The Cabot Mill of Brunswick, Maine: A Socioeconomic and Environmental History

Krista Bahm, Jeff Cook, Steven Kolberg, Gregory Wyka

ES 203 Service Learning Project: Professor Klingle

May 2008

The Cabot Mill of Brunswick, Maine: A Socioeconomic and Environmental History

Since Brunswick's establishment on the Androscoggin River, industry has imposed socioeconomic and environmental change upon the town. Extractive industries were first to prevail-spurring deforestation, soil degradation and the decline of anadromous fish populations. Man readily exploited nature's bounty, disregarding the potential environmental repercussions. Later, other utilities that the river could afford the town manifested themselves in the form of waterpower, and different industries moved to capitalize on the new opportunities. Brunswick's abundant waterpower enabled the textile industry to establish itself and dominate the socioeconomic livelihood of the town. As the mills expanded they required more labor, and therefore the textile industry exploited not only nature but man as well-yet not without consequences. The river's ecological health and Brunswick's social welfare suffered at the expense of the mill industry's dominance and expansion. In response, man used his agency to encourage environmental change and better his social standing. From its conception in 1857 until the end of World War II, the Cabot Mill stood as one of the most dominant forces in Brunswick's economic, social and environmental development. But while the Cabot Mill strove to monopolize both natural and human resources, the company achieved only limited success.

Brunswick's Physical Location and Context

The Androscoggin River offered many opportunities that fostered the initial settlement of Brunswick. Throughout the eighteenth century, industry in the town of Brunswick centered on both the exploitation of agricultural land and fish stocks in the Androscoggin River and Merrymeeting Bay.[1] Fishing-particularly of salmon and sturgeon-was very profitable, and became "a considerable business" and operated "upon quite a large scale."[2] However, too many years of overly exploitative practices rendered Brunswick's natural pantry barren. By the early nineteenth century, Brunswick's agricultural and maritime economies became unprofitable due to destructive land use practices and over harvesting of fish stocks.[3]
Yet, Brunswick found new uses for the river. The geology characterizing the river adjacent to the town of Brunswick offered optimal conditions for mills and many viewed it to be quite "favorable to the growth of a great manufacturing city."[4] The mills harnessed the kinetic energy of the falling water at Pejepscot Falls to power their equipment. As a result, saw and gristmills soon lined the banks of the Androscoggin. Additionally, Brunswick installed a series of dams that served to more efficiently utilize the energy of the river. Larger mills and companies established themselves in Brunswick; the Cabot Company predominated in the Brunswick community after its succession of the Warumbo Company in 1857. By the 1880s, the factories that depended on the river's energy for business "had become the core of the town."[5] The decline of Brunswick's agricultural and maritime economies occurred at the same time as the growth of New England's textile industry.

Initial Formation of Textile Industry

Development of new technologies, new markets and the decline of agriculture and fishing industries led to the rise of textile industries in Maine and New England. As a result, Brunswick's industrial and demographic expansion arose in part because of textile mills location along the Androscoggin. Over the years the mill site changed ownership from the Brunswick Cotton Manufacturing Company to the Cabot Manufacturing Company to the Verney Corporation, all the while serving as a pivotal determinant in Brunswick's development and expansion. The mill was able to serve such a pivotal role in the town's development due to its innovative techniques that efficiently utilized the Androscoggin River by harnessing the falling water and river gradient to power the mills.

Initially, the Brunswick Manufacturing Company established the town's first textile mill on the site where Fort Andross currently stands.[6] The mill's ownership shifted many times between its establishment and the purchase of the site by the Cabot Manufacturing Company. The Cabot Manufacturing Company struck its claim to the site in 1857.[7] At the time the Cabot Company purchased the mill, it also secured exclusive rights to the Brunswick dam on the Androscoggin River, which it used to power its looms and spindles.[8] In 1857, the Cabot Company "had two hundred and thirty-five looms in operation, [...] 9,000 spindles at work" and employed 175 workers, which "turned out 50,000 yards of plain and drill cotton per week."[9] Similar to textile mills in other New England communities like Lowell, Massachusetts, the Cabot Mill soon became the "cornerstone of [Brunswick's] increasingly urbanized community"[10] and "most clearly reflect[ed] Brunswick's shift from an agricultural to an industrial society."[11]

The Nature-Mill Dual Relationship

Demand for textile products during the Civil War and subsequent decades forced the Cabot Mill to greatly expand its production capacity, which fueled the urbanization and infrastructural development of Brunswick. Subsequently, the town's relationship with the Androscoggin River changed as a result of population growth and industrialization. The company used its political clout to encourage the development of the Grand Trunk Railroad.[12] The railroad connected Brunswick to more distant locations-including areas of Canada-from where the company drew foreign laborers. Therefore, increased transportation helped the mill feed its growing demand for labor. With the railroad, the company was able to recruit foreign labor to compensate for the lack of domestic workers. However, the growth of a working class in Brunswick caused many problems.

The growth of the working class stemmed from the decline in farming and maritime trade during the 1880s; the rural residents moved toward industrializing areas for better labor opportunities.[13] With more factory jobs available, an increasingly diverse mix of people flooded into Brunswick via the Grand Trunk Railroad and the increasing number of roads connecting Brunswick to various locales. During the earlier parts of the nineteenth century, Canadians experienced severe economic hardships in central and southern Quebec.[14] As a consequence, thousands of French-Canadians moved elsewhere in search of work, many of whom ended up in Maine. By 1900, the population of Brunswick was predominantly French, and many of these people worked in the Cabot Mill.[15] The mill remained one of the largest and most powerful in Maine.

During the last half of the nineteenth century, the Cabot Mill greatly expanded its operations to meet Union Army demands for cloth during the Civil War.[16] In order to increase output, the Cabot Company made several structural additions to accommodate more looms and spindles, constructed several cotton storehouses, and built more tenement units for its employees.[17] In 1891, the Cabot Company demolished an old section of the mill to rebuild it as a large tower, which is still visible from today's Maine Street (Figure 1). The exterior layout of the mill has remained unchanged ever since the renovations of 1891.[18] Concurrently, the Cabot Mill also made "gas works" accommodations, which supplied gas for the factory lighting and also for the rest of the town."[19] While the company benefited from the addition of gas lines, so did the town of Brunswick.
Additionally, Brunswick further expanded its infrastructure as a result of the Cabot Mill. Aside from the company's subsidization of gas line installation and encouragement of railroad development, the town further benefited from the mill's ability to harness waterpower. The company installed three waterwheels to take advantage of the Androscoggin River's abundance of natural waterpower, and as with gas lines, the town benefited from waterpower development. Most notably, waterpower meant residents could employ electricity for such conveniences as electrical "streetcars."[20]

Social and Environmental Effects

The expansion of the mill required a large supply of cheap labor. The Grand Trunk Railroad, which connected Brunswick to Canada, allowed the Cabot Mill to draw workers eager to escape the economic hardships in Quebec at the time. The Cabot Company encouraged permanent settlement by attracting people to Brunswick in order to satiate rising labor demands. The company intensively recruited foreign labor-predominantly French Canadians-leading to an influx of immigrants to Brunswick.[21] The Cabot Company then engaged in numerous expansion projects to accommodate extensive industrial growth.[22] The growing populous of laborers created a business on which local entrepreneurs could capitalize. Similarly, these ambitious profiteers built and modified greater numbers of tenements to accommodate Brunswick's growing working class.[23]

The Brunswick mill workers valued the opportunities afforded by the mills. As one worker described in a letter to home, "'Big money down here...we work fourteen hours a day here. It is easy to learn the weaving.'"[24] However, working and living conditions were deplorable. The Cabot Mill became a "foreign enterprise" as immigrant workers began to fill positions under conditions, which American workers were no longer willing to endure. The Cabot Mill's working environment was harsh, and workers often served simply as extensions of the machinery. They worked long hours for six days a week while the factory environment simultaneously exposed workers to loud machinery, suffocating dust, and extreme heat. Children, as young as twelve, found work in the factories, often making less than five dollars a week.[25]

In addition, living conditions outside of the mill remained equally undesirable. The Cabot Company provided housing in the form of one hundred tenement units on Mill Street.[26] These buildings were often a couple stories tall with rooms expected to accommodate upwards of twelve people. Outside the living quarters, water wells often became filthy and contaminated from overuse and neglect. Similarly, animals roamed the open spaces, contributing to the overabundance of garbage and human wastes. Brunswick deemed such areas, "French Quarters"-as they came to be known. Not surprisingly, the French Quarters harbored many diseases such as diptheria, smallpox and typhoid.[27]

The Cabot Mill, however, could only sustain such practices for so long. In local newspapers, editorial writers began to decry the awful working conditions, blaming the Cabot Company not just for the unsanitary living conditions but also for substandard wages. An 1886 newspaper article said that Cabot Mill "evidently care[d] more for the figure of its dividend than for the comfort, or even health, of its employees."[28] Affluent Brunswick residents opted to ignore these complaints, hoping the workers would remove and situate themselves elsewhere. The mill owners and businessmen simply focused on the economic benefits of their labor practices and neglected to address any complaints. However, with support from regional unions, the mill workers staged various strikes throughout the industrial mill era, demanding higher wages and better living and working conditions.

As the mill industries declined in the early twentieth century, the French American population maintained its stronghold in Brunswick. Although the first immigrants suffered under unfavorable working and living conditions, subsequent generations found Brunswick to be much more accommodating. The town encouraged French-Canadian immigrants to run and maintain their own businesses, as well as to participate in industries aside from textiles. And, with their greater participation, the French-Canadian majority gained both status and respect from native Brunswick residents.

As the Brunswick population grew, the Androscoggin River was assigned new roles in accommodating the town's ever-changing form and function. During the later half of the nineteenth century, Brunswick's underdeveloped sewage and drainage systems left much to be desired, and as late as 1880, "no sewage system existed."[29] Waterborne diseases were endemic; the Cabot Mill even adopted the policy of compulsory vaccinations for all of its employees.[30] Brunswick attempted to mitigate the spread of disease by using the Androscoggin to relieve the town of its many wastes, both human and industrial. The town installed sewage pipes and drainage systems-dumping much into the river-and impacts were visible soon after. The river, into which sewage was dumped, became "more clogged and noisome than ever."[31] The Androscoggin washed away the dirt and stench of the town, which many residents associated with Brunswick, at the expense of the river's ecological health. With the growth of the town, clean water grew increasingly scarce, leading to competition for water between households and municipal services. The town's French-Canadian work force installed a pumping station and pipe system to draw water back into Brunswick and ease supply shortages. However, the pumping station still required a filter to remove the visible debris from the water; towns upstream from Brunswick also contributed to the pollution of the Androscoggin River.

The Mill in Industry

At the turn of the 20^th century, the Cabot Mill was the most significant economic entity in Brunswick, employing thousands of residents, but new market conditions and competition in the textile industry would lead to the decline of the Cabot Mill. As the twentieth century progressed, the Cabot Mill continued to expand and increase its output. The company secured new looms, spindles and employees in response to technological developments and larger production demands (Figure 2). By the 1930s, the Cabot Mill employed nearly 1100 workers (Figure 3) and produced about 275,000 yards of cotton per week.[32] Prior to 1900, the Cabot Mill produced only a single style of cloth. However, by the 1920s, the mill manufactured thirty different styles of fine-grade, intricately woven cloth in order to compete against cheaper, coarser grades of cloth that the textile mills of the Deep South produced.[33] Production capabilities expanded under the later ownership of the Verney Corporation as the mill began to manufacture synthetic rayon cloth, a much more profitable commodity; the company directly sold twenty-five percent of the mill's output to the United States government during World War II.[34] The Verney Corporation's domain over the mill persisted until the mid-twentieth century-a time when extremely low sales forced the company to cease production and put the mill up for sale.[35] The Cabot Mill succumbed to modern pressures, which led to a shift from an industrial focus to one on retail, office space and creative outlets. Consequently, Fort Andross became the new name for the former Cabot Mill.

As Theodore Steinberg argues in his book Nature Incorporated: Industrialization and the Waters of New England, industrialization not only transformed social relations but also changed how humans interacted with the natural world.[36] The industrialization of Brunswick, largely driven by the Cabot Manufacturing Company, led to social and environmental impacts, which reinforce Steinberg's central argument. In the present day, there remains a strong connection between the town of Brunswick and the Androscoggin River. The Brunswick Hydroelectric Dam still uses the kinetic energy of falling waterpower to provide electricity for Brunswick as well as neighboring communities. Brunswick residents use the river for recreational purposes, such as fishing and boating. However, since upstream mill effluent still pollutes the Androscoggin River, human interaction with the river is fairly limited. For example, the town advises residents against eating fish caught in the river and swimming above the Brunswick dam. Environmental organizations are still concerned with the poor water quality of the Androscoggin River. By improving the river's water quality, they attempt to give residents the opportunity to reconnect with a healthy Androscoggin River.

[1] James M. McCarthy, "Mills spurred Brunswick growth," Brunswick Times Record, date unknown, 1989.

[2] George Augustus Wheeler and Henry Warren Wheeler. History of Brunswick, Topsham, and Harpswell, Maine, including the ancient territory known as Pejepscot. Boston: Alfred Mudge & Son, 1878, 522.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid, 554.

[5] Edward Chase Kirkland, Brunswick's Golden Age, C. Parker Loring, Printer, Lewiston, Maine, 1941, 12.

[6] Kirkland. Brunswick's Golden Age. 12.

[7] Ibid.

[8] Ibid.

[9] George Augustus Wheeler and Henry Warren Wheeler, History of Brunswick, Topsham, and Harpswell, Maine including the ancient territory known as Pejepscot (Boston: Alfred Mudge & Son: 1878), 566-567.

[10] James M. McCarthy, "Mills spurred Brunswick growth."

[11] Industrial Heritage of Brunswick and Topsham. Available from: Brunswick Industry: Mills, General. Pejepscot Historical Society.

[12] Frances P. Caswell, "A Summary of the History of the Cabot Mill and the Local Textile Industry in the Nineteenth Century," 1987, available from: Industry: Cabot Mill, Pejepscot Historical Society, Brunswick, Maine.

[13] Edward Chase Kirkland. Brunswick's Golden Age.

[14] Author unknown, Brunswick Telegraph, June 8, 1894.

[15] James W. Flanagan, "Franco-Americans left their mark on Brunswick," Brunswick Times Record, June 6, 1989.

[16] Caswell, "A Summary of the History of the Cabot Mill and the Local Textile Industry in the Nineteenth Century."

[17] Ibid.

[18] Ibid.

[19] Ibid.

[20] Caswell, "A Summary of the History of the Cabot Mill and the Local Textile Industry in the Nineteenth Century."

[21] Caswell, "A Summary of the History of the Cabot Mill and the Local Textile Industry in the Nineteenth Century."

[22] Ibid.

[23] Ibid, 4.

[24] Flanagan, "Franco-Americans left their mark on Brunswick."

[25] Author unknown, Brunswick Telegraph, June 11, 1853.

[26] Author unknown, Brunswick Telegraph, March 5, 1875.

[27] William N. Locke, The French Colony at Brunswick, Maine: A Historical Sketch (Archives de Folklore: Universite Laval, Editions Fides), 1946.

[28] Author unknown, Brunswick Telegraph, Fall 1886.

[29] Edward Chase Kirkland. Brunswick's Golden Age, 12.

[30] Edward Chase Kirkland. Brunswick's Golden Age, 21.

[31] Ibid.

[32] David Gilman, "Something About Cotton Manufacturing: Brunswick's Greatest History," Board of Trade Journal 17, no. 7 (Nov. 1904).

[33] Ibid.

[34] Textile Manufacturing Operations at the Cabot Mill Site. Date unkown, Available from: Industry: Cabot Mill collection. Pejepscot Historical Society, Brunswick, Maine.

[35] Ibid.

[36] Theodore Steinberg, Nature Incorporated: Industrialization and the Waters of New England (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1991), 11.

Please see the Annotated Bibliography for more sources and information.