Hampden Cotton Mill

The Hampden Cotton Mill is between the first and second canals. Its history is as such:

In 1853, Hampden Mills incorporated and the Hadley Falls Company built them a cotton mill. They ran 10 thousand spindles and employed 300 people. In 1854, Donald Chase MacKintosh (1819 to 1902) came from Scotland as a dyer – a boss dyer. In 1868 Donald MacKintosh was fired by the Hampden Mills. Then he started MacKintosh Company near the Parsons Paper Mill number 1 near the dam. Fire destroyed this small mill. He moved the mill to Northampton for a while and then he moved it back to Bigelow Street in Holyoke. In 1881 the name was changed to MacKintosh and Sons. In 1883 Crystal Spring Aqueduct Company started in the Hampden Mills. Finally, in 1888 the Hampden Mills went bankrupt. Donald MacKintosh bought the Hampden Mills.

For many years, they did cotton blends, then they did cotton only, and then they did cotton yarn (by 1918). In 1943 they had 300 workers but in 1945 a 6-day strike over wages happened. In 1952, MacKintosh Mill is losing money so they move to Clover South Carolina.

family line:

father: Donald Chase MacKintosh (1819 to 1902)

son: Charles MacKintosh (1857 to 1923) – he built a home in 1892 at 1913 Northampton Street and then in 1896 at 459 Northampton Street

grandson: John MacKintosh – banker in Holyoke and Springfield

great grandson: Donald MacKintosh

Sanborn map analysis:

Sanborn 1884 map called the Hampden Cotton Mill

Sanborn 1889 map called MacKintosh and Sons Colored Cotton

Sanborn 1895 map

Sanborn 1915 map

Sanborn 1949 map

Sanborn 1956 map shows the Lyman Street Chromium – the Electric Game – Whithill (sheet metal)

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