{"nrhp_refnum":"75000253","name":"Rising Paper Mill","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"N of Great Barrington on MA 183 at Risingdale","address_restricted":false,"city":"Great Barrington","county":"Berkshire County","state":"MA","lat":42.242853122500065,"lon":-73.3573594287709,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1975-08-11","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A paper mill complex on the east side of the Housatonic River at Risingdale, north of Great Barrington, Berkshire County, Massachusetts. It was built from 1873 to 1878 for H. D. Cone of the Owen Paper Company.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it one of the finest post-1850s mills in Massachusetts. It also shows how mill architecture changed in the later nineteenth century alongside advances in paper-making technology. Its unusually ornate design is attributed to Cone, who meant it to be the largest and best-equipped paper factory in the world.","narrative":"Rising Paper Mill is a brick and stone industrial complex beside the Housatonic River at Risingdale, north of Great Barrington. Built between 1873 and 1878 for H. D. Cone of the Owen Paper Company, it was intended to be the largest and best-equipped paper factory in the world. Two three-story blocks with slate mansard roofs and corner towers are joined by a lower connecting building that housed the Fourdrinier machines. Details include rusticated stone quoins and a brick frieze with Greek crosses, and the foundations use stone from nearby Monument Mountain. A historian described its ornate design as unique in the Berkshire region. Cone went bankrupt, and the mill stood unused until the B. D. Rising Company bought it around 1899 to 1900. It has operated as a paper mill since, with modernized equipment alongside an old dam, water wheels, dryers and boilers.","period_of_significance":"1873-1878","architect_builder":"H. D. Cone of the Owen Paper Company (original owner and builder)","architectural_style":"Second Empire; also labeled \"Lombardi-Romanesque\" by William H. Pierson, Jr. and \"High Style Eclectic\" by others","criteria":[],"status_note":"Still operating as a working paper mill; the property is listed as occupied and in excellent condition, with updated equipment and some old equipment remaining.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:54.625726-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/96/7942/63794296/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/75000253.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75000253/4caddc663f-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75000253/4caddc663f-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Kenneth C. Zirkel","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rising_Paper_Company_Mills,_Housatonic,_Massachusetts.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Kenneth C. Zirkel</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rising_Paper_Company_Mills,_Housatonic,_Massachusetts.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63794296","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rising_Paper_Mill","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14715829"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/berkshire-county/rising-paper-mill-75000253/"}