Lizzie Borden Society Forum

Hard to imagine the big stack belching smoke. This old mill on Anawan (down by the river end of it) is open September and October as a Fright Factory.

Beginning of Anawan Street down by the Marine Museum

Silent Sentinel
Anawan Street

There's just something about these granite behemoths of industry rising like fortresses against an azur sky that beg to be photographed. This one is sadly now a storage unit over by the old incinerator in a very derelict side of town on Salem Street-it must have been magnificent once, bustling with thousands of workers.

You can almost hear the bronze bell summoning workers to their shift. The tower is dated 1872. It is not so very far from Second Street and I wonder if the Bordens could hear it ringing when they first moved in-it was brand new that year.

You CAN take it with you. Mr. Stafford's Oak Grove tombstone and his mill on East Pleasant St. The little brick house is part of the mill complex- looks like it has had a new roof over the years.

Too bad we didn't take a picture of " THE INCINERATOR"

Thanks for the photos of the mills, Shelley. They are indeed sad to see in their current state. As hard as they must have been to work in they did provide a living for thousands of people.

I totally agree with you Harry. The town I grew up in had 6 shoe factories, and many textile factories (some actually started by Samuel Slater). There was even a factory here that made linen toweling. They called it "crash toweling" and sold it in bolts to JC Penney. If you didn't like your job all you did was walk a few minutes & apply at another mill. It is really nice to see the architecture from another part of the state.

I used to work in that red brick mill down on Anawan St. back in the 1970's. Anderson-Little had the 1st 2 floors and bristol Knitting had the upper 2 floors. I was working there when the blizzard of '78 hit. Took me over 1/2hr just to get from anawan St. where Ernshaws diner is to the entrance ramp to rt. 195. Just a side note but the reason the mill fires in Fall River are usualy so big and burn so furiously is because for years and years the mill floors have been soaked down with oil to keep the dust and other cotton particles down to a minimum so when they do catch fire they burn like a all heck.

Nifty little article I found on women in the mills.

http://www.hoganstand.com/general/ident ... awomen.htm

Wow, that is fantastic! Nice find. Guess who else came from there? Our own Bridget.

This is from the April 1996 Lizzie Borden Quarterly and is part of an article on Bridget by Riobard O'Dwyer in collaboration with the editor Maynard F. Bertolet:

"It was amidst these God-given physical beauties, and shaped by the forces of her time, that Bridget O'Sullivan was born in March, 1864 in the Townland of Billerough, Parish of Allihies, Beara Peninsula, County Cork, Ireland. (The 0' prefix simply means of and can be removed or added at will.) Her parents were Eugene O'Sullivan, known by his Gaelic name of Owen (or Eoin), and Margaret O'Leary O'Sullivan. Bridget was baptized on St. Patrick's Day, March 17, 1864 by Father James Irwin. Her Godparents were Denis Sullivan and Catherine Leary."

The year of Bridget's birth is believed by some to be 1866 not 1864. She was reputed to be 26 at the time of the murders. That's always been a matter of contention. I've come to believe the 1866 year.

The editor writes of O'Dwyer: "Mr. O'Dwyer is a world renowned Genealogist specializing in Irish Parishes located on the Beara Peninsula."

Thanks Harry for additional info on Bridget, Almost like you read my mind on that one.... I am finding a treasure trove of information regarding Beara and Fall River.

I am here reading an old Fall River article.

http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/read/Be ... 0913730075

Irish Nicknames, loving this one
http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/read/Be ... 1011026232

Mill workers

http://homepage.mac.com/joepowers/mill/workers.html

I shall be here a while, lots of pictures

http://www.archiplanet.org/wiki/Fall_Ri ... sachusetts

Tribute to corky row by honorable Barney Frank

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?r ... r106PD2IDM::

All this talk about the old mills has me remembering a old poem that used to be said about Fall River. "Fall River, hills and mills. Where the beer is warm and the woman are cold."

http://homepage.mac.com/joepowers/mill/locations.html

A link on Fall River's mill locations.

SteveS. Thanks for the mills link info, how about some Fall River stories.

What kind of Fall River stories would you like? I can try and answer any questions you might have from my 40 some odd years living in Fall River. Lizzie and I share the same birthday also and some people think that might give me some insight into her mind but I'm not really sure if thats the case. Here is a story from my early elementary school days at the Slade School in Fall River......When I was in kindergarten there our record player was still one of the old crank up victrolas and the desks still had ink wells and the teachers dresses still came down to their shins or ankles and this was allready the early 1960's. Our kindergarten teacher Mrs. Sherman was teaching the class how to make butter in a butter churn and each student got up and took turns churning the butter. Mrs. Sherman sat in front of the class on a chair and held the churn between her legs amidst that long skirt of hers that touched the floor. Well when it was my turn to churn that butter I was determined to give it a good go and I churned just a tad too strong and the lid came right off that wooden churn covering Mrs. Sherman in a huge wave of buttery goop. Needless to say, I was severely punished that day and remember, this was in the days when the use of rulers and straps was still the "norm" for student punishment. I can also remember the day my Dad took us kids to the Mt. Hope bridge to see the Battleship Massachusetts make her maiden voyage up Mt. Hope Bay to it's resting place in Battleship Cove. He was so proud, probably because he worked at the Newport Navy Base. Yes, I was a navy brat. I can also remember what dowtown Fall River looked like at Christmas time back before the days of malls when people actualy still shopped downtown. McWhirr's was always a wonder to me.

Steve- Do you recall the Fall River Knitting Mill? We used to go about October and pick out pullover sweaters for everyone in the family, and for about 5 dollars more, they would beautifully monogram the sweater with up to 3 initials and mail them out in time for Christmas.

Yep, I sure do Shelley. My mom used to wotk there

Ah, your memories of downtown at Christmas are really cool!
Thanks!

The lightposts would be decorated with real live holly and Ivy and colored lights were strung across South Main St. Christmas carols would be blaring from unseen speakers. The candy cane, wooden soldiers and Santa decorations and toy Lionel trains in the store front windows on Main St. were a childs idea of heaven on Earth. There was a small counter diner downtown that for the life of me I can't remember the name of but it was such a treat when my parents would take us there for lunch and I would be able to get a grape or chocolate soda. When there was snow on the ground,which seemed like always, I felt like I was in Santa Land. I always wondered if that was some of what Lizzie experienced at Christmas time downtown in the early 1920's. I would imagine it hadn't changed all that much.

I always wondered if that was some of what Lizzie experienced at Christmas time downtown in the early 1920's.

--SteveS.

Oh Gawd I hope so!

Me too Kat. I hope that at some point in Lizzie's life she was able to enjoy some happy "normalcy". Downtown Fall River in the early 1960's from the old City Hall to almsot the corner where Smith's drugstore was.

I was thinking of you Steve when I took these photos . A few are so sad- rust and barbed wire and desolate lots with weeds poking through the sidewalk.

Durfee Union

Stafford Mills

Any truth to the rumor this great old mill is on the wrecking ball list? It is at the corner of Rodman and Plymouth. Beautiful Mansard roof! Photo is taken from Stop and Shop parking lot.

That's keeping with the spirit of Fall River. Who needs a past?

Is that the building caddy-corner to MacDonalds?

Yes, it is roughly diagonal on the other side of the street from Mickey D's.

Yes it is Harry. And I agree with Fall River not keeping it's past. Right there where Shelley took the pic in the Stop & Shop parking lot used to be a HUGE mill and Mason's Furniture was in there. Thats where my parents used to get all our furniture from bedroom sets to parlor furniture back when you used to be able to buy it on weekly installment plans. And across Rodman St. where McDonalds is now used to be a reception hall. I don't remember the name of it but thats where my parents wedding reception was held back in 1953.

Here is a link to a site that has pictures of children working in the Fall River mills, mostly from the 1910s-20s. It is interesting to see the mills in operation and the faces of the young children who worked in them...

http://www.shorpy.com/search/node/fall+river

..

OMG I've worked in three old mills in Fall River in the QC dept. Duro (Freanch st), Qacker Fabrics (devol st) and Joan Fabrics (N. Main st). Duro had some really wild stuff from the early 1900's in some of the old junk rooms. its so sad that many of these companies are going over seas.