Wood Worsted Mill

Along the south bank of the Merrimack River in Lawrence, this brick mill stretches 1,300 feet and rises six stories. Built between 1906 and 1909 for the American Woolen Company and designed by the Boston firm Charles T. Main Company, it was planned to carry out every step of worsted manufacturing, from raw wool to finished cloth. The complex was once twice its present size; a parallel mill block and a dyehouse were demolished in 1956, and the powerhouse, coalsheds and half of the storehouse came down in 2009. What remains is the office section, Sections D, E and F, and part of the storehouse. The Romanesque Revival design features arcaded brick corbelling, granite sills and beltcourses, and large windows. The mill is significant for its link to the 1912 Great Lawrence Strike, known as the Bread and Roses Strike, and to mill leader William Madison Wood, and as a well-preserved example of its style and type in the city.