Eaton, Crane & Pike Company Factory

Rising beside the West Branch of the Housatonic River in Pittsfield, this factory complex grew from a clock-tower building of 1883 into a group of brick and wood-frame mills up to eight stories tall, with the last major addition in 1967. The first occupants included the Terry Clock Company and the Pittsfield Tack Company. In 1893 the property was bought for a stationery business led by Arthur W. Eaton, which expanded through several reorganizations, including the 1908 partnership with the Crane family that created the Eaton, Crane & Pike Company. By the 1920s it was reputed to be the largest American firm devoted solely to stationery, and in 1929 it employed about 1,500 people. The original building is valued as a Late Victorian factory with a mansard-roofed clock and stair tower, while the later buildings show how the plant adapted to changing paper-industry needs. Paper production continued until 1987, and conversion to commercial and light industrial space began in 1989.