Bates Mill Historic District
a.k.a. Bates Division; Bates Manufacturing Company
Roughly bounded by Canal St, Chestnut St, Lincoln St and Main St, Lewiston, METhe Bates Mill Historic District is a significant complex of industrial buildings dedicated to textile manufacturing situated within the mill-city of Lewiston Maine. The historic district, which contains 15 buildings, 11 structures, 1 object, and 2 sites and is eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places at the local level under Criterion A for its industrial significance, as a property associated with the production of cotton and wool textiles, and specialty cloths for over a century. The Historic District also achieves significance under criterion A for its associations with community planning and development as one of the first planned industrial facilities in a planned 'company' town, and later for providing employment to the French-Canadian immigrants who came to Lewiston specifically to work in the mills. As a complex that embodies the distinctive characteristics of slow-burning construction, and that reflects the evolution of industrial architecture over a seventy-five-year period, the Bates Mill Historic District also meets Criterion C for its architectural significance. Of particular distinction is the Modernist style Mill #5, designed by architect Albert Kahn in 1912, which was built utilizing the "Kahn Method" of reinforced concrete construction. The period of significance commences in 1850, with the construction of the canal to supply power to the mill, and ends in 1960, which is 50 years before the present and after the physical development of the complex was complete and operations of the mills began to close down. As a whole, the Bates Mills Historic District possesses integrity of location, design, materials, workmanship, feeling, setting, and association to the period of significance.
Local significance of the district:Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 2010.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.