Manomet Mills

Manomet Mills is a group of early 20th-century cotton mill buildings on Riverside Avenue beside the Acushnet River in New Bedford. Mill No. 1 (1903) and Mill No. 2 (1907) are each three stories and 54 bays long, built of red brick on granite foundations with segmental-arch window openings. A two-story Department Room (1907), probably used for finishing and packing goods, stands to the east. The mills produced combed cotton yarn for hosiery and underwear, largely with an immigrant workforce, during a calm period in the city's labor history. The buildings were designed by Charles R. Makepeace, working with contractor Benjamin F. Smith and manufacturer William Whitman, who developed several New Bedford mill complexes. The district represents the city's shift from whaling to textile production and survives as a well-preserved example of utilitarian Classical Revival industrial design. Later owners kept the buildings in manufacturing use until the second half of the 20th century, and they are now vacant.