Beacon Mill Village in Beacon Falls is an example of a nineteenth century mill village adapted to new use as an apartment complex (in this it is similar to the mill village established by the Cheney Brothers in Manchester). The eight surviving buildings of the Beacon Mill Village complex were built between 1853 and 1916. The Town of Beacon Falls, incorporated in 1871, grew up alongside the factories. The Village was originally home to the American Hard Rubber Company in the 1850s. By the time of the Civil War, the complex housed the factories of the Home Woolen Company, which produced shawls for Union soldiers. This company went out of business in 1880, but the Beacon Falls Rubber Shoe Company, founded in 1898 by George Lewis, later moved into the complex. His son, Tracy Lewis, later served as the company‘s president until his death in 1921. The company, which grew to have offices in Boston, San Francisco and New York, incorporated in Massachusetts in 1915, while production remained in Beacon Falls. That same year, the company hired the Olmstead Brothers, sons of Frederick Law Olmsted, to design a mill town for plant workers. The mill buildings were restored and transformed into an apartment complex in 1986.
Hello
I live in house in the Hill section of Beacon Falls. I have a set of plans telling me the house was build for the Beacon Falls Rubber Shoe Co. in 1915. Where can i get more info on this house
There may be records at your town hall or library.
I am doing some research on the Olmsted Plans in Beacon Falls. I found one of the plans in the clerk’s office. If I find out more, I’ll post it here.
Please do! Anything that anyone can add in comments about the buildings featured on this site is appreciated.
This site was also the location of the Coe Tannery (1700’s), the Novelty Rubber Company, the Beacon Dam Company(1851) which was renamed the American Hard Rubber Company (1858), the Beacon Mill & Power Company (1889, and the Standard Woolen Company (1889)