Eaton-Moulton Mill

The Eaton Moulton Mill, located at 37 Walnut Street, was erected in 1853. It is set back about 250 feet from Walnut Street and runs parallel to the Charles River. Al- though the area is now heavily congested with new construction,the mill is topograph- ically isolated by the ancient Proprietors Way, the rising terrain to the south and the curve of the river to the north and west. The site for the property was originally chosen for its proximity to the readily available water power harnessed by the Upper and Iower Falls, which run for two miles on this section of the Charles. The mill is located at right angles to the Cordingly Dam, one of the two dams on this portion of the River, which is spanned by an iron footbridge.

The rectangular building is two stories high, with a full basement and attic story with seven dormers. It is constructed of coursed rubble with distinctive granite quoins and lintels, and is seven bays long and three wide. A brick addition, two stories high, was added to the southeast elevation in 1944, and a large chimney stack rises at the intersection of the addition and the main building. The building, always used for industrial purposes, has recently been rehabilitated for office space. The change in use has caused quite a few alterations to the build- ing, but it still retains its integrity of materials, mass, and location. All of the windows, originally 12/12 sash, have been replaced with single pane tinted glass but the regular spacing and granite lintels have been retained.

The dormers and both gable ends have been covered with aluminum siding, and new single pane tinted glass windows have been added.

/ARCHITECT The Newton Lower Falls settlement on the Charles River was the earliest industrial development in what is now the Town of Wellesley. The Eaton Moulton Mill is one of the only remaining intact buildings in Wellesley of that period, and has sur- vived the numerous changes that have occurred around it. At different periods, various kinds of businesses requiring the aid of water power have been carried on in this area, but during most of the nineteenth century the manufacture of paper was the leading industry. Eight or ten paper mills, the first built in 1798 by John Ware, were in constant operation and produced paper for books and newspapers. In 1828 these paper mills began to change from the hand-making process to machines which produced a continuous sheet.

The first machine of this kind in the United States was placed in a mill at Lower Falls. This conversion required a properly equipped plant to cproduce and repair these machines, and as a result Reuben Ware, son of John Ware, and William Clark erected a wooden machine shop in 1832 on the present site of the Eaton Moulton Mill. After the building was damaged by fire and flood in 1834 it was rebuilt, and the wooden structure was bought in 1846 by Joseph Stowe. In 1850 Henry and Harvey Eaton and Rufus Moulton formed a partnership and bought the building, which burned again in 1853, precipitating the construction of the present stone building.

Until the turn of this century the machine shop in the stone mill was one of the leading builders of paper machinery in America, even exporting machines to foreign countries. In 1876 Adam Beck bought the building and continued the flourishing business which had been conducted by Eaton and Moulton.