{"nrhp_refnum":"03000844","name":"Whitman Mills","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"1, 90 and E side Riverside Ave., S side, N side and rear 1 Coffin Ave., 10 Manomet St.,","address_restricted":false,"city":"New Beford","county":"Bristol County","state":"MA","lat":41.66267907400004,"lon":-70.91882210399996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2003-08-29","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Community Planning and Development"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A textile mill complex of 2-story brick buildings on a 15.88 acre site between Riverside Avenue and the Acushnet River in New Bedford, Massachusetts, built from 1895 with later additions.","why_significant":"The complex represents the large, self-contained brick mills built in New Bedford as the city shifted from whaling to cotton textile manufacturing. It is also tied to mill architect Charles R. Makepeace, builder Benjamin F. Smith and textile manufacturer William Whitman, and to the local firm Leary and Walker. It is described as a well-preserved example of industrial architecture.","narrative":"Whitman Mills is a large textile complex on Nash's Point in New Bedford, between Riverside Avenue and the Acushnet River. Its main buildings are Mill No. 1 (1895), an office building, Mill No. 2 (1902) with a sawtooth-roofed weave shed, and several support structures, all in brick with spare Romanesque Revival detailing such as corbeled cornices and segmental-arched windows. Charles R. Makepeace of Providence designed the two mills, and Benjamin F. Smith of Pawtucket built them. The local firm Leary and Walker designed later additions in the 1920s. The mills reflect New Bedford's change from a whaling port to a center of fine cotton manufacturing, with large windows for daylight and sturdy plank-on-timber floors. Some buildings were lost in the twentieth century, and many windows have been covered or altered, yet the plant remains enormous. It was listed for its link to the city's cotton industry and its architecture, with only one weave shed still producing textiles.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Charles R. Makepeace (architect); Benjamin F. Smith (builder); Frank J. Leary and Frank A. Walker (Leary and Walker, architects/engineers)","architectural_style":"Utilitarian Romanesque Revival detailing; brick, pier and masonry spandrel standard mill construction","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Function listed as vacant/not in use; only Weave Shed No. 2 still operates as a textile manufactory. Some buildings are separately owned, and a certified rehabilitation is planned.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:04.346049-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/66/7944/63794466/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/03000844.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/03000844/bc92db88d4-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/03000844/bc92db88d4-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Marcbela","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Whitman_Mills_NB.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Marcbela</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Whitman_Mills_NB.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"12000304","name":"Manomet Mills","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/massachusetts/manomet-mills-12000304/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63794466","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitman_Mills","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14716031"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/bristol-county/whitman-mills-03000844/"}