![]() ![]() In 1869, 162 men, 105 women, and 35 children worked in the mill with the length of the working day being eleven hours! After Blackinton’s death, the mill was succeeded by William Pomeroy, his son-in-law, who had marketed the Blackinton product through his own woolen goods store in New York. After, the mill increased production and ran 24 hours a day with the only time the mill would close down would be for mill fires, machinery repairs, or low water supply. The mill increased production yearly and produced cloth during the Civil War for the Union cause. The complex is the Blackinton Woolen Mill, which was founded by Sanford Blackinton, who started his woolen mill on the banks of the Hoosic River in 1821 (later building his mansion closer to town). On the outskirts of North Adams, in the village of Blackinton, you will find this massive decaying mill complex slowly being overtaken by Mother Nature and time. The town, like many former industrial centers, has struggled to re-invent itself, but a growing population is a great indicator of good things to come! Hampshire County, Richardsonian Romanesque Architectural History, Architectural History Blog, Architecture, Architecture Blog, Central MA, Factory Town, Hartwell and Richardson, Hartwell Richardson and Driver, Historic Preservation, Industrial, Industrial Building, Industrial heritage, industrial history, Industrial Village, Industry, Massachusetts, Massachusetts Architecture, Massachusetts History, Massachusetts History Blog, Massachusetts Real Estate, Mill Town Massachusetts, Mill Towns, New England, New England Architecture Blog, New England Blog, New England History Blog, New England Mill Town, Town Hall, Ware MA, Ware Massachusetts, Ware Town Hall, Western Massachusetts Blackinton Woolen Mill // 1917 Sadly, a fire gutted much of the building in 1935, but the shell remains (though needing much repair). From this, a new Town Hall was needed, and where better to locate it, than the economic and population center of town?! The Ware Town Hall was built in 1885-1886 from plans by the prominent Boston firm of Hartwell & Richardson. “Ware Factory Village” sprang up overnight and formed the basis for new growth and development, to the east of the former town center. The post Civil War era (1860s–1900s) brought a new prosperity to the now established textile mill town. ![]() The Town of Ware began as a sleepy farming town with inns and taverns dotting the landscape until industrial sites were developed on the banks of the Weir River. The town was named after the English town of Ware in Hertfordshire. The town was first settled by white European colonists by 1717, and incorporated in 1775. I found myself in Ware, Massachusetts, a town with a history that parallels many in central and northern Massachusetts. After learning a little about some of the buildings in Dorset, Vermont, which were saved and relocated to the town from land flooded for the Quabbin Reservoir, I wanted to visit one of the surviving towns there to see it for myself. ![]()
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