Farwell Mill
ME 196, Lisbon, METhe Farwell Mill in Lisbon, Maine is an example of a "state of the art" cotton mill built at the height of the Industrial Revolution. The overwhelming central structure in the small, rural town of Lisbon Village, the mill has long been the economic backbone of the village and the surrounding area.
Begun in 1872, the mill was the only full-scale textile operation owned by Nathaniel W. Farwell. Farwell's interests and holdings in the textile industry were many: he was responsible for starting or operating bleacheries in four states; he was on the board of directors of numerous textile manufacturing concerns in New England, and as a banker, he helped finance the textile industry.
Located on the Sabattus River, a tributary to Maine's mighty Androscoggin, the upper of the two water privileges at this site was the location of Maine's earliest recorded woolen mill, begun by John Mayall around 1808. Mayall's property was purchased by Farwell in 1867 as Farwell amassed property along both sides of the Sabattus River at what was then known as Factory village. After Farwell bought the mill, he "repaired and enlarged it, and...occupied it as a cotton mill."
Farwell then looked to the lower, or "Moody's" privilege to expand his operations. This power had been utilized as early as 1800 for a grist mill on its east side by Gideon and Abel Curtis, from whom the early name of the town "Curtis's Mills" was derived. By the time Farwell purchased the site, there was a small saw and grist mill on the western shore, but it had not recently been improved.
Despite the Panic of 1873, plans for the construction of the New Farwell Cotton Mill went ahead. Incorporated on January 29, 1872, construction of the new building must have been rapid, as it appears in the 1873 Atlas of Androscoggin County. The Atlas describes the mill as "a first-class cotton mill, built of brick, three stories in height, 346 feet long, and 52 feet wide, with a working capacity of 12,000 mule spindles.
A feature of interest in the newly constructed mill complex was the square, one-story gas works located just below the bridge on the property. Not especially common on a mill site in a small separate building such as this, the well-proportioned brick structure is one of the few such gas houses remaining in Maine.
Nathaniel W. Farwell himself stands as an exemplary New England success story for the Industrial Revolution.
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1985.
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.