Elliottville Lower Mill facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Elliottville Lower Mill
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_East_Killingly,_CT.jpg)
Elliottville Lower Mill
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 Location in Connecticut
Location in the United States
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| Location | Peep Toad Rd, East Killingly, Connecticut |
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| Area | 2.8 acres (1.1 ha) |
| Built | 1850 |
| NRHP reference No. | 82004406 |
| Added to NRHP | April 15, 1982 |
The Elliottville Lower Mill, also known as the Peep Toad Mill, is a very old cotton mill located in East Killingly, Connecticut. It was built around 1850. This mill is special because it's a great example of an early textile mill made mostly of wood. The mill area includes a dam, a pond, a water channel (called a head race), and a bridge. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982, which means it's an important historical site.
What is the Elliottville Lower Mill?
The Elliottville Lower Mill is found in a quiet, countryside part of eastern Killingly. It sits on Peep Toad Road, right where it crosses Whetstone Brook. The whole mill area covers about 2.8 acres (about 1.1 hectares).
The site has one main building. It also includes a dam that holds back water to form a pond. There's also a special channel to guide water to the mill. A stone bridge, made of rubble, carries Peep Toad Road over the brook.
The mill building itself is not very big. It has 2 and a half stories and a sloped roof. It's built from stone and wood. It stands across the road from the mill pond and dam.
A Look Back: How the Mill Was Built
The Elliottville Lower Mill was built around 1850 by the Elliottville Manufacturing Company. This company had a bigger main mill located further upstream.
This mill is quite rare today. Many textile mills were built with wood frames back then. However, most of them were destroyed by fires or changed a lot over time. This mill is one of the few that still stands.
The Elliottville Manufacturing Company started in the 1830s. Two people from Killingly, Thomas Pray and Henry Westcott, created it. They built their first mill, called the "upper" mill, in the 1830s.
Some local stories say this building might be even older. They suggest it was first used as a saw mill (for cutting wood) and a grist mill (for grinding grain). But the way it was built matches other buildings from the upper mill site.
In 1844, Pray and Westcott sold their business. Albert Elliott and Nelson Eddy bought it. Later, Welcome Bartlett joined them as a partner. This mill, built by their new partnership, was used for spinning cotton. It also prepared the "warps," which are the threads used in weaving at the upper mill.
The company kept running through the 1880s. In the 1900s, the mill building found a new purpose. It was turned into a private home and an art studio.
