admin – Page 159 – Canal Days

Northampton Paper Mill Canal

The Northampton Paper Mill made the canal in 1836. Northampton Paper Mill Company Raceway is near the junction of Riverside Drive and Federal Street north of the Mill River.

It started as the William Butler Paper Mill. Then it became the Northampton Paper Company. Then the William Clark Mill. Vernon Paper Mill was later called the E E Wood Cutlery Works and then the Roger’s Cutlery. This was located in Paper Mill Village. The 1860 mill is at 122 Federal Street.

The William Butler Boarding House on 109 to 115 Milton Street is from the 1820s. The Northampton Paper Mill Superintendent’s House at 89 Federal is from the 1830s.

mill	starts	ends
Butler Paper Mill	1786	1835
Northampton Paper Mill	1835	1843
Clark Paper Mill	1843	1869
Vernon Paper Mill	1869	1886
Northampton Paper Mill	1886	1889
EE Wood Cutlery	1889
Roger’s Cutlery

Macris NTH.442 gives the years of existence for these mills.

Sanborn 1884 map as the Vernon

Sanborn 1889 map as the Wood

Sanborn 1895 map as the Wood

Sanborn 1902 map as the Rogers

Sanborn 1910 map as the Rogers

Sanborn 1915 map as the Rogers

Lamb Wire Mill Canal

Lamb Wire Canal

Horace Lamb had his wire mill here. It was a maker of broom and brushes with wire bristles. FINDAGRAVE

from 1910 the Smith’s Grist Mill takes over

Vernon Paper Mill Canal

Vernon Paper Canal would become Wood Cutlery Canal in the mid-1880s and then becomes from 1910 the Roger’s Cutlery Works Canal

Maynard Shovel Mill Canal

Maynard Hoe and Shovel Mill Canal

Charles Maynard – FINDAGRAVE

Leonard Silk Canal

Sanborn 1889 map

Sanborn 1895 map

Highland Park Community House

The 1923 fire was a trigger for the Highland Park Community House to leave the schoolhouse and find better quarters. They might have continued to meet at the Mount Tom Golf Clubhouse but I am not sure.

Clement Mill Canal

Clement Mill formed in 1882 out of the International Screw.

The Clement Street Bridge from 1894 is nearby. EXTERNAL LINK

The Clement Cutlery Works was a high level cutlery mill.

Northampton Cutlery Canal

Northampton Cutlery Canal

The history of the mill area can be found at this EXTERNAL LINK. The Northampton Cutlery Canal ran from 1871 to 1987. Worker homes are at Riverside Drive and Lexington Avenue. The information from the table below is from the Macris database. Page 5 of the NTH421 from this database has a nice schematic of the evolution of the building. Bay State Hardware Company Worker Housing is nearby on Riverside Drive.

mill	starts	ends
Northampton Paper Mills	1836	1848
Hampshire Flax and Hemp	1848	1850
Bay State Tool Manufacturing	1854	1858
Bay State Hardware Company	1858	1870
Riverside Cutlery Company	1870
Northampton Cutlery Canal	1871	1987

Sanborn map analysis

Nonotuck Silk Canal (Northampton)

Gatehouse

Nonotuck Silk Canal (Northampton) is on Nonotuck Street in Florence. It powered the Nonotuck Silk Mill. The mill later would be called Corticelli Silk Mill. The silk mill was made in 1838. The mill also made machine twist.