Fall River Iron Works

1883 Fall River Atlas - View of the American Printing Company and the Fall River Iron Works. By the late 1880s the Iron Works complex was demolished for the expansion of the American Printing Company. The new mills produced the cotton cloth for the print works, along with dozens of other mills in Fall River, and became known as the "Iron Works Division" of the APC, a tribute to the importance of the Iron Works in the early history of Fall River. This site is now occupied by Boremco.

King Philip Mills

A cancelled $500 First Mortgage Bond for the King Philip Mills, Fall River, Massachusetts. From 1900. Issued by the BMC Durfee Safe Deposit and Trust Company. It was due March 1, 1930. That same year the company was acquired by Berkshire Fine Spinning Associates (a company that forms part of the origin of Berkshire-Hathaway).

Barnaby Zephyrs

"Do not choose your wash fabrics for 1910 until you have seen... Barnaby's fabric of quality." Sample of fine Scotch Gingham. The Barnaby Manufacturing Company was established in Fall River in 1892 on Quequechan Street. Later, until the late 1970s the site was used by Frito-Lay. In the 1980s it became the Quality Outlets which included factory outlet stores for Levi's, Dockers and a very good book store I used to go to often to get cheap books. Most recently it was occupied by Mill Stores and Cardi Furniture. The factory was demolished in 2010 for a shopping center that has not yet been built.

Firestone Fire 1941

Firestone Fire, Fall River, Massachusetts, October 11, 1941. What was originally the American Print Works mill went up in a huge inferno. Millions of dollars of U.S. Government rubber was lost, just several weeks before Pearl Harbor and the U.S. entry into WWII. Firestone had only occupied the building for about three years, but would remain in the rest of the complex into the 1960s. The company made gas masks and other rubber items for the war effort.

Hargraves Soap Works

An idyllic scene. Eastern Fall River in 1883. The Hargraves Soap company was located at what is now Stafford Square, along Quarry Street. The Quequechan River is in the distance, with the New Bedford to Fall River Railroad passing through the "mill pond". The Chace Mill is on the other side of the river. The horse pasture really strikes me, as this is now a dense area of housing. The Hargraves Mill was built on this spot a few years later in 1888.

Fall River Windows

Fall River Windows