Mill town

A mill town is a community that grew up around one or more mills or factories, usually on a river for water power in the days before electricity.

The term "mill town" can be complimentary or insulting. It is a compliment in that such towns have a clear sense of identity and local history, with personality that a suburb or "edge city" can't match. It is an insult in that the modern economy has passed by many mill towns, leaving them poor with tax rolls weighed by huge, empty factories, the relics of the Industrial Revolution.

In recent decades, many mill towns have tried to renovate long-empty mills, which often have high ceilings, huge windows from days when artificial lighting was difficult, and generous floor space. Many have become restaurants, nightclubs, offices or condominiums, a change made easier by the fact that the adjoining rivers which were grossly polluted in the mills' heyday have been cleaned up.

New England

Beginning with technological information smuggled out of England by Francis Cabot Lowell, large mills were established at New England in the early to mid 19th century. Mill towns, sometimes planned, built and owned as a company town, grew in the shadow of the industries. The region became a manufacturing powerhouse along rivers like the Housatonic River, Shetucket River, Blackstone River, Merrimack River, Nashua River, Cochecho River, Saco River, Androscoggin River, Kennebec River or Winooski River. In the 20th century, alternatives to water power were developed, and it became more profitable for companies to manufacture textiles in southern states where cotton was grown and winters did not require significant heating costs. Finally, the Great Depression acted as a catalyst that sent several struggling New England firms into bankruptcy.

"In the nineteenth century, saws and axes made in New England cleared the forests of Ohio; New England ploughs broke the prairie sod, New England scales weighed wheat and meat in Texas; New England serge clothed businessmen in San Francisco; New England cutlery skinned hides to be tanned in Milwaukee and sliced apples to be dried in Missouri; New England whale oil lit lamps across the continent; New England blankets warmed children by night and New England textbooks preached at them by day; New England guns armed the troops; and New England dies, lathes, looms, forges, presses and screwdrivers outfitted factories far and wide." -- Jane Jacobs, The Economy of Cities, 1969

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Connecticut mill towns:

Maine mill towns:

Massachusetts mill towns:

New Hampshire mill towns:

Rhode Island mill towns:

Vermont mill towns:

England

In England, the term "mill town" often refers to the historically textile-manufacturing towns of Northern England, particularly Lancashire (cotton) and West Yorkshire (wool).

Lancashire mill towns:

Yorkshire mill towns:

Company towns

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New England

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England