{"nrhp_refnum":"73000292","name":"Beaver Mill","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Beaver St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"North Adams","county":"Berkshire County","state":"MA","lat":42.70341031600003,"lon":-73.09816269699996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1973-05-11","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A brick-and-stone textile mill complex on Beaver Street in North Adams, Massachusetts, in the valley of the North Branch of the Hoosic River. It has three attached buildings totaling 418 feet, with origins in 1833 and major rebuilding in 1851 and 1894-1896.","why_significant":"The original section is the oldest surviving mill structure in North Adams and its only surviving stone mill. Its nineteenth-century changes reflect the city's industrial growth and shifting industrial architecture. It is also tied to A. C. Houghton, the city's founding father, and later to Sprague Electric Company, a major local employer.","narrative":"Beaver Mill is a large textile mill complex on Beaver Street in North Adams, set in a narrow valley beside the North Branch of the Hoosic River. Three attached buildings, mostly four stories of brick, run 418 feet along the street. The southern building began as a stone mill in 1833, was rebuilt in stone after a fire in 1850, and was raised in brick between 1894 and 1896, when the other two sections reached their present form. Nearby are a former company store, a wooden storage building and rows of company-built workers' housing. The mill is the oldest surviving mill structure in North Adams and its only remaining stone mill. In the late nineteenth century it was owned by A. C. Houghton, the city's founding father and first mayor. In 1930 it became the first North Adams home of Sprague Electric Company, which later employed as many as 5,500 people. Plans were underway to convert it to an arts conservancy center.","period_of_significance":"19th Century; specific dates 1833, 1851, 1894-1896","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition listed as good and unaltered on its original site; the form says Sprague Electric is leaving the mill and conversion to an arts and antiquities conservancy center 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 02:11:54.705799-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/0/7943/63794300/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/73000292.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73000292/e63f4b25e5-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73000292/e63f4b25e5-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Beaver_Mill,_North_Adams_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">John Phelan</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Beaver_Mill,_North_Adams_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63794300","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaver_Mill","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4878134"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/berkshire-county/beaver-mill-73000292/"}