Brown Stocking Mill Historic District

Brown Stocking Mill Historic District in Ipswich, Massachusetts, is a compact industrial village west of the town center. Harry B. Brown, an experienced Ipswich Mills supervisor and agent, bought undeveloped land around the turn of the century, laid out new streets, and by the end of 1907 had built a mill on a hill along with several tenements. A second group of houses followed between 1907 and 1910. In all, 42 tenements were built for mill workers, mostly gable-front dwellings of 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 stories set close to the street, with a few larger boarding houses. The mill kept its original form apart from some mid-20th-century additions and a removed shipping room. Many houses have gained synthetic siding, new sashes and enclosed porches, though some keep original slate roofs, clapboards and details. The district was listed because it preserves a clear picture of an early 20th-century stocking-making community and the immigrant workers who lived beside their jobs.