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NPS Form 10-900 (Rev. 10-90) RECEIVED 2280 OMB No. 1024-0018 1088 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service OCT 9 200 National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NAT. REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES NATIONAL PARK SERVICE This form is for use in nominating or requesting determinations for individual properties and districts. See instructions in How to Complete the National Register of Historic Places Registration Form (National Register Bulletin 16A). Complete each item by marking "x" in the appropriate box or by entering the information requested.If any item does not apply to the property being documented, enter "N/A" for "not applicable." For functions, architectural classification, materials, and areas of significance, enter only categories and subcategories from the instructions.
Place additional entries and narrative items on continuation sheets (NPS Form 10-900a). Use a typewriter, word processor, or computer, to complete all items. 1. Name of Property historic name Cohannet Mill Ne. 3 other names/site number. 2. Location street & number_ 120 Ingell Street N/A not for publication city or town Taunton - vicinity state. Massachusetts code_MA countyBristol _code_005 . zip code 02780 3. State/Federal Agency Certification As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act of 1986, as amended, I hereby certify that this E nomination Brona Simon Signature of certifying official/Title Brona Simon, Deputy SHPO, MHC Massachusetts Historical Commission October 17, 2006 Date State or Federal agency and bureau In my opinion, the property - meets - does not meet the National Register criteria.
([ See continuation sheet for additional Comments.) Signature of certifying official/Title Date State or Federal agency and bureau 4. National Park Service Certification I, hereby certity that this property is: Mentered in the National Register - See continuation sheet. - determined eligible for the National Register - See continuation sheet. - determined not eligible for the National Register D removed from the National Register - other (explain): Date of Action Elbon D6. Beall 11:29.06 Cohannet Mill No. 3 Name of Property 5.
Classification Ownership of Property (Check as many boxes as apply) x private - public-local - public-State -public-Federal Bristol, MA County and State (Check only one box) x building(s) _district - Site _ structure - object Number of Resources within Property (Do not include previously listed resources in the count.) Contributing Noncontributing 4 building sites _ structures objects Total Name of related multiple property listing (Enter "N/A" if property is not part of a multiple property listing.) N/A 6. Function or Use Historic Functions (Enter categories from instructions) Industry/Manufacturing Facility 4 Number of contributing resources previously listed in the National Register Current Functions (Enter categories from instructions) Domestic/Multiple Dwelling Commerce/Business/Specialty Store Z.
Description Architectural Classification (Enter categories from instructions) _Other/Panel Brick Materials (Enter categories from instructions) foundation_Brick/Stone/Concrete walls. Brick and Stone roof other Synthetics/single-ply, elastomeric steel system Narrative Description (Describe the historic and current condition of the property on one or more continuation sheets.) NPS Form 1 10-900-2 (8-86) OMB Approval No. 102408x8 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Cohannet Mill No. 3 Taunton (Bristol), MA Section number 7 Page_ 1 Narrative Description The former Cohannet Mill No. 3 is located on a 6.57 acre site between Ingell Street and the Taunton River in the Weir Village section of Taunton, Massachusetts.
The site, just north of the intersection of Ingell, West Water, and Weir Streets, sits in the distended bank at a sharp bend in the river. The mixed-use vicinity includes commercial, municipal, industrial, and residential properties, primarily worker housing Typical of the 19t century factories in the city, Cohannet Mill No. 3 is a well-preserved, attractive grouping of four, 1 to 4- story, shallow-pitched roofed, reddish-brown brick buildings with minimal, utilitarian, Romanesque Revival detailing. The principal part of the complex consists of the main mill (Resource Number 1), perpendicularly oriented to Ingell Street. An attached Picker Room extends the mill longitudinally to the east. Projecting to the south, adjacent to the Picker Room, are the Engine Room (Resource Number 2) with smoke stack and to its west an adjoining Boiler House (Resource Number 3).
In 2004-2005, the main mill, engine and boiler rooms were the subject of a certified rehabilitation in which they were adapted to 64 units of affordable housing and approximately 19,299 square feet of commercial office and retail space. A free-standing Storehouse (Resource Number 4) stands to southwest of the main mill. The mill yard south of the building to the Taunton River has been paved as a parking lot. A very small, 1-story, irregular T-plan, office building originally located close to Ingell Street was removed sometime after 1950. Between 1937 and 1950, two, small,1-story, rectangular outbuildings, a store house (later used as an oil shed) and a shed (later used as a hose house) within that area, were removed. Another equally small outbuilding, originally used as a blacksmith shop, survived south of the freestanding store house at least until 1950.
Extant buildings display little ornamentation other than wooden cornices and regularly-spaced, oversized fenestration in segmental-arched window openings defined by radiating voussoirs (rather than the more common double or triple row lock arches utilized on the interior) and wooden sills. Other stylistic refinements are limited to the use of red mortar to create even colored walls and well-dressed, granite foundation blocks. Despite the introduction of electric lighting in the 1880s, abundant daylight continued to be the most important source of illumination to textile manufacture. Concentration of strength in the masonry pier construction maximizes the potential size of window openings. Regularity ofbays in the structure engenders consistency of the size and placement of fenestration promoting even lighting and ventilation.
This uniformity not only serves the pragmatic but also the aesthetic in providing a sense of organization and dignity to the elevations of the mill. Oversized, 6.5' wide x 12' high, windows of paired, 18-pane, fixed-sash beneath paired, operable, 6-pane transoms set in segmental-arched, angled openings, largely cover all elevations. Prior to the rehabilitation, nearly all window openings on the main mill were either in-filled with framing that left only the transoms exposed or accommodated undersized, residential-type, replacement windows. the certified rehabilitation. (continued) NPS Form 1 10-900-a (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 7 Page_ 2 OMB Approval No. 1024088 Original plans on file for Cohannet Mill No. 3 include only very basic floor plans and section drawings.
They do not credit a designer and no record of a contractor has been located. Details and materials are not provided, but standard mill construction is evident. Masonry pier walls support heavy timber framing; joist-less floors of heavy planks beneath the finish floor and laid directly on wooden trusses and similarly-designed, wide, shallow-pitched roofs covered with tar and gravel. Steel roof beams or trusses are found only in the roof of the one-story boiler house. This structure of Cohannet Mill No.3 adheres closely tothe construction guidelines ofthe Associated Factory Mutual (AFM) Fire Insurance Companies. Among the other features characteristic of the slow-burning system found in Cohannet Mill No. 3 mill are compartmentalization of the interior; enclosed, vertical spaces for the belt tower and dust chimney, fire- resistive doors and hatches and an absence of hidden, hollow spaces.
Remnants of original fire escapes remained on the south elevation, but had been completely removed from the north elevation. Departures from the recommended guidelines or typical mill construction are also found in Cohannet Mill No. 3. Even on some early mills, stairs were isolated to a projecting tower or "porch," to eliminate vertical avenues in which a fire could spread. Eventually, the towers also included standpipes and hoses to aid in firefighting. At Cohannet Mill No. 3, stairways were confined only by frame partitions onthe lower levels and were completely open on the third floor. Rather than the wooden posts with cast iron caps characteristic of the slow-burning construction system, cast iron columns with cast iron caps are utilized in Cohannet Mill No. 3.
Although they had been used in textile mills since the middle 1820s, cast iron columns had literally fallen into disfavor after the 1860 collapse of the Pemberton Mill in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Analysis of that failure revealedthe strength of cast iron was compromised by the vibration generated by textile-making machinery. In addition, although noncombustible, iron columns, unless insulated, were also known to lose structural integrity in the heat of a typical fire. As a result, mill engineers had subsequently returned to the perfection of wooden structural systems for textile mills. Fire suppression as well as prevention was also an important feature of slow-burning system.
In compliance with the recommendations of factory mutual insurance companies, hoses and buckets of water were in general supply and a wet system of Grinnell automatic sprinklers, which had become standard in AFM mills by the1890s, was utilized throughout Cohannet Mill No. 3. Night and Sunday watchmen were employed. To insure adequate water reserves, eight-inch water pipes with 6-inch branch lines fed by the city main crossed the site leading to six, double hydrants. Insurance maps indicate chemical fire extinguishers and two, twelve-inch water pipes running from the Taunton River to a well in the Engine House which supplied a 1,000-gallon, Blake Duplex fire pump were added between 1898 and 1908. Main Mill The principal portion of the 3-story, 30 x 9 bay, main mill measures 426' x 107'; separated by a fire wall is a 3-story, 107'x 107' Picker Room.
Although multi-tenanted for a number of years, Cohannet Mill No. 3 remained in the control of a single owner. In 2004-2005, the main mill, engine and boiler rooms were the subject of a certified rehabilitation in which they (continued) NPS Form 1 10-900-a (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 7 Page_ 3 OMB Approval No. 102448k8 Cohannet Mill No. 3 Taunton (Bristol), MA were adapted to 64 units of affordable housing and approximately19,299 square feet of commercial office and retail space. The shallow-pitched roof of the whole expanse is emphasized by a wooden cornice. A metal covering on support blocking had been applied to the wooden cornice.
The cornice beneath the metal casing is comprised of exposed rafters (from which decorative brackets were removed at time of cladding), vertical fascia, angled bracing to support a large, outfacing, crown molding attached to the underside of the roof deck. Smaller crown molding along the underside of the decking enframes each expanse between the exposed rafters. The metal enclosure was removed and the cornice was restored in the certified rehabilitation. Original pedestrian entries were limited to two: one in the westernmost bay of the south elevation; the other in the thirtieth bay of the north elevation. Each accessed stairways. Both entries have been altered.
On both the long (north and south) and the east side elevations of the Main Mill, several widow openings had been converted (often with the lowering of sills and instillation of brick in-fill at the upper portions and) to loading docks or pedestrian entries and have been variously surmounted by industrial canopies. These modifications were reversed in the rehabilitation. Window openings were restored and fitted with replacement sash in the certified rehabilitation. Historical photographs of the mill focus on the south elevation (Photo Nos. 1, 14 and 22), but little in the design distinguishes it as the facade. In bay 15 (from the southwest corner), a 3-story, 10' 6" x 12' 10" tower housed the only water closets for each floor. Its exterior is differentiated on each level by a smaller, but identically detailed, segmental- arched windows.
Paired, 6-pane sash windows punctuate each level of its south elevation; half-width, but full-length, single, 18-pane, fixed-sash windows beneath a single, operable, 6-pane transoms are located on its side (east and west) The original, pedestrian entry in bay 1 had been modified with the addition of brick in-fill to lower the upper portion and allow the installation of a modern, commercial, metal-and-glass door assembly with transoms and sidelights. The regularity of the remainder of this elevation had been interrupted by similar modifications made to window openings in Bays 6 and 10. Frame in-fill enclosed the upper part of the windows, sills have been lowered to allow pedestrian access over new stairs to commercial, metal-and-glass door assemblies with transoms and sidelights sheltered by small, metal canopies.
Amodern, concrete loading dock including frontstair access and metal canopy (partially removed) nearly spaned Bays 16-20. Brick in-fill and overhead doors had been installed in Bays 18 and 20. The main residential entry of the rehabilitated mill is located in this area (Photo Nos. 24 and 25). The existing overhead door and brick in-fill was removed from Bay 20 and the first floor window opening in Bay 21 was lowered to floor level. Sheltered by a tube steel canopy and replacement transoms these openings allow access from a brick-faced stair and ramp to the new recessed entry fashioned of glass and aluminum storefront assembly. Window sash and spandrels had been altered to accommodate a pedestrian door in Bay 23. An exterior door and bulkhead accessing the basement had been created in Bay 28. Both were removed in the rehabilitation.
A projecting, rectangular, 7' 8" x 21' 4" dust chimney continues to occupy the easternmost, two bays of the south elevation. The regularity of the long north elevation (Photos No. 3, 4, 16,17, 18,19 and 20) of the main mill is interrupted by projecting flues or vents built into projecting brick channels that span the full width and almost full height of the masonry piers. Beginning in the third bay from each end, they are spaced four bays apart. Each incorporates a granite watertable at each story. Bays 38, 39 and 40 on the first floor are blank; the windowless space denotes the interior expanse of the (continued) NPS Form 1 10-900-a (8-86) OMB Approval No. 102408K8 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number Page_ 4 waste room.
Modern alterations largely consisted of the creation of loading docks in former window openings. A loading dock, including lateral stair access and canopy, nearly spaned Bays 1-6. It included a pedestrian door in Bay 3 and a metal overhead door in Bay 6. An overhead door with canopy and concrete loading dock with front access stair had beer installed in Bay 10. Overhead doors with canopies occupied Bays 22 and 27. Each of these modifications were restored to window openings with replacement sash A fire wall at the east end of the main mill separates the picker room. In-filled window openings on the third floor of this wall confirm the 2-story original height of picker room. Insurance maps and advertising photographs indicate the third floor was seamlessly added to the Picker House end of the main mill before 1898.
An original loading dock which remained on the first floor in Bay 31 became the entry for commercial space (Photo Nos. 18 and 19). A replacement transom was installed above a new recessed entry (exterior vestibule and vestibule) of glass and aluminum storefront assembly accessed by a concrete ramp and stairs with painted steel railings. A similarly-designed, residential entry, sheltered by a steel canopy, was fashioned at the loading dock in Bay 22 of the north elevation (Photo Nos. 19 and 20).. The west elevation (Photo Nos. 2 and 15) of the main mill facing Ingell Street remained nearly intact. Frame infill, as previously described, had been installed in the window openings and the loading dock at the center bay on the first floor, but original, double-leafed, heavy timber, diagonal-plank doors remain in the loading docks at the center bay of the second and third floors.
Each loading dock is protected by a granite sill. A new, residential entry, similar to that installed on the north elevation was created in the opening of the former loading dock in the center bay of the first floor of the west elevation. Also noteworthy are the shaped, granite bollards at each corner of the building. On the east elevation (Photo Nos. 5 and 21), window openings in the first (southernmost) and seventh bays had been converted to a loading docks, the first with an overhead door the latter with double-leafed doors. A concrete platform with lateral ramp on the north and south spanned the fifth through seventh bays. Original loading dock doors remained in place above the granite threshold in the fifth bay of the second level, but had been replaced with a modern, wooden, flush-panel, double-leafed door on the first floor.
As on the east elevation, a new, residential entry, similar to that installed on the north elevation, was created in the opening of the former loading dock in the first floor of the east elevation. Three transoms without windows and a doorway in the ninth and tenth bays on the first level denote the waste room. The first floor of the main mill west of the fire wall was devoted to carding. The upper levels in this area were utilized for that area of a textile mill, partially-cleaned, loosened bunches of baled cotton were placed into a group of devices called a blending machine, synchronized to combine proportioned amounts of varying grades of cotton. Matted cotton and waste yarn, salvaged from other operations, was fed into a waste machine which beats, separated and fluffed them in preparation for reuse.
Cotton from the blending and waste machines was fed into the breaker picker which also partially cleaned the raw cotton by beating and fluffing and created wide sheets of loosely-matted cotton called lap which is further cleaned and fluffed by the finisher picker. The process produced highly-combustible dust which created a major fire hazard. As a result, picker houses were often isolated to freestanding buildings apart from other operations. But at Cohannet Mill No. 3, the firewall, dust chimney and automatic sprinkler system allow the picker house to be adjoined so as to be undifferentiated from the main mill. (continued) NPS Form 1 10-900-a (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 7 Page_ 5 OMB Approval No. 10245818 Cohannet Mill No.
3 Taunton (Bristol), MA Along the north elevation of the first floor, two other functional areas were walled off from the picker room; a waste roon existed in the northeast corner, defined on the exterior of the east elevation by windows the size of the transoms and a doorway at ground level and on the north elevation by a blank wall area curtailed by the first vent channel. It is separated by a single bay from the next walled-in space, the store room serviced by the loading dock which remains in Bay 31 of the north elevation. The second floor of the area east of the fire wall was used for winding, the third floor for speeding and Engine Room and Boiler House The 1 ½ -story, 6 x 7 bay, 71' x 73' 10" Engine Room (Photos No. 1, 7, 22 and 23) is attached to the main mill by a single bay, 1- story, 9' 6" x 38' hyphen which housed the belt wheel.
The original, wooden cornice on the nearly-flat roof of the Engine Room remains exposed and intact. A 24' x 32', approximately 14'-high monitor (not original to the building; date unknown) comprised of 2 masonry and 2 metal-shingle clad, frame walls with 8 window openings was removed in the certified rehabilitation. It stood adjacent to the smoke stack which has been shortened (date unknown). On the west elevation of the Engine Room in the fourth bay from the southwest corner, a modern, gable-roofed, wooden porch and wooden stairs had been added to shelter an original doorway where frame in-fill and a modern, aluminum and glass door had been installed (date unknown). Other than the frame in-fill of window openings, the 7-bay, south elevation of the Engine Room remained intact.
The single opening on the E elevation had been converted (date unknown) to a loading dock with concrete platform and modern, overhead door beneath an oversized transom. On the south elevation of the 1-story, 5 x 4-bay, 48' 10" x 53' 8" Boiler House (Photos No. 6, 7, 21 and 22), all openings had been altered. The westernmost window bay (Bay 1) had been has been enlarged and modified with brick in-fill and wood framing to create an entry with a modern, wooden door. The brick and wood-frame in-fill and modern, 6-panel wooden door was removed from the westernmost bay of the south elevation. In the certified rehabilitation, a replacement transom and new, recessed entry of aluminum storefront assembly similar to the main entry was installed. The opening in the fourth bay has been in-filled with brick to allow installation of wooden framing and louvered panels.
Replacement sash and transoms were installed in the window openings. On the east elevation of the Boiler House, a large opening had been created near the southeast corner and fitted with a flush-panel, double-leafed door. This opening was in-filled with brick in the rehabilitation. On the northern end of the east elevation, a larger opening where frame in-fill and a sliding door had been installed of the Boiler House a new pedestrian entry with concrete stairs has been created. Mezzanine levels with stairs which had been added in demised sections of the Boiler House were removed. The north elevation of the Boiler House has been incorporated into a single-story addition (date unknown) to meet the south elevation of the main mill and the west elevation of the dust chimney.
(continued) NPS Form 1 10-900-a (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 7 Page_ 6 OMB Approval No. 10240848 Store House Southwest of the main mill stands a 4-story, former cotton Store House which remains substantially unaltered. A wooden cornice, similar to that on the main mill engine and boiler rooms, emphasizes the broad, nearly-flat, pitched roofline. The west elevation (Photos No.8 and 13), facing the mill yard, is blank except for a double-leafed, iron door at ground level set into a segmental-arched opening with radiating voussoirs. The north and south elevations (Photo Nos., 8,9, 12 and 13) are nearly identical. Both are punctuated on each level by four, small, segmental, double-row, lock arches fitted with four, horizontal-pane sash. The south elevation (Photo Nos.
8 and 9) is distinguished by an additional row of such fenestration at ground level where the north elevation is blank. Full-width across the rear (east) elevation (Photo Nos. 10 and 11) is a loading dock which served the rail siding which extended from the rear of both buildings to the line of the former New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad which serviced the site. Previously, a freight platform also extended in a curve from the store house to beyond the middle of the rear elevation of the main mill. The upper two floors of the east elevation of the Store House are divided into seven bays by the same fenestration. A doorway for the loading dock centers the east elevation. Like the doorway on the west elevation, it is detailed with radiating voussoirs. Although metal plates have been applied, double-leafed, heavy timber doors remain.
Interior floor clearances are low, such as fire insurance officials recommended for warehouses with heavy stock, to prevent goods from being piled so high that floors were overloaded. Archaeological Description While no ancient Native American sites have been identified on the mill property, sites may exist. Four ancient sites are known in the general area (within one mile). Environmental characteristics of the property represent locational criteria (slope, soil drainage, proximity to wetlands) that are favorable for the presence of ancient sites. The mill occupies a level to moderately sloping riverine terrace at a sharp bend in the Taunton River; a documented regional locus for Native settlement. Soils in the area are classified as urban land indicating their natural characteristics have been altered or obscured by urban development making identification impossible.
Given the above information and the extent of industrial development on the 6.57 acre lot, a low to moderate potential exists for locating ancient Native American resources on the property. Undisturbed or truncated Native resources may survive in buried areas under rail lines and paved locations. A high potential exists for locating historic archaeological resources on the mill property. Structural evidence may survive from four late 19th buildings originally built on the mill property. A small, 1-story, office building located close to Ingell Street was demolished sometime after 1950. Two outbuildings, a storehouse (also used as an oil shed) and a shed (later used as a hose house) originally located in the mill yard area were removed between 1937 and 1950. Another outbuilding, originally used as a blacksmith shop, survived south of the freestanding store house until at least 1950.
Trash areas may also exist anywhere on the mill property. (end) Cohannet Mill No. 3 Name of Property 8. Statement of Significance