University of Massachusetts Amherst

From the SelectedWorks of John R. Mullin

2001

Revitalizing the Old Mill Town of Maynard, Massachusetts John Mullin

Available at: https://works.bepress.com/john_mullin/78/ ,. ·1

, ' >

Revitalizing the Old Mill Town of Maynard, Massachusetts

John Mullin

Virtually every planner 1 know has ian New England attraction that gets visited some part of New England as a less attention: the mill towns. The vil- tourist, student, or participant in a pro- lages and cities that grew up along such fessional meeting. Invariably, the visi- rivers as the Androscoggin, Deerfield, tors recall with pleasure Boston's idio- Merrimac, Nashua, Housatonic, and syncrasies (its crooked streets and Blackstone were the first centers of in- compactness, even its residents' driving dustrial power in the U.S. Jane Jacobs habits); the vast beaches of Cape Cod; summed up their importance in The the tidy villages nestled in the hillsides Economy a/Cities: of rural Vermont-model towns for "In the nineteenth century," she many of today's new urbanists. wrote, "saws and axes made in New Those who are about to subsidize England cleared the forests of Ohio; their children's higher education often New England ploughs broke the prairie combine business with a side trip to one sod; New England scalesweighed wheat of the region's unique college towns- and meat in Texas; New England serge Hanover, New Hampshire, for instance, clothed businessmen in San Francisco; or Northampton, Massachusetts. New England cutlery skinned hides to But there's another, more utilitar- be tanned in Milwaukee and sliced

Originally published as "Mill Town Roots, "Planning, Vol. 64, No.3, March, 1998. Published by the American Plan- ning Association, 122 South Michigan Avenue, Suite 1600, Chicago, Illinois 60603-6107. Reprinted with permis- sion oj the publisher. 323 324 The Case Studies(Mullin) apples to be dried in Missouri; New petition, even from within. How, for in. England whale oil lit lamps across the stance, could the mill villages compete continent; New England blankets with the efficiencies and technological warmed children by night and New advances found in the larger industrial England textbooks preached at them by cities such as Lowell, Lawrence, and day; New England guns armed the Chicopee? troops; and New England dies, lathes, The downhill slide hastened after looms, forges, presses, and screwdrivers World War I. Mill owners had to look outfitted factories far and wide." farther afield for raw materials and spend more to transport finished prod- ucts. More important, the skills of Downward Slide southern workers had dramatically im- proved. Health regulations and labor re- By the beginning of this century, forms in New England added new costs faced with competition from other re- to production while companies scram- gions, the mill towns had lost their com- bled to keep pace with technological and petitive edge. They gradually entered infrastructure advances. into a decline that in somecasespersists World War II and the Korean War to this day.There are plenty of examples temporarily bolstered the market for of such "losers" in the isolated areas New England products, but by the along the banks of the Quinebaug River 1950s,the mill communities were clearly in Connecticut, the Kennebec River in failing. Industrial analysts and planners Maine, and the Shetucket River in alike saw little hope for these de- Rhode Island. pressed-and depressing-communities. Some communities were able to adapt. Villages like Peacedale,Rhode Is- land, have attracted a variety of small Miracles Don't Last businesses to their mill complexes.The larger industrial town of Dalton, Mass- In the 1960s, a miracle occurred, at achusetts, has continued to succeed as a least a temporary one. Even as factories paper producer, and in Clinton, Massa- closed all over the region, entrepreneurs chusetts, the Nypro Corporation, a plas- began spotting the empty buildings as a tics manufacturer, has revitalized an old resource. A new set of industries began factory complex. The smallcity of Low- to replace those that had closed or relo- ell survived in part by becoming the na- cated. Stimulated by inventions, inno- tion's first national park with an indus- vations, and licenses acquired from and trial theme. by the region's universities, laboratories, The mill towns have always strug- and research and development centers, gled. From the beginning, they de- new companies emerged, enticed by the pended on the vagaries of water flow.If mill towns' inexpensive space and avail- the flow of the river was slow in late able labor. summer, production would come to a At the same time, the region's ser- halt. If the owners' financial condition vice industries began to realize that was unstable, the machines stopped. there could be substantial cost savings And, of course, there was always com- if they were to locate in these old Revitalizing the Old Mill Town ofMaJllarti. Massachusetts 325

structures.And finally, planners. indus- Winners and Losers trial development officials, and historic preservationistsbegan to realize the po- The Maynard story is not unique. tential of the old mill buildings, which The same sequence of boom-bust-re- were even beginning to develop a kind covery takes place in all six New Eng- of cachet. land states. At times the sequence occurs One building that caught the eye rapidly, while at other times it happens of investors was the behemoth Assabet painfully slow. Mill in Maynard, Massachusetts, just .: Three types of mill communities west of Boston. Built in the 1840s, the can be clearly noted: There are those mill complex had been expanded to over that continue to struggle, those that are a million square feet by 1952, when it performing quite well, and those with was closed by the American Woolen promise. Company. The strugglers are isolated. They Thanks in part to the efforts of do not have easy access to modern high- town officials, the old woolen mill grad- ways, they don't have modern telecom- ually began to fill up with some of the munications, and in some cases they lack growing industries that were emerging water or sewer capacity. They also have in the Greater Boston area. The new a history of attempting to keep indus- users included plastics and paper com- tries that are destined to leave anyway. panies, millworking operations, ware- Some of the most vivid examples housing firms, printers, and stereo man- can be seen in the mill towns along the ufacturers. A major coup was the Mohawk Trail in West Central Massa- attraction of the Digital Equipment chusetts. Once proud centers of furni- Corporation. ture, cutlery, and precision tool manu- By the early 1960s, the mill was vir- facturing, these towns have not for the tually fully occupied and the town had most part been able to attract or develop become relatively prosperous. In a new growth industries. strange turn of events, Digital continued It is these towns where a cycle of to grow and grow until, by the 1970s, despair has set in and where state sta- the mill was again occupied by one com- tistics on high school dropouts, unem- pany, and Maynard was once again ployment, teenage crime, and children dominated by one industry. needing medical help show the depths But then came a new bust. By the of the troubles they face. The mills re- late 1980s, as the Massachusetts com- main, the people remain, but the jobs puter boom declined and the severe re- are gone. Pockets of such mill villages cession of 1989-90 struck, Digital con- can be found in all six New England solidated its operations. The company states. closed its Maynard operation in 1990 Meanwhile, the good performers and sold the mill. Four years later, the continue to grow and attract (and shed) new owners began to market the struc- new industries on a regular basis. Most ture and expect to fill it, once again, over noticeable are the communities clus- the next three years. tered around the plastics center of Leo- minster, Massachusetts. Firms through- out this region have slowly and steadily 326 The Case Studies(Mullin) shifted their focus from low-end prod- dustrially zoned land is available ucts (e.g., plastic forks) to sophisticated for a variety of companies. high-value products such as night vi- • Preserve what should be preserved. sioning devices. They have also placed Work with the owners of empty high valueon research and development mills to make sure that the struc- and have even created a plastics mu- tures are minimally heated and seum.The firms (and eventhe museum) protected from vandals. Once are located in old, revitalized struc- water damage or frost buckling tures. occurs, the expense of renovation As for the communities that show increases dramatically. promise, there are too many to name. In • Recognize that not all structures my consulting work I have noted a are worth saving. Selectivedemo- significant growth in requests for pro- lition can create open space,elim- posals concerning the revitalization of inate the most blighted buildings, old mills throughout the six-state re- and allow the best structures to gion.As the economycontinuesto boom be seen-a key marketing feature. and industrial land becomes scarce, Our rule of thumb is that 10 per- firms are looking at these mill commu- cent of New England's vacant nities with renewed interest. mills are economically recover- able. • Make sure that regulatory prob- Some Lessons lems are addressed. Few of these structures comply with the The experiences of these towns is Americans with Disabilities Act, not confined to New England. The OSHA standards for elevators, American landscape is littered with old floodplain standards, and local mining towns, railroad towns, and fac- zoning and building code ordi- tory towns that have lost their reason for nances. As long as such problems being. Many of these towns, because remain, there will be little incen- they developed much later than the New tive to revitalize the structures. England mill communities, may be un- Some of the problems cannot be dergoing changes for only the first time. overcome (i.e., the mills are often These are some of the things plan- within 15 feet of a frequently ners in such communities should keep in flooding river). However, local mind. zoning, ADA, and OSHA issues can be resolved. • Don't count on an industry staying • Work through a public-private put. Planners should focus more partnership. Grants from the on the structure than the occu- Economic Development Admin- pant. Everyone gets excited when istration may be obtained through IBM or Mercedes comesto town, local and county planning agen- but what happens when the high- cies or state economic assistance end company leaves and is re- agencies. placed by ''AverageWarehousing, • There must be tax relief.Too often, Inc."? Make sure that enough in- communities see the mills simply 327 Re't'italiz.ing the Old ,\lil/ '{awlI af,\lII)'llI/rtf, ,\li/BtlchuH'1Is

dence, Springfield, Portland, Nash~a) 1S a source of property tax rev- arc likely to do well because there IS a enue. They are reluctant to pro- steady demand for inexp~nsive sp~ce. vide abatements or to lower a With long-term economiC strategies, structure's assessed value. That tactical grant writing, regulatory assis- approach may be shortsighted. tance, infrastructure improvements, and Tax abatements and tax incre- a public-private partnership, 1 am ment financing programs are fre- confident that the mill towns within quently key to stimulating revi- commuting distance will survive. talization. Those that have cachet will also re- Target your marketing. In New cover. For example, the mill communi- England, industrial marketers are ties located in the Blackstone and rarely able to attract firms from Qyinebaug river valleys are now part of distant regions. It is generally best federally designated heritage corridors to identify firms that are expand- and will be the beneficiaries of direct ing in your region and to develop and indirect federal assistance. Further, packages that will attract them to they have the good fortune of being lo- the community. cated along newly improved state and Move quickly after a firm leaves the mill. Any industrial occupant is interstate highways. 1 am less optimistic about the small better than none. An occupant will at least maintain the build- and isolated communities that are well ing. Moving quickly is also a way beyond an easy commute to metropoli- to make sure that the commu- tan areas and that have not benefited nity's skilled workers stay put. from tourism. It is here that planners' • Most important, commit to a long- skills will be most tested. term strategy. The recovery of But there's reason for optimism. ~ill towns is almost always slow, These small mill communities are in- incremental, and complex. deliblya part of our national psyche and Nonetheless, it is worth the effort. our heritage. They were envisioned as the answer to Blake's "dark Satanic mills" and Dickens's "Coketown." And Predictions in many cases, they fulfilled their mis- sion. The motto on the town seal of The future of these communities is Thetford, Vermont, summarizes the quite mixed. Those that are close to the ideals of these towns: "Scenic Beauty- region's major economic engines (met- Indu,stry-Agriculture." They are indeed ropolitan Boston, Worcester, Provi- special places.