Crane and Company Old Stone Mill Rag Room

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Crane and Company Old Stone Mill Rag Room
National Register of Historic Places
National Historic Landmark
Historic District Contributing Property
The museum in 2009

The museum in 2009

Crane and Company Old Stone Mill Rag Room, Massachusetts
Paris plan pointer b jms.svg
location Dalton , Massachusetts , United States
Coordinates 42 ° 28 '10 "  N , 73 ° 10' 42"  W Coordinates: 42 ° 28 '10 "  N , 73 ° 10' 42"  W
surface 1.5  acres (0.6  ha )
Built 1844
architect Zenas Crane
NRHP number 83004376
Data
The NRHP added May 4th 1983
Declared as an  NHL May 4th 1983
Declared as  CP November 9, 2005

The Crane and Company Old Stone Mill Rag Room is the remains of one of the oldest surviving paper mills owned by Crane & Co. in the state of Massachusetts in the United States . Operated as the Crane Museum of Papermaking since 1930 , the building was entered as a National Historic Landmark on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. Since 2005 it has been to the Contributing Property of the Cranesville Historic District .

architecture

The building , constructed of field stones in 1844 , is the remaining remnant of the Old Stone Mill , on whose original site there are now more recent paper mills, some of which are still in operation. The building was designed by Zenas Crane personally and was used for production and experimentation until the 1890s.

The building was converted into an industrial museum in 1930 and rebuilt. Although the gable roof covered with slate shingles was also renewed at the same time, the main characteristics of the building were preserved. The entrance at the front consists of a wooden double door framed by columns of Doric order . These carry an entablature with a frieze in which the words "Crane Museum" are engraved. There is a round window above.

Inside, the museum consists of a single room that houses various exhibits related to the history of the Crane Company and paper making in Berkshire County . This includes a letter from Henry Clay thanking Zenas Crane for providing samples.

Historical meaning

Several paper mills were built by the Crane Company in the 19th century on a 1.5 km stretch of bank along the Housatonic River . The former "rags space" ( English rag room ) of the Old Stone Mill represents both the history of the Crane Company - Winthrop M. Crane started in this building his career - as the important role of also Berkshire region in the national paper production.

In the first half of the 19th century, Berkshire County in Massachusetts established itself as the leading paper manufacturing facility in the United States as part of the redesign of paper machines by Henry Fourdrinier . The region retained this leadership role until the Civil War . Founded in 1801, the Crane Company is still in the market today and is the oldest paper mill in the United States that has never moved. The company mainly produces paper based on textile fibers and is now the main supplier for the production of American dollar bills .

The company laid the foundation stone for it in 1879 when Winthrop Murray Crane, grandson of the company's founder Zenas Crane and later governor of Massachusetts (1900-1902) and US Senator (1904-1912), received an order from the United States Department of the Treasury to produce paper for Bills won. Since then, the company has produced 95 percent of US banknotes, as well as smaller quantities for other states.

See also

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Listing of National Historic Landmarks by State: Massachusetts. National Park Service , accessed August 10, 2019.
  2. ↑ a b c cf. Adams, p. 2.
  3. ↑ cf. Adams, p. 5.
  4. ↑ cf. Adams, p. 3.
  5. ↑ cf. Adams, p. 7.