NRHP /
Howland Mill Village
National Register Historic
District
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 The Howland Mill Village
National Register Historic Distirct contains 98 properties and objects on
almost 10 acres of land. The district includes all of the remaining residential
properties known as the "Howland Mill Village, " a grouping of buildings
constructed by the Howland Mill Corporation for its factory
workers.
Howland Mill Village is characterized by the winding patterns
of its two interior streets; and by the many small scale, wood-frame workers'
cottages set back from the street at various angles that are surrounded by a
variety of ornamental and vegetable gardens, low fences, and small yards. Most
of the properites date from 1888 to 1890, when the Howland Mill Corporation
erected its factory housing, with several double-decker buildings dating from
1915-1925 period. Architecturally, the cottages are predominatly of four basic
designs. These are based on the dominant design characteristics of the Queen
Anne and Colonial Revival Styles, both of which were in vogue during the
1888-1890 period. The four cottage types are: the gable-end/peaked dormers
cottage.These designs were interspersed with one another for visual variety
within each streetscape. The later double-decker properties built on the
remaining open parcels also were designed in the Colonial Revival style,
popular until the 1920's.
The Howland Mill Village is historically
significant because it is part of the growth of the textile industry
development in the late 19th century. It is the last example of planned
factory-owned housing in New Bedford. It also represents one aspect of New
Bedford's transformation from a whaling to a textile capital as the 19th
century progressed. Howland Mill Village differed from other mill housing; it
was architecturally-appealing single-family cottages, not at all like the
tenement housing often built by other textile manufacturers in New
Bedford. |
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33 William St - New Bedford, MA 02740 - Tel: 508-996-4095 - Fax: 508-984-1250
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