{"nrhp_refnum":"82000474","name":"Renfrew Mill No. 2","other_names":["Arnold Print Works"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"217 Columbia St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Adams","county":"Berkshire County","state":"MA","lat":42.637525765500044,"lon":-73.10727055807268,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1982-10-14","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Renfrew Mill No. 2 (also called Arnold Print Works) is a large group of more than twenty-five attached, mostly brick industrial buildings at 217 Columbia Street in Adams, Massachusetts. The oldest sections date from about 1867 and the 1870s-1890s.","why_significant":"The nomination argues that the mill keeps its integrity of location, design, materials and setting from its late nineteenth-century building periods. It is linked to several of Adams' leading industrialists and was the town's largest industry before the Berkshire Cotton Manufacturing Company grew in the 1890s. The Italianate Main Mill and the Weave Shed are described as unique in Adams for their scale and well-preserved designs.","narrative":"Renfrew Mill No. 2 is a sprawling industrial complex on Columbia Street in Adams, Massachusetts, made up of more than twenty-five attached buildings and additions, most of brick and one to three stories tall. The oldest parts form the western and southern portions of the site. They include the three-story Italianate Main Mill of 1867, a Picker Room, a Boiler Room, a Weave Shed designed by W.H.H. Whiting of Boston in 1878, a Victorian Gothic office, and two dye houses from the early 1890s. The Renfrew Manufacturing Company was incorporated in 1867 under Levi L. Brown and others, and the mill first produced gingham cloth before shifting to other cotton goods. At its height the company employed more than 2,500 workers, making it the area's largest employer until the turn of the century. It closed its Adams mills in 1928, after which Arnold Print Works acquired this mill. The surviving nineteenth-century sections are the basis for its listing.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":"W.H.H. Whiting of Boston (Weave Shed, 1878)","architectural_style":"Italianate (Main Mill); Victorian Gothic (Office)","criteria":["A","B","C"],"status_note":"Listed as occupied, in good condition and altered, on its original site; present use is industrial.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:56.295874-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/98/7942/63794298/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/82000474.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82000474/1f6b82f790-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82000474/1f6b82f790-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Robert Brewster","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Renfrew_Mill_No2.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Robert Brewster</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Renfrew_Mill_No2.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63794298","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renfrew_Mill_No._2","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7313172"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/berkshire-county/renfrew-mill-no-2-82000474/"}