Arlington Mills Historic District

Arlington Mills is a large textile complex of roughly 23 brick and reinforced-concrete mill buildings on a 75-acre site that crosses the Lawrence-Methuen line. Worsted wool was processed on the Lawrence side and cotton on the Methuen side. The company was incorporated in 1865, and the oldest surviving building is the 1879 worsted weave house. Most other buildings date from 1880 to 1925, and many were designed by the Lockwood-Greene Company of Boston. Features include clock, water and stair towers, corbelled cornices, granite trim, and an 1888 engine house described as the architectural gem of the millyard. The complex was listed because it remains largely intact and shows how a New England mill was laid out and expanded. Its buildings reflect advances in fire-resistant construction, ventilation and working conditions. It also helped establish Lawrence and Methuen as textile centers. The mills closed in 1952, but the buildings still house manufacturing and other uses.