms' early industrial history. The Russell Manufacturing Company's success transformed the area into a thriving city district. Three company factories bordered the brook here in 1850; today, only this structure remains.

References

* ''Middletown, Connecticut Historical and Architectural Resources''. Volume II, Card Number 99. Robert Svec. October 1978. {{National Register of Historic Places Industrial buildings completed in 1836 Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Connecticut Buildings and structures in Middletown, Connecticut National Register of Historic Places in Middlesex County, Connecticut Textile mills in the United States Belts (clothing)

Significance

See also

References