Bigelow Carpet Mill

The Bigelow Carpet Mill is located on Union Street in Clinton. It consists of a complex of six interconnected buildings set on approximately nine and one half acres of land. Building #5 is separated from the others by School Street but can Be tea ched b nelerated w l naxed dennly seomled residenti a1 ay a 1tes to battn. north of the mill, while a mixed residential commercial area taces it to the Other mill buildings are located on its eastern edge, and open space on its west. The mill was constructed over a seventy-five year period from 1847 to 1922. Its original dimensions were 100' by 42'. This space was doubled in 1850 and enlarged again in 1852 with a 50' ell. Other mill buildings were constructed in 1855 and 1857 and a dye house and reservoir in 1860.

By 1876 the mill consisted of ten distinct structures linked in a huge G. This complex which had evolved as the mill expanded was consolidated in the 1880's when it began to assume its present form. The buildings which now comprise the mill are all rectangular in plan but vary in tresses and corbelling, form the focal point. All three are two stories in height with round arched windows in the upper level. The other buildings, also constructed of brick are more functional in design. The interiors of all six buildings, consisting of colums, beams, and flooring, are wood. Building #1; erected in 1886, is two stories in height and contains 51,675 square feet. A central gable on a flat roof provides a small attic space.

Thhe south-east elevation contains the main entrance, which is set in a wide arch.

/ARCHITECT The Bigelow Carpet Mill is significant for its associations with Erastus B. Bigelow, a mechanical genius who helped to revolutionize the textile industry in America. It is also significant as an intact group of buildings still used for an industrial purpose. Bigelow (1814-1879) developed a series of power looms that brought mechanization to weaving operations so complex that they had previously been relegated to hand labor. His stature in the textile industry is demonstrated by the fact that of fifty patents hereceived in his lifetime, forty were obtained for improvements in looms. his more notable contributions were power looms for weaving coach-lace (1837), knotted counterpanes (1838), ginghams (1845), and wire cloth (1857).

Bigelow was best known, however, for his invention of the first machines for weaving carpets. He began with the Lowell Manufacturing Company where he developed power 1ooms for weaving in-grain carpeting by 1842. Starting in 1845, he turned his attention to the mass production of Brussels carpets, patenting the first power loom for this purpose in 104, then patenting a machine for weaving tapestry Brussels carpeting 1n 1850. In addition, between 1851 and 1857, he obtained six patents for power looms for pile and cut pile carpeting. During this period, in 1849, Bigelow joined with his brother Horatio in the firm of H.N. and E.B. Bigelow to manufacture Brussels carpeting on his newly developed looms.

For this purpose, they took over a small one story building that Horatio had built in 1847 as a real estate investment. With the increasing perfection of Erastus' machinery, the company grew and prospered. Its capital had risen to $160,000 by 1854 when the brothers incorporated as the Bigelow Carpet Company. By 1875 capital gains had reached $1,000,000. During this period of financial expansion, the mill was also expanding physically.