{"nrhp_refnum":"10000751","name":"Stevens Linen Works Historic District","other_names":["Stevens Mill","Stevens Linen Mill"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"8-10 Mill St, 2 W Main St, 2 Curfew Ln, Ardlock Pl","address_restricted":false,"city":"Dudley","county":"Worcester County","state":"MA","lat":42.04951250000005,"lon":-71.89217032136561,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2010-09-17","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Architecture","Engineering"],"significance_levels":["national","state","local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A historic district of 15 industrial resources on the east side of Dudley, Massachusetts, at the Webster border beside the French River. It centers on a Civil War-era granite linen mill built by Henry Hale Stevens, with dye house, storehouses, dams, a raceway, a bridge and a reservoir pond.","why_significant":"The district is described as the site of the first, and last, factory in the United States to spin flax and weave linen cloth by machine. The granite mill, with its Romanesque Revival towers and distinctive stone tooling, is presented as an exceptional example of mill architecture and early slow-burning construction. The surrounding water system and buildings show how the complex operated as a unified textile works.","narrative":"Stevens Linen Works Historic District occupies the east side of Dudley, Massachusetts, along the French River at the Webster line. Its centerpiece is a large granite mill built in the 1860s by Henry Hale Stevens, a pioneer American linen manufacturer. Two tall towers with Romanesque Revival details give the building the look of a medieval fortress. The walls use squared stone in varied colors, and the sills, jambs and cornices carry grooved tooling that the form says is not known elsewhere in New England. Around the mill are a dye house and bleachery, storehouses, a raceway, two dams, a stone bridge and Low Pond, which together supplied waterpower. The district is described as the site of the first, and last, factory in the country to spin flax and weave linen cloth by machine. The mill operated as Stevens Linen Works from about 1865 to 1939. Alterations have been modest, and the rural setting still conveys the period of significance.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"No record of designer or builder; the form concludes it is very likely Henry Hale Stevens designed the mill. Two floors of the East Ell added in 1900 were designed by the engineering firm of Charles T. Main.","architectural_style":"Romanesque Revival, Classical Revival, No style","criteria":[],"status_note":"Current function listed as vacant/not in use, with some commercial use (pet grooming and boarding, offices). The two noncontributing late 20th-century buildings are scheduled for demolition as part of adaptive reuse of the mill complex.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:10:52.029506-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/54/7975/63797554/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/10000751.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/10000751/ddbb31adfa-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/10000751/ddbb31adfa-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"B. Michael Zuckerman","credit_html":"B. Michael Zuckerman, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stevens_Linen_Mill,_Dudley,_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63797554","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stevens_Linen_Works_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q17038670"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/worcester-county/stevens-linen-works-historic-district-10000751/"}