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Thread City Mills LbNA #7969

Owner:Stacy & Brendan
Plant date:Apr 20, 2004
Location:
City:Willimantic
County:Windham
State:Connecticut
Boxes:1
Found by: Connfederate
Last found:Aug 9, 2009
Status:FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFma
Last edited:Oct 4, 2015
THREAD CITY MILLS LETTERBOX
*This box is active again (It was destroyed so we re-carved and replanted)

Check out the Mill Museum website before setting out, it has a lot of great information.

www.millmuseum.org



Rated: Easy almost a drive-by (maybe 15 minutes) This box is baby stroller friendly!



History of the mills:

The Algonquian Native American tribe named Willimantic. Willimantic means “land of swift running water”. That swift running water is what attracted the three Jillson brothers to build the mills here, in 1822. The water was used to power the cotton mills. Those mills became a very important part of Willimantic’s history. The mills were the largest employer in the area for a long time. There were 6 mill buildings as well as stables, a company store, and mill owned workers housing. The 6 mill buildings were build of gneiss rock also known as Willimantic granite, which was quarried from the Willimantic river. The first mill building was built in 1822. The sixth and final mill was built in 1828. All six were build by the Jillson brothers. The Jillson brothers owned and operated the cotton mills until 1854. In 1854 the Willimantic linen company bought the mills. They too produced cotton at the mills. In 1898 the American Thread Company bought the mills. They produced cotton as well as rayon and silk. Because of the mills Willimantic earned the nickname Thread City. Willimantic had previously been known as Willimantic Falls. The American Thread Company closed its doors in 1985, after 87 years. The company headed out of town after their workers went on strike. The workers went on strike demanding better working conditions and better pay. The mill workers were not paid hourly. They were paid based on how much they produced. The average worker’s day was 12 to 14 hours long. Many of the workers were children because they could be paid less than adults and many families needed the extra income their child could bring home. The company headed up north where it is said they found French Canadian immigrants willing to work for even less money than the workers here. The mills closing their doors financially devastated the area. Many people were left unemployed, and so out of need the soup kitchen was born. The mills sat abandoned and deteriorating until relatively recently when modernizations were made to turn them into office space.

(If you know of any information I could add please e-mail me Stacy@oneilli.net. Most of my information came from the Mill Museum.)



Fun Facts about the mills:

* In the 1890’s the mills produced 85,000 miles of thread EVERYDAY!
* Mill #4 was the first building ever to have electric lighting! The owner at the time (Mr. Dunham) was a friend of Thomas Edison, so the mill #4 was Edison’s first attempt or experiment with lighting a building.
* Mill #4 was the largest in the world for a while competing back and forth for the title with a German mill.
* Velcro was invented right here in our mills!




Driving Directions:

Route 66 into Willimantic. You are going to Windham Mills Heritage State Park in downtown Willimantic. The park is well signed and can’t be missed (you’ll see the old mill building). Park in front of the Willimantic paintings to the right side of the lot toward the road.



CLUES:

Start at the murals depicting the history of the mills. Walk down the center path toward the water. Take a right, which will go around a very short mini-loop. Notice the river, stone bridge, and houses across the river. Several houses across the river were owned by the American Thread Company and served as employee housing. The Mill Museum across the street was the company store and library. (not many mills had libraries for its workers- this was a luxury). The red building next to that was their fire station. Follow the loop to the Green guard shack. (6/12/09 - This shack has been taken down. Follow the sidewalk to the end.) Notice what is left over from the old mill building #4 that burned down (due to vandalism). Follow the side of the restored building to the front (road side). You will find your treasure behind and under the first clump of bushes. Try to be discreet- We hope to move the box to a more private place soon but since the park is still under a bit of re-construction this was the safest place for it.