Phillips Woolen Mill

The former Phillips Woolen Mill stands on the west side of Grove Street near the Chesire town line. The mill contains five different sections of various construction, all of which have had their windows covered. The largest and most visible section of the mill is building #l (seeattached map). Building #1 (ca 1864) is a three-story brick structure with a four-story tower centered on its south end. The building rests on a foundation of coursed rubble and is enclosed by a pitched roof trimmed with a wide brick cornice. Window openings are evenly spaced one per bay; each is framed by a rectangular sill and lintel of slate. The east elevation contains 19 bays, although only the northernmost 6 bays of the first story retain 12/12 sash.

The 7th and 8th bays from the north have been rebuilt with a garage door at the first story. The gabled north elevation contains an arched entry flanked by 4 windows at the first story and 6 windows at both the second and third stories; some of these windows retain original 12/12 and 8/8 sash. The gable contains four windows surmounted by a seven-sided light. Set out from the central two bays of the north elevation is a mid-ninteenth century fire escape of cast iron. The west elevation of building #l is blocked by an addition at the first story and has 15 bays exposed at both the second and third stories.

The south elevation is dominated by the tower, which is blank on all faces except its east elevation which has paired windows at the first three stories and a tri-partite window at the fourth. Added to the south face of the tower is a small brick structure (ca 1920-30?) which, presumably, contains.plumbing.

(in one paragraph) Builder/Architect unknown The former Phillips Woolen Mill possesses integrity of location, design and materials as well as historical associations with the industrial development of Adams. It is also an excellent example of mid-ninteenth century mill construction. Thus it meets criteria A and C of the National Register of Historic Places. The site on which the mill stands was first developed for its water power, soon after January 9, 1828 when Nathan Mason, à farmer, granted the property and the right to build a dam to his sons Almond W. and Ethan A.

' By (1832 a cotton factory, three houses, a shed and a barn had been built by the brothers, who sold an interest in their mill to Jesse Jenks of Cheshire In July 1833, a judgement against the mill's owners resulted in the property's return to Nathan Mason who sold it to Ira Mason on February 11, 1839. By 1845, the mill had been sold again, to Stephen L. and Silas H. Arnold who manufactured cotton goods here until the beginning of the Civil War. Perhaps as a result of the cotton shortages which accompanied the Civil War, the mill was converted to the manufacture of woolen goods in 1864 by its new owners, Peter Blackinton and Benjamin F. Phillips. Formed in 1853, the firm of Blackinton & Phillips had occupied rental space until 1860-1861 when it built the nearby Maple Grove Woolen Mill.

Following its 1864 purchase of the Phillips Mill, the firm dissolved and Benjamin Philips tood title to the mill under the name of B. F. Phillips & Co. The Phillips family continued to manufacture woolen goods on this site until the early twentieth century whèn the Adams Woolen Manufacturing Company purchased' the property.