Washburn and Moen North Works District

The North Works, also called the Grove Street Works, is a group of brick and stone industrial buildings in Worcester, Massachusetts, built between 1863 and the early 1930s by the Washburn & Moen Manufacturing Company and its successor. The complex includes the Cotton Mill, the Long Mill, a machine shop, annealing houses, rolling mills and a Main Building that once held the company offices. Its Grove Street front runs over 500 feet and was dominated by a central tower, while the Prescott Street side forms a continuous band of plainer brick factories. The firm traces its roots to Ichabod Washburn's wire-drawing work in the 1830s and grew into the city's largest industry. Major construction took place between 1863 and 1870, and the nation's first continuous wire-rod rolling mill, imported from England, was installed here in 1869. Steel and wire making at the site ended in 1943, but most of the buildings survive in good condition and remain in industrial and commercial use.