Nomination for Old Schwamb Mill

From the form

The catalogue entry the section above was filed under.

SHOMLN Form 10-300 (July 1969) PH00|6322 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE HB NO uTm NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES INVENTORY - NOMINATION FORM (Type all entries - complete applicable sections) NAME COMMON: Old Schwamb Mill AND/OR HISTORIC: STATE: Mass. COUNTY: Middlesex FOR NPS USE ONLY ENTRY NUMBER DATE 1/10.25.0042 20/210 RECEIVED AUG 1971 LOCATION STREET AND NUMBER: 17 Mill Lane and 29 Lowell Street at Mill Brook CITY OR TOWN: Congres. Dist.

STATE Arlington Massachusetts CLASSIFICATION CATEGORY (Check One) District Site Building L Structure Object - CODE 20 COUNTY: Middlesex CODE 017 OWNERSHIP STATUS Public Private Both Public Acquisition: In Process L Being Considered *Occupied Unoccupied - Preservation work in progress ACCESSIBLE TO THE PUBLIC Yes: X Restricted Unrestricted No PRESENT USE (Check One or More as Appropriate) Agricultural Government Commercial Industrial Educational Military Entertainment Museum Park Private Residence Religious Scientific Transportation - Other (Specify) - Comments OWNER OF PROPERTY OWNER'S NAME: Schwamb Mill Preservation Trust STREET AND NUMBER: 17 Mill Lane at 29 Lowell Street CITY OR TOWN: Arlington LOCATION OF LEGAL DESCRIPTION COURTHOUSE, REGISTRY OF DEEDS, ETC: Middlesex Registry of Deeds STREET AND NUMBER: MASS.

STATE: Massachusetts CODE 20 CITY OR TOWN: STATE Cambridge Massachusetts CODE 20 REPRESENTATION IN EXISTING SURVEYS TITLE OF SURVEY: Mass. Inventory of Historic Assets DATE OF SURVEY: 1970 DEPOSITORY FOR SURVEY RECORDS: Massachusetts Historical Commission STREET AND NUMBER: Archives Museum, State House CITY OR TOWN: Boston Federal State County Local STATE: Massachusetts CODE 20 MIDILESEX 110.25.00k2 10/28 STATE: COUNTY: ENTRY NUMBER DATE FOR NPS USE ONLY DESCRIPTION (Check One) - Deteriorated CONDITION Excellent XI Good (Check One) Fair Ruins X Altered ] Unaltered DESCRIBE THE PRESENT AND ORIGINAL (if known) PHYSICAL APPEARANCE

Description of the property

Moved O Unexposed (Check One) X) Original Site The Old Schwamb Mill at 17 Mill Lane and 29 Lowell Street, Arlington, consists of three structures on a one and one-half acre site. The most notable of the three is the main factory which stands beside Mill Brook; it still con- tains the antique machinery--unique. face plate lathes, cutting tools, leather belt and wood pulley systems--used by five generations of the Schwamb family in custom-making picture frames. Parking space, formerly a mill pond, and a lane which bisects the property separate the main mill from two related buila- ings, a dry kiln and a wood storage barn. The Schwamb Mill is the third structure to stand on this site, follwoing a seventeenth century grist mill and the Woodbridge Spice Mill, which was in operation here by 1778.

The Schwamb family converted the Woodbridge building into a woodworking shop in 1847; it was dest oyed by fire in 1860 and the pre- sent mill, a close reproduction, was immediately built on the existing founda- tions. The Mill is a 2½ story, wooden building set on a foundation of granite boulders and handcut brick, and has a simple pitched roof. The boulders are m thought to have been put in place to strengthen the original grist mill. Tree trunk posts support the interior walls and floor timbers. The interior framing is original (1860) and in excellent condition, which is unusual for industrial Z buildings surviving from the pre-Civil War period. A flat-roofed ell was added to the western side of the mill c. 1870. This three-story addition contains paint, glue and sanding shops. An office ell was added to the southwest corner of the mill c. 1900.

C Allexteriorwall surfaces were originally covered with clapboards.They are pierced at random by entrance and loading doors and 6/6 double-hung, wood- y frame windows. The roof was once sheathed with wooden shingles but is now covered by asphalt paper stripping. The two other buildings in the Schwamb complex are the kiln (with sixty- foot tall brick chimney) where birch, poplar and basswood were dried and straightened before being made into frames, and a wood storage barn. The basement of the latter housed the water-wheel which once powered the mill's working machinery via a long, underground drive-shaft. When the mill was converted from water power, the wheel was replaced by a steam engine. In the 1930's the mill's machinery was adapted for electricity. The buildings in the complex are structurally sound.

The Schwamb Mill Preservation Trust, which now owns the mill building, hopes to purchase the barn, dry house and adjacent land. Plans are to remove the old wall covering on the Mill and replace clapboards and cornerboards, to install automatic heating equipment, to provide additional plumbing facilities, to insert new windows, and to renovate the storage barn. AU N R UCTIONS 5/ ECEIVED : 9 1971 ITIONAL GISTER

From the form

The catalogue entry the section above was filed under.

SIGNIFICANCE PERIOD (Check One or More as Appropriate) Pre-Columbian / 15th Century - 16th Century ] 17th Century 18th Century 19th Century 20th Century 'SPECIFIC DATE(S) (If Applicable and Known) AREAS OF SIGNIFICANCE (Check One or More as Appropriate) Abor iginal - Education Prehistoric Engineering Historic - Industry Agriculture Invention Architecture Landscape Art Architecture Commerce Literature Communications Military Conservation Music Political 1 Religion/Phi- losophy Science Sculpture Social/Human- itarian Theater Transportation Urban Planning offier (specity) LLEIVED AUG 9 197T HATIONK REGT STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE

Statement of significance

The Old Schwamb Mill is priceless as a document for the study of industrial culture. It is one of the few substantially complete examples of the family-owned craft industries which were once found throughout New England. During the nineteenth century, the Mill built a national repu- tation on the fact that it was one of the few places where one could have a picture frame made to his exact specifications. The firm's frames can be found not only inthe private collections and major museums of the na- tion ( Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; National Gallery of Art, Washington) but also in the White House. Today, the Mill is the only factory of its in the United States, still using antique machinery--unique face plate lathes, cutting tools, leather belt and wood pulley systems--to handcraft oval, circular, irregular and rectangular frames.

During the seventeenth century a grist mill was built on the Schwamb Mill site. By 1778, the Woodbridge Spice Mill was in operation here, pro- cessing spices brought in through the East Indies Trade. In 1847, Charles and Frederick Schwamb, two of five brothers who emigrated from Germany, purchased the Woodbridge property. They turned the spice mill into a woodworking shop, using European techniques in handcrafting picture frames. Fire destroyed the wooden mill building in 1860, but it was promptly rebuilt on the original foundations of granite boulders and handcut brick. Through five generations of Schwamb family ownership, the power for the Mill's lathes and saws came first from the waters of the nearby Mill Brook, then from steam made in the boiler of the dry kiln and, eventually, in the The Old Schwamb Mill is now being preserved as a living museum.

Cus- tom woodworking is being done in the traditional way, and Schwamb frames are still being shipped to galleries and frame shops throughout the coun- try. A number of professional artists and craftsmen have set up studios and workshops in the Mill, forming the Millbrook Art Center, which offers a variety of courses aimed primarily at young people.

The rest of the file

Bibliography, boundary description, and the people who prepared and reviewed the nomination.

MAJOR BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES Arlington, Massachusetts, Old Schwamb Mill. Records of the Clinton W. Schwam and Co. Hurd D. Hamilton. History of Middlesex County- Philadelphia, 1890. Mahoney, Joan. "Preserved Arlington Mill May Be One of a Kind." Boston Sunday Globe, January 18, 1970. Parker, Charles S. Town of Arlington: Past and Present. Arlington, 1907.

GEOGRAPHICAL DATA LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE COORDINATES LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE COORDINATES DEFINING A RECTANGLE LOCATING THE PROPERTY DEFINING THE CENTER POINT OF A PROPERTY CORNER LATITUDE LONGITUDE R OF LESS THAN TEN ACRES LATITUDE LONGITUDE Degrees Minutes Seconds Degrees Minutes Seconds Degrees Minutes Seconds Degrees Minutes Seconds NW 42 25' 30 NE 71 10 ' 42 SE SW APPROXIMATE ACREAGE OF NOMINATED PROPERTY: acres LIST ALL STATES AND COUNTIES FOR PROPERTIES OVERLAPPING STATE OR COUNTY BOUNDARIRR CODE AUG 9 1971 STATE: CODE COUNTY: CODE STATE: CODE COUNTY: NATIONAL REGISTET CODE STATE: CODE COUNTY: CODE FORM PREPARED BY NAME AND TITLE: Richard W.

Hale, Jr., Acting Chairman ORGANIZATION Massachusetts Historical Commission STREET AND NUMBER: Archives Museum, State House CITY OR TOWN: Boston DATE 7/12/ 71 STATE Massachusetts CODE 20 2 STATE LIAISON OFFICER CERTIFICATION NATIONAL REGISTER VERIFICATION As the designated State Liaison Officer for the Na- tional Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (Public Law 89-665), I hereby nominate this property for inclusion in the National Register and certify that it has been evaluated according to the criteria and procedures set forth by the National Park Service. The recommended level of significance of this nomination is: National X State X Local I hereby certify that this property is included in the National Register.

Cuuet A Carually Chief, Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation OCT 7 1971 Name ntKDo Date ATTEST: Title Secretary of Commonwealth and Chairman, Massachusetts Historical Conmission bolleau suu eeper of The National Regist Date 7/12/71 Date SEP 2 9 1971 NS RUCTIONS The Old Schwanb Mill, which the Schwemb Mill Preservation Trust is trying to save. The three-story mill on the right contains the unique fece plate lathes and other antique mechinery. The buildings across Mill Lane are the kiln, left, where lumber was dried and straightened before being made into frames and the wood storage barn, right, whose basement contained the steam engine that powered all the mill's machinery after conversion from water power and before conversion to electricity. MASSACHUSETTS ARLINGTON OLD SCHWAMB MILL PHOTO: 1969 - SCHWAMB HILL PRESERVATION TRUST. NPS Number 7/./0 25 0012 Title: Old 5chwams Loc..

Middleser Co 3- Pory m.ll wroid drying Kifn, Strnge baun UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES PROPERTY PHOTOGRAPH FORM (Type all entries -attach to or enclose with photograph) STATE Mass. COUNTY Middlesex FOR NPS USE ONLY ENTRY NUMBER 1110.25.0012 DATE 10/1/3/ NAME COMMON: Old Schwamb Mill AND/OR HISTORIC: LOCATION STREET AND NUMBER: 17 Mill Lane and 29 Lowell Street at Mill Brook CITY OR TOWN: Arlington STATE: CODE COUNTY: Mass PH0 8R: FERENCE 25 Middlesex PHOTO CREDIT: Schwamb Mill Preservation Trust DATE OF PHOTO: 1969 NEGATIVE FILED AT: A Schwamb Mill Preservation Trust IDENTIFICATION DESCRIBE VIEW, DIRECTION, ETC. General view, 3-story mill, wood drying kiln and storage barn. CODE 017 'Form 10-301 (Dec.

1968) UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES PROPERTY MAP FORM (Type all entries - attach to or enclose with map) AMB COMMON: Old Schwamb Mill AND/OR HISTORIC: LOCATION STREET AND NUM BER: CITY OR TOWN: 17 Mill Lane and 29 Lowell Street at mill Brook Arlington STATE: CODE COUNTY: Mass. 25 Middlesex MAP REFERENCE SOURCE: U.S.G.S. Lexington, Mass. SCALE: IL: 24,000 DATE: 1956 REQUIREMENTS TO BE INCLUDED ON ALL MAPS 1. Froperty broundaries where required. 2. North arrow. 3. Latitude and longitude reference. STATE Mass. COUNTY Middlesex FOR NPS USE ONLY ENTRY NUMBER 7/.10.25.0012 DATE 10/2/1 CODE 017 RECENVED AUG Q 1571 REGISTER <6 71° 42' Brattlo Heights RTOOR 5Sengtoxlitk ARLINGTON, MASS. Paul OLD SCHWAMB MILL U.S.G.S. Lexington, Mass. 1: 24000 1956 Belmont Wills Sch Winn Brook Little Pond Belmont ONT.

110- Can pit High Kendait Sch Bunbank (e T% Wzi 001 assan Park Meennetiousa Hill. Mt Trinity 1000 690 1 MILE 4000 5000 6000 7000 FEET 1 KILOMETER AL 10 FEET SEA LEVEL L MAP ACCURAGY STANDARDS c MYSTIC Mystic MYSTIC Cém M ED FORD Wes Hobb Jr Hich Schi RIVER 166 Cutler Sch BOSTON(CHARLES Nonth! Cambridg 21I Cambridge Sanatorium Jerrys Pond RINDGE BM 8 (Drive-in : Theater- sischaye CONCORO Clay Pif CAM BRIDG Fresh Pond Belmont Kingsley/A 46g BRATTLE Theologidal - Scn VItAg/buE WATERTOWN(JUNC.U.S. 20) 2 MI. INTERIOR-GEOLOGIC WELLESLEY 10 BOSTON (HARVARD BRIDGE) 3.8 MI. 324000m.E. 700 M24NW Reuci LROAD CLASSIFICATIONW.eS cao Heavy-duty. Medium-dutv. Light-duty Unimproved dirt = 42 7107/3 U. S. Route State Route MASS.

6 QUADRANGLE LOCATION 95t LEXINGTON, MASS N4222.5-W7107.5/7.5 1.7- ENTRIES IN THE NATIONAL REGISTER STATE Date Entered OCT 7 1979 Name Location O2d African Meetinghousa Old Sehwanb Mill Baldwin (Loamml) Manaion Ewin Lights Histordo Distziet Roston Suffoik County Axlington Middlsees County liobuza Kiddisses County Pockpozt vicinity Essex County A1so Notified Fon. Edward M. Kennedy Lion. Edvasd i. Ezocke loa. Ioufse Day Micks Bon. Tozbort H. MacDonald Hon. T. Eradford Rorse Lon. Michael J. Harrington AR- Directos, Northeast Region MCMeans : mm 9/30/71 Ctate Liainon Officor Hon, John E, X. Davoron Beczetazy of the Coronvealth Chaixman, Massnchusotta Histexical Cormáasion Office of the Socrotary Stato Fouso Boaton, Masaacimsotts 02133 BASIC FILE RETAINED IN HR mS SCHWAMB MILL (25-72-00012-00). Arlington, Middlesex Co., Private ownership (Schwamb Mill Preservation Trust).

Rare example of a craft industry complex that continues to produce picture frames in the original manner. Replace- ment of heating system, insulation, and removal of trees endangering the facility. $10,150.00.