Evolution of a Mill: Before the Swimming Pools and Workout Rooms

Buildings and organizations grow and adapt to the needs of their communities. One example of this is our own Woodstock Recreation Center. The Woodstock Recreation Center property — which includes the Center’s main brick building, the Little Theater, two pools, and a basketball court — has gone through numerous changes over the past 230 years. In the course of this evolution, it has housed a variety of businesses — ranging from a woolen mill to a place to raise silk worms — before it became a recreation center.

The Woodstock Recreation Center is housed in the lower floors of an old factory building that was built in 1835 by the Woodstock Manufacturing Company.

The story of the site’s development began about 1790 when Stephen Powers built the first dam, followed by saw and grist mills, on what is now the Woodstock Recreation Center property. Stephen Powers was a doctor by trade and, as the first doctor in the area, he treated patients who lived as far away as West Windsor. This was no small feat since there were few roads, and when he made calls in the winter (with the snow four or five feet deep) he had to do so on snow shoes. Despite such demands on his time, for about thirteen years, he managed to oversee his saw and grist mills. It wasn’t until about 1803 that he sold the mill-privilege, buildings, and five acres of land to Henry Mower & Co.

As the new owner, Henry Mower decided to expand the mill complex he had purchased by adding a gin distillery and a malt-house. While one might think in early New England that most people would be averse to alcohol, quite the opposite was true. In the early days of Vermont’s history, people tended to imbibe quite heavily, and most meals included alcohol. In a 1991 article published by the Oxford University Press, William Joseph Rorabaugh, former Professor of History at the University of Washington, notes that “By 1770 Americans consumed alcohol routinely with every meal. Many people began the day with an ‘eye opener’ and closed it with a nightcap… By the 1820s whiskey sold for twenty-five cents a gallon, making it cheaper than beer, wine, coffee, tea, or milk. In many places whiskey was also less dangerous than water, which was frequently contaminated.” Consequently, Henry Mower’s decision to start two alcohol-related businesses comes as no great surprise. During his tenure, Mower also took on a partner, Samuel Chandler, and they ran the business under the name of Mower and Chandler for several years before Mower opted to dissolve the partnership.

Lyman Mower, owners of Mower’s Mills.

Over the next decade, both Henry Mower and Samuel Chandler passed away, and the mill changed hands several times, before it was sold to Lyman Mower in 1817.

The mill complex became known as Mower’s Mills, and it was managed by Lyman Mower often in conjunction with his brother, Benjamin F. Mower. Both Mowers were successful businessmen and attained noteworthy military ranks (Lyman becoming a general, and Benjamin a colonel). Despite the popularity of alcohol in the early 1800s, under their management, the gin distillery and malt houses were eliminated in favor of establishing a wool-carding and cloth-dressing business.

Within a few years, the Mower brothers had solidified their commitment to processing textiles by purchasing several new wool carding machines, including one that is touted in an advertisement as having “the finest number of Cards expressly for the purpose of carding Merino and fine Wool.”

Merino wool was still a relatively new type of wool in the United States, having only been introduced about a decade earlier to American farmers by William Jarvis. Jarvis, who had served as the US Consul to Portugal, was able to import a number of Merinos into the United States. The introduction of Merino sheep invigorated the sheep industry in New England by improving both the quality and quantity of wool raised. This, in turn, led to the proliferation of woolen mills that were necessary to process the wool.

In the same ad in which the Mower brothers rave about their new wool carding machine, they also indicate their payment policy for services rendered which, in a time when paper money and coins were often unavailable, included “wool, good Flannel Cloth, and most kinds of country produce received in payment, or a liberal credit will be given.”

Perhaps they later wished that their credit had not been quite so liberal because by the October 10, 1820, issue of the Woodstock Observer, Lyman and Benjamin Mower state that all subscribers whose “demands have become due” need to pay up or have their debt be turned over to an attorney. In the words of the Mower brothers, “Those who treat this notice with neglect will remember that their demands will then be examined; and should the age of any qualify them for the attorney’s use and benefit, they will be disposed of to the best advantage, and be controlled by us no longer.” The items that the Mowers brothers were willing to take as payments to settle a debt at this time included: “Beef Cattle, fat Sheep, Butter, new milch Cheese, Flax Seed, or Cash.”

The partnership of the two brothers ended four years later, as stated in a notice in the Woodstock Observer dated June 12, 1824, in which the two brothers appear to have divided their interests in the business by having those “indebted on notes” pay Benjamin F. Mower, and those who were “indebted on book” make payments to Lyman Mower.

Advertisement published by the local paper, The Woodstock Observer, in June of 1820.

Merino sheep. The introduction of Merino sheep into the American flocks greatly increased both wool production and wool quality.

Over the next few years, Lyman Mower’s interest in the property appears to have waned, and the mills were sold. The name “Mower’s Mills” was replaced several times over the next decades. One of the more notable names during this period of transition was the Woodstock Manufacturing Company. The Woodstock Manufacturing Company purchased the mill property in 1835 and built a large brick building (the lower floors of which are the present-day Woodstock Recreation Center), as well as a large boarding house and blacksmith shop. Following on the heels of the Company’s expansion efforts came the Panic of 1837, a financial crisis that led to a major depression and caused many factories across the country to close their doors. According to Henry Swan Dana’s History of Woodstock, very little work was done by the saw and grist mills while they were under the ownership of the Woodstock Manufacturing Company, and the brick factory building remained unoccupied except for a short period of time when it was used for raising silk worms.

In 1847, the mill complex was sold to Solomon Woodward. For the next thirty years, Woodward was one of the major employers in the Woodstock area. He also expanded the operations by adding several double tenements, the stone wool house, and other outbuildings. Despite such expansion efforts, during his tenure as mill owner, Woodward suffered a few setbacks. In the 1860s, he had some of his female workers walk off the job, demanding shorter working hours (apparently they were disgruntle over the requirement to work 14-hour days in the factory). A few years later, in November of 1872, the gas plant in Woodstock exploded. While many were inconvenienced by the loss of their gas lights, the Vermont Standard singled out Mr. Woodward as being the one most impacted. The newspaper states: “The loss of our gas works falls with peculiar hardship on Mr. Woodward. He had just got his factory under full headway but without gas his day is shortened two hours or more, which will make a difference in production.” Strikes and gas plant explosions aside, the wool industry in general was never able to recover after the Civil War to the boom period prices of the 1820s and 1830s, and ultimately Woodward closed the mills in 1877.

View of the back side of Solomon Woodward’s Woolen Factory (also known as “Woodward Mills”) around 1850. Detail taken from map published by Presdee and Edwards.

View of the mill complex, looking east. The brick mill building (present-day Woodstock Recreation Center) is in the background. In the foreground is the lumber yard for the saw mill, which is located to the right along with the grist mill.

After the closure by Woodward, the main mill building remained vacant, except for its use as a storehouse, until 1916 when a small group of men from Woodstock sought to re-start a business under the name of the Woodstock Manufacturing Company in order to make skis, bindings, sleds, ski-bobs, and other equipment for winter sports. These products had previously been manufactured by two enterprising brothers in Woodstock, Allan and Leo Bourdon, who assigned their patents to the new company.

The brick factory/mill building in the early 1900s.

A ski-bob going off a jump. A ski-bob was a type of sled with a short frame and long skis for runners.

By the 1940s, the mill property had once again fallen into general disuse, when Marianne Faulkner, a local philanthropist, decided to purchase and renovate it to be a community recreation center. In 1944, all but the cellar and two lower floors were removed from the brick building as part of Mrs. Faulkner’s renovation efforts.

In addition to work on the main part of the mill, over the next few years, the grounds were also re-landscaped. Peter Jennison notes in his History of Woodstock that the grounds included “a picnic area complete with fireplaces, grill and tables, badminton and paddle tennis courts; a children’s playground with slide, wings, teeters, and small stage for simple dramatics; a concrete basketball and hand ball court and horse-shoe pitching courts.” The old Wool House was converted into an auditorium for theatrical productions and spaces for arts and crafts, and the main brick building housed “four bowling alleys, a social room, office, small reading room, lower game room, a nursery school and kindergarten, and an upstairs classroom.” The new community center opened in 1950 and was dedicated to Mrs. Faulkner’s late husband, E.D. Faulkner. Jane Barnard, a local child, went on stage to present Mrs. Faulkner with a bouquet of flowers from the children of Woodstock.

Although the Woodstock Recreation Center’s facilities have evolved over the years (for instance, amenities such as the playground, picnic area, bowling alleys, and hand ball courts were removed in favor of swimming pools and work out rooms), the organization continues to provide athletic and recreational opportunities for people of all ages.

Marianne Faulkner