Huge architecture: Mills of New Bedford, Massachusetts (Abandoned films 08b)

Introduction

New Bedford is a historic seaport, whaling town, and industrial city facing Buzzards Bay on the south coast of Massachusetts. 

According to Wikipedia, New Bedford was once known as "The Whaling City" because it was one of the world's most important whaling ports in the late-eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Whaling declined after the 1860s when petroleum was discovered in Pennsylvania and as overfishing almost eradicated whale populations around the world's oceans. 

Textile manufacturing replaced the whale trade (from Wikipedia):

In the midst of this decline, greater New Bedford's economy became more dependent on the textile industry, which began to eclipse the whaling industry in the late 19th century. The mills grew and expanded constantly, eventually comprising multiple sites along the Acushnet River. In 1875 alone, the Wamsutta Mills processed 19,000 bales of cotton into 20 million yards of cloth, which had a wholesale value comparable to that of the entire whaling catch, and continued to produce over 20 million yards of cloth yearly after 1883. The Wamsutta Mills remained the world's largest weaving plant until 1892.

My wife and I briefly visited New Bedford in late 2021 and looked at some of the monumental mill buildings. Many are empty now, but some have new uses, including residential. The New Bedford Economic Development Council prepared a City of New Bedford Historic Mill Inventory in 2008. You need to walk around some of the structures to see what huge businesses these must have once housed and image how many thousands of workers once toiled inside. We have seen similar huge brick mill buildings in Lewiston, Maine, in 2003 and Łódź, Poland, in 2016 (in a pre-Covid life).

New Bedford Harbor

Harbor Street, New Bedford. Note mill worker houses in the distance

Former power plant, Harbor Street (5cm ƒ/2 Summitar lens, orange filter)

Mill view from Gifford Street (taken from US Army Corps of Engineers hurricane surge barrier)

Clarks Cove

Clark's Cove is on the west side of the city, with Rodney French Boulevard running along the shore. We stopped at a driveway leading into a mill complex at 89 Rodney French. The gate was open and no one was around. I could not find a name of the complex or the name of the former milling company. The 2008 inventory does not list the original companies that operated these mills.

The Globe Furniture Company occupies part of the ground floor facing Rodney French. But most of the hulking complex appeared to be empty. The doors were secured and I could not go inside, but did not have enough time to look everywhere. 

The patterns of light and shadow were especially interesting in the harsh sunlight. I hope I can return with a 4×5" camera some day.

Details, patters, shapes, textures - no end to interesting photographic topics.

Workers' homes, Thatcher Street (digital image)

Another topic for a future visit is the worker housing that the cotton companies erected near the factories. The morning steam whistle would blow, and the factory workers walked to work.

I took the 2021 photographs on Kodak BW400CN film with my Leica IIIC rangefinder camera and the 5cm ƒ/2 Summitar lens. 

Architecture from our Industrial Past: Bates and Androscoggin Mills, Lewiston, Maine

Undated post card showing Bates Mill and canal, Lewiston, Maine (from Wikimedia)

Outflow canal, Upton Mills, Mill St., Lewiston (Kodachrome 64 film, Rolleiflex camera, 75mm lens)

Northern New England (USA) is full of former mill towns with amazing 1800s brick mill buildings. Most of these were built in the early- to mid-1800s on rivers, where water power could power the machinery. Most of these mills spun cotton or wool into textiles, while other factories produced shoes. These industries represent the early flourishing of the industrial revolution in the United States. 

The New England States and northern New York provided a perfect geology for our early industrial expansion because of the steep terrain, dependable rainfall, and hard rock geology. Rivers flowed down over numerous waterfalls where water wheels could be placed and a factory established. Flowing from hard rock terrain, the rivers flowed clean, and hydro projects were not plagued with silt and mud accumulation. Bustling towns grew up around these factories. Being close to the coast, merchants shipped manufactured textiles and other goods to ports like Portland, Portsmouth, Boston, or Providence for transshipment to Europe.

1910 photograph of the Androscoggin River (from Wikimedia)

Lewiston is the largest city in Androscoggin County, Maine. This part of Maine was populated by Quebec families and was incorporated as "Lewistown" in 1795. With the development of mills and the arrival of the railroad, the town boomed economically during the mid-late 1800s, attracting thousands of Quebecers to migrate. French is still commonly spoken. 

The textile industry's profits declined greatly after World War I. Starting in the 1950s, Lewiston's mills started to close (an example of early outsourcing, where textile companies shifted manufacturing to the US South, where labor was cheap and non-unionized). 

The status of these huge mill buildings has been fraught with economic and historic preservation issues. According to Wikipedia:

After a difficult economic period in the 1980s that saw high unemployment and downtown stagnation, several key events have led to economic and cultural growth, including the transformation of the historic Bates Mill Complex. Because the city took over the complex in 1992 after back taxes went unpaid, years of taxpayer frustration in the city's need to maintain the 1.1-million-square-foot (100,000 m2) behemoth led to two referenda (one non-binding vote, the other binding). Voters soundly supported the need to pursue redevelopment by maintaining the property and selling it to private developers. In 2001, the city sold three mill buildings to local developers. In 2003, Platz Associates sold the Bates Mill Complex, with the exception of Mill 5 and a small support building. For the next four years, a number of business enterprises expanded after Platz redeveloped the mill building. The Bates Mill complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in December 2010.

A relative who lives in Lewiston knew the manager of one of the redevelopment projects. His foundation intended to find new tenants for one of the magnificent old Bates Mill buildings. She made the connection and we all had the chance to tour the building and learn about the development plans. He generously let me take photographs inside.

Bates Mill #1 or #5, Canal Street, Lewiston (Ilford XP2 film, Rolleiflex 3.5E Xenotar, 1 sec. exposure)

These views of the cavernous halls give you a sense of the size of this building. Iron posts support huge timber joists, and the tongue-and-groove flooring felt solid enough to support tons of machinery. This was construction from an era when we were proud of what we built, and it was made to last decades.

This photograph shows how the iron posts hold up the ceiling joists. The fluorescent light fixtures would have been a post-World War II addition. The outer wall were brick bearing walls.

Sink for workmen (or ladies) to clean up

Hot water boilers

Former cooler or freezer (unknown purpose)

What an impressive building. I could spend hours wandering around and photographing the structure. The machinery had been removed long before we were there, and none of it was left.

Undated photograph of Androscoggin Mill, photographed by Drew & Worthing, 22 Tremont Street, Boston (from Historic New England, photograph number OVP0241)

After our tour, I drove a short distance west to the old Androscoggin Mills. At its peak, this was another massive complex of buildings, roads, and canals. I do not know how many of the buildings are still standing or which one I tried to check out. The one I approached was locked, but several out buildings were open or partly collapsing.

I tried the door, but it was jammed or locked. And the signs of a security service were a bit ominous.

Heat exchanger? Power House, Androscoggin Mill, Lewiston

Boiler in power house, Androscoggin Mill, Lewiston

This has been a very short tour of the two of the mills in Lewiston, I have more photographs from other towns along the Androscoggin River, but I need to scan them. Some are 120 size Kodachrome transparencies, which are mounted and do not fit in my scanner. A project for the future...

The black and white photographs above are from Ilford XP2 film exposed with a Rolleiflex 3.5E camera. I exposed the film at EI=400. Most exposures were 1 sec. long, and I placed the camera on beams or furniture to brace it. The XP2 has a long tonal range and is very sharp, perfect for this type of subject matter. Problem: when I recently looked at the negatives, they were deep purple color and seemed to be fading. Possibly the film had not been fixed properly. I decided to scan them before they deteriorated further. This is a chromogenic film (like color print film but monochrome only) and is usually considered to be less stable than traditional silver-based black and white film. 

Abandoned Textile Mills of Łódź

As I wrote in my previous article, Łódź, Poland, was once home to immense textile mills, making the city a major industrial center in the late 1800s and early 20th century. The city fell into major decline during the Great Depression and in World War II. During the communist era, the mills continued to function with captive markets in the Eastern Block. But the industry collapsed after the 1989-1990 fall of Communism because the industrial base had not been modernized and became uncompetitive in the international market. But the mill buildings remain. As of 2016, many have been redeveloped into technology centers, loft apartments, or malls. Some have been demolished, and some remain empty and semi-abandoned. Ten years ago, Łódź must have been an urban spelunker's paradise. But now, only a few of the unused mills seem accessible, although I am sure the local urban explorers know the interesting spots to visit.

This is an example of one of the former mills, this one visible from Ulica Przędzalniana. Some of these factory complexes extended for a kilometer. This building is unused, but just to its right (north), another factory had been converted into apartments. (By the way, we had fantastic weather in Poland. I used a polarizing filter to enhance the blue sky.)

This place off Księdza Biskupa Wincentego Tymienieckiego is beyond fixing. Many Polish names are like this - rather difficult for this foreigner to pronounce. Notice the quality of the brickwork. We learned that most of eastern Europe used brick for its industrial and monumental architecture. In western Europe, cathedrals were made of stone, but in eastern Europe, they were usually fantastic brick edifices. The quality of the craftsmanship was amazing. Even in the sewers of Łódź (great underground tour), the brickwork looked like artists embellished it to be visually perfect, even though only the sewer workers would ever see it. Remembers the sewer employees in the 1948 Orson Welles film, "The Third Man?" Similar teams of underground experts worked beneath Łódź. Regardless, that was the era when they built infrastructure to last and were proud of their work - in USA, we could sure use this philosophy.

We drove through a gate to visit this site, but a guard expelled us. No fun here.

This old factory, also off Księdza Biskupa Wincentego Tymienieckiego, may have been undergoing some sort of restoration or conversion.

Finally, across the side street from the previous factory, I found one with a pathway through the undergrowth. Aha, urban spelunkers have been here.

Notice how the original builders used reinforcing rods attached to iron rosettes to hold the walls together.

The stairs and halls were a bit intimidating, but they were reinforced concrete and still massive.

Amazing workrooms with concrete pillars. Three floors were reinforced like this, obviously designed to hold heavy machinery.

The urban artists have been at work.

The rooms in the tower would make fantastic loft apartments.

Anatewka Restaurant

All right, I couldn't resist. When you are done exploring abandoned factories, visit a pastry shop and have an espresso and pastry. After a few minutes digesting, take in a superb meal at Anatewka, which features classic eastern European Jewish cuisine. Yes, modern Poland is like this.

Click any photograph to expand it. These are digital images from my Fujifilm X-E1 digital camera with the Fuji 18-55mm and 14mm lenses.

Addendum: If you are interested in sewers, the web page sewerhistory.org: http://www.sewerhistory.org/photosgraphics/germany-poland-and-eastern-europe/ has an interesting discussion of sanitary sewer construction and culture in eastern Europe. You better be interested. That is where your stuff goes when you flush the loo.