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Last week, when I shared photos of the houses the Cheney family lived in and the ones they built for the employees of the mills, some people suggested that the houses benefited the mill owners as much as the employees. This is true. These were no ordinary textile mills.
The Cheney brothers were spinning, weaving, dressing, finishing, and dying silk. Cotton and wool were being turned into thread, yarn and fabric all over New England, but this was the only place where silk was being processed. The Cheney Brothers Mills were the largest in the world and the silk they produced was considered to be the finest. So, maintaining a happy workforce was essential. Still their approach to the task was more compassionate than many other mill owners.
In reading about the mills, I discovered trends in the way they structured the mills, to make them, and the air the workers breathed, cleaner. They provided facilities and services for everyone. Of course, everything could serve both the town and the mills. The text below is from the National Registry of Historic Places nomination form:
In 1866 Cheney Brothers erected Cheney Hall, a recreational and entertainment facility, for its operatives. Then in 1869 the firm built the 2-mile long Manchester railroad, which, in addition to providing freight connection with the major rail lines, carried workers back and forth from North Manchester to the silk mills for a minimum fare. Three years later the company built Taylor Reservoir to provide water for its factories and fire protection for both the mills and nearby houses, and in 1889 it organized the subsidiary South Manchester Water Company which erected more reservoirs and eventually furnished water for most of the community. Later Cheney Brothers’ Manchester Electric Company supplied electricity for the entire town. Finally, over the years Cheney Brothers donated land for numerous churches and erected several community school buildings.
National Registry of Historic Places – Nomination form No. 78002885
During and after the 1930s the company disposed of its utilities, most of whose structures lay far outside the present historic district. In recent years the South Manchester Railroad tracks have been removed and several railroad buildings demolished. Cheney Hall, the schools and churches, and most of the post-1886 factories and the majority of the houses remain, however, and along with the Cheney mansions, they stand in striking testimony to both the Cheney Brothers ‘ silk manufacturing enterprise and the mill village that it supported. Within the bounds of the historic district there are a few post-1925 structures, but none of that vintage contributes to its national historic significance.
Cheney Hall, A large, 2 1/2-story, red brick and brownstone structure with full basement and mansard roof, this south-facing edifice is situated off Hartford Road northeast of the Cheney Homestead. “The hall’s importance, socially as well as culturally, in the progress of the community is difficult to overestimate,” says Buckley (historian). Cheney Brothers erected it as a place for social and religious gatherings, amateur and professional dramatic performances, and concerts and lectures. Today it is a fabric store. Inside, it retains its grand organ and hardwood floor as well as its now-hidden (under a false ceiling) balcony, gas chandeliers, and arched ballroom window tops. Outside it is hardly altered at all. Predominant exterior features include one rear center and two front corner hip-roofed towers; six steep gabled dormers on the mansard; round-arched first-story and segmentally arched second-story window openings with two-over-two sashes; and a partially enclosed, full-length one-story entrance portico with five recessed, double doors.
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