{"nrhp_refnum":"83004107","name":"Bigelow Carpet Company Woolen Mills","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Main St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Clinton","county":"Worcester County","state":"MA","lat":42.41704214400005,"lon":-71.68992918880936,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1983-10-06","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Entertainment/Recreation","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A complex of ten mill and storage buildings on about seven acres in downtown Clinton, Massachusetts, between Main Street, the railroad tracks and Coachlace Pond. Buildings date from 1810 (possibly) through 1898, mostly three-story Italianate brick mills.","why_significant":"The complex is a prominent reminder of Clinton's industrial heritage and is architecturally significant for its elaborate Italianate styling and survival as an ensemble. It retains integrity of design, materials, workmanship, location and setting. It is also tied to Erastus and Horatio Bigelow, whose power loom inventions and business leadership shaped the town's economy.","narrative":"Ten interconnected buildings on about seven acres beside Main Street and Coachlace Pond make up the former Bigelow Carpet Company mills in Clinton, Massachusetts. Most are three-story brick mills built between 1864 and 1898 in an Italianate manner, with low-pitched roofs, narrow segmental-arched windows and decorative brickwork. A five-story tower with a polygonal-roofed belfry rises on Main Street. A small wood-frame building, thought to date from 1810, may be the cotton mill the Bigelow brothers first leased. Erastus Bigelow invented power looms for coachlace and carpet, while his brother Horatio handled the business and civic side of their enterprises. The carpet company bought the site in 1863 and expanded in 1864-66, 1890 and 1898, later merging with other firms before the Clinton plant closed in 1932. The complex is valued for its industrial heritage and its intact ensemble of Victorian mill architecture, and several companies occupy it today.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899, 1900- (specific dates 1864, 1876-1898, 1899)","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Italianate (Victorian industrial)","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Occupied by seven different companies; two of the larger mills recently changed ownership and rehabilitation projects were underway at the time of nomination.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:57.61765-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/36/7974/63797436/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/83004107.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83004107/471479419d-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83004107/471479419d-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Marcbela (Marc N. Belanger)","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bigelow_Carpet_Mills_Clinton.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Marcbela (Marc N. Belanger)</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bigelow_Carpet_Mills_Clinton.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63797436","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bigelow_Carpet_Company_Woolen_Mills","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4906805"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/worcester-county/bigelow-carpet-company-woolen-mills-83004107/"}