Originally named Dorrville for the leader of the so-called Dorr Rebellion, the town subsequently changed its name with changes in corporate landlord: first to Niantic, for the Niantic Company; then, after 1911, when an English company took over, Bradford, to honor the textile manufacturing town which housed its headquarters. The plant offers the clear contrast of a typical mid-nineteenth-century verticalized masonry factory building and a typical early twentieth-century horizontal brick counterpart. Windows in walls light the narrow floors of the earlier building; north-facing skylights in the sawtooth roof light the expansive floor of the later building. As for the mill workers' housing which lines Bowling Lane, aficionados who manage to look beyond the dilapidation of much of it will see a range of mill housing types from late Greek Revival (including a modified church) through (the most interesting)
You are here
Bradford Mill
1864, c. 1912, mill buildings. Mid-19th–early 20th century, housing. Main St. (Route 91–216) (mill), Bowling Ln. (housing)
If SAH Archipedia has been useful to you, please consider supporting it.
SAH Archipedia tells the story of the United States through its buildings, landscapes, and cities. This freely available resource empowers the public with authoritative knowledge that deepens their understanding and appreciation of the built environment. But the Society of Architectural Historians, which created SAH Archipedia with University of Virginia Press, needs your support to maintain the high-caliber research, writing, photography, cartography, editing, design, and programming that make SAH Archipedia a trusted online resource available to all who value the history of place, heritage tourism, and learning.