Clinton Redux: The Main Drag and Other Stuff

From Dave Brigham:

Welcome to my second "redux" post about Clinton, Mass. In the first one, I wrote about some of the Worcester County town's mills and associated sites (see August 5, 2023, "Clinton Redux: Mills and Industrial Sites"). That post went live more than seven years after my first review of this town (see January 27, 2016, "Finding Hope, But Losing a Mainstay, in Clinton").

In this post, the first several photos featured are ones I took in 2015 and 2019. The dozens of photos that follow the historic firehouse are shots I made this past April. I will feature great old buildings from Clinton's main retail strip, as well some ghost signs, a fantastic fire station, the Wachusett dam, a theater, a social club and much more.

Let's start with perhaps the defining feature of Clinton, the Wachusett Dam.

Built between 1897 and 1905 at the southern end of Clinton, the dam impounds the Nashua River above the town. The dam -- 205 feet high and 965 feet across -- is part of Greater Boston's water system, and is maintained and controlled by the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority. When it was completed, the reservoir behind it was the largest public water supply reservoir in the world, per Wikipedia. At that time, the Wachusett Reservoir Dam was the largest gravity dam in the world as well. The Wachusett Reservoir is now the second largest body of water in Massachusetts, after the Quabbin Reservoir.

As was the case with the Quabbin, and other reservoirs around the globe, in advance of completion and the flooding of the area, residents and businesses had to move, and homes, churches and other buildings had to be demolished or abandoned. "[A] railroad tunnel and trestle had to be built in order to relocate the Central Massachusetts Railroad," per Wikipedia, "and over four thousand bodies had to be dug up and moved in the local Catholic cemetery."

I explored the long-abandoned railroad tunnel during my first visit to Clinton several years ago. The trestle mentioned in the above paragraph was eventually torn down; remnants of the structure can be seen in the photos below.

Construction of the dam brought thousands of immigrants to Clinton and surrounding towns. Those workers helped the town grow and provided labor for the numerous mills that I wrote about in my last post. One of the places where those workers and others would have shopped during the first seven decades of the 20th century was the White Eagle Market on Green Street.

Located just around the bend from the main Lancaster Mills complex, the store -- abandoned since 1968, according to MACRIS -- was built around 1900 by the factory owners. The store would have provided grocery staples for the workers, as well as entertainment. "Until about 1950 there was a poolhall and shoeshine stand on the second floor," MACRIS continues. It was quite common for mill owners to maintain not only stores but also housing for their employees.

A little further east-northeast along Green Street is Polish American Veterans Post 292, a place where mill workers surely hung out.

"The PAV in Clinton, MA. was created in 1947 by a group of Polish veterans returning from WW II who wanted to perpetuate camaraderie, friendship and charity," according to the group's web site.

Heading west into downtown, at the corner of Church and Main streets sits a historic firehouse.

Built in 1898, "The Clinton Old Central Fire Station is an impressive example of a Classical Revival style building...making use of numerous architectural elements including polychromatic brick, a large, square...tower, and an enclosed pediment on the gable end with a denticulated, projecting cornice," per MACRIS. "In 1919, the fire station had both a horse drawn and a motor drawn fire engine....In 1988, a new fire station was constructed immediately to the northwest of the Old Clinton Fire Station and fronts Main Street. After the new Clinton Fire Station was constructed, ownership of the Old Central Fire Station was transferred to the School Department. It is currently used as a storage space for the Parks and Recreation Department."

That MACRIS report dates to 2016, so I'm not sure if the old station is still used by the town's parks department.

OK, now I'll get to the photos I took on my most recent swing through town.

I started my latest tour at Lou's Diner, at the intersection of Grove and Chestnut streets.

This eatery was built by the Worcester Lunch Car Company in the late 1920s or 1930, according to MACRIS. It is one of the earliest diners in Massachusetts; it was remodeled in the mid-1950s. The restaurant is also home to Turini's Catering, which I assume occupies the back half of the building.

According to MACRIS, "the diner is significant architecturally and historically as a 1920s Worcester lunch car that the company remodeled in the 1950s. The diner displays design elements and materials from both periods, making Lou's of exceptional significance at the state and local levels. Locally, Lou's Diner is the last prefabricated diner in Clinton, and part of a long legacy of lunch wagons and diners in the community."

The diner, however, hasn't spent its entire life in Clinton. In 1968, Louie Turini, local restaurateur and food service manager for the town's schools, "bought an existing diner once located on Route 13 in Townsend," according to this Telegram & Gazette article. "Called the Mayor’s Lunch, it had been operated by the former mayor of Fitchburg, George Bourque. Louie had it moved to Clinton by Carl Mathews and it caused quite a scene when it was delivered on a flatbed to that busy corner."

About 200 feet due west of the diner is Iglesia Movimiento Pentecostal (Pentecoastal Movement Church).

The building dates to 1930, according to the assessor, and appears to have been a church since at least 1980. I'd like to know if it served another purpose when it was built.

I stress-tested both my heart and my sciatica by hiking up Beacon Street to make my way over to P. O'Toole's Block.

Located on the hill of Main Street just south of downtown, this beautiful building dates to 1875 and currrently houses Brian's Barbershop and Crystal Cafe, a local watering hole. I'm guessing there are apartments and/or offices on the upper floors.

I haven't found any history for this building. All I can tell you is that it's not named for this guy.

Heading north on Main Street is Burditt Hill General Store.

The building dates to 1920, and I'm guessing it has been a store or restaurant most if not all of those years.

I'm going to hit some outlying sites before zeroing in on High Street, the main retail/restaurant/commercial thoroughfare.

Anthony's Barber Shop is located at 96 Brook Street, in a mixed residential-industrial neighborhood.

The building dates to 1930. I'd love to know what other purposes this little place has served. Or whether it's been a barbership for 93 years.

North of downtown, along Main Street, is a nicely maintained old building with two great connections to Clinton's history.

Home to Trinity Lodge Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, this circa-1852 building is the oldest school house in Clinton. I'm not sure when thte Masons took over the building; the lodge was established in 1858.

Approximately 500 feet to the west, across Main Street, an empty lot and the north-south railroad tracks, is Parker Street, where I found some old trucks.

The fire truck above is from the town of Princeton, and is located between the New England Harvest cannabis business and the old warehouse that I mentioned in the first Clinton redux post.

Below are some old rigs parked in and around some circa-1920 garages at the corner of Parker and Brook streets, hard by the railroad tracks.

As I crossed under the trestle over Brook Street, I looked up and spotted a nice bit of railroad history.

BUILT BY THE PENNSYLVANIA STEEL CO. STEELTON PA 1913 the well-rusted tag bolted in place indicates.

At the corner of Brook and High streets is another auto-related building from 1920.

Now home to Clinton Tire & Repair, this building is known historically as the Paine Garage.

Next door is the Faith Bible Baptist Church, which rose in 1922.

Heading south along High Street, on a triangular lot next to the train tracks, is a circa-1896 building that was originally the Clinton Water Department.

It is now home to the Clinton Emergency Management Agency.

At the corner of High and Water streets is a former service station that dates to 1895.

The old Gene's Auto Repair is now home to Los Primos Barber Shop.

Two doors down, on the side of P & S Pizza House (in business since 1963), I spied a ghost.

I couldn't make out this old painted advertisement, but when I posted it on Facebook, a friend speculated -- correctly, I believe -- that this is a sign for Pillsbury's Best all-purpose flour. He pointed me towards the photo below, from the Green Bay Murals Facebook page:

Heading south on High Street, I found several fantastic late-19th century buildings, starting with the P.A. Cannon Block and Opera House.

Built in 1874, according to the town's assessing department, 188-202 High Street is owned by the Perkins School, although I'm not sure whether that is the Perkins School for the Blind, which is based in Watertown, Mass., or the Doctor Franklin Perkins School, a therapeutic institution for students ages 5-22. I haven't been able to find out much about this building's history, other than that the YMCA leased part of the building at some point. I assume the back story must be pretty cool given that it was once an opera house.

Next door is the Hawkins Block, which dates to 1900.

The building was "constructed for A.C. Hawkins as a commercial block with upper-story tenements to replace an earlier residential building on the site," according to MACRIS. "The obituary for Arthur Calvin Hawkins (1855–1932), a poultry dealer in nearby Lancaster in 1891, described him as 'one of the world’s greatest breeders of barred Plymouth Rock Poultry.'"

Over the years, the ground-floor shops have been filled by a hat shop, a fruit seller, a butcher, a grocer, a hardware store and other small businesses. Current tenants include The Palace Barber Shop and Valhalla Tattoo.

Next in line on the west side of High Street is the O'Toole Building, which may be named for the same person or family as the one mentioned above.

Built circa 1890, the building "is a handsome four story example of the Queen Anne style faced in red brick with red sandstone trimmings," per MACRIS. Its current tenants include Pressed'O, an organic juice bar and cafe, and Liberty Tax.

Now we come to Regis's place, the Philbin Block.

Built in 1909, this Classical Revival building is currently home to Classics Barbershop, Studio Giorgi and Multi Business Services, an independent insurance agency. I haven't been able to find out any history of this unique building.

The adjacent Oxford Block, a Queen Anne-style building, was erected in 1884.

I was fighting the sun to get a decent shot. MACRIS doesn't detail the building's history. Current tenants include Fitzgerald & Quill Insurance and Country Garden Florist.

Across High Street from the Oxford Block is the Peirce Block.

Built in 1887, this Renaissance Revival beauty was named for William N. Peirce, who was manager of the Quilt Mill Bleachery and owner of a grocery store in town, per MACRIS. The building at its origin had three commercial storefronts, office and function hall space on the second and third stories, and residential space on the third and fourth floors. Tenants over the years included a furniture store, a grocer, the Wattoquottic Tribe Red Men social club (um...), a florist, an undertaker and the Knights of Columbus.

Current occupants of the building include The Simple Man Saloon & Grill and Immediate Dental.

I took a quick detour west on Church Street, as I remembered some cool buildings from my first visit to Clinton all those years ago.

I just love the Courant Item Building, and not just because I'm a journalist at heart. Yes, it's a little wonky currently with the AC units pulled out, but from the "C" over the front door to the date and name of the newspaper at the top and the greenish copper cornice, this place is just fantastic. And it's on a slope, which makes it appear to be dug in against the world.

And, of course, the signage.

Farragher Litterio & Henebry was a certified public accounting firm - the business might still be in operation as Farragher & Henebry, based on a quick Google search. As for the other sign, there's a bit to unpack there.

From MACRIS: "The Lancaster Courant newspaper was established in 1846 by Eliphas Ballard, who served as printer and publisher, and F. C. Messenger, who was the first editor....When the Village of Clintonville separated from Lancaster in 1850, the newspaper was renamed the Clinton Courant....In 1853, Ballard moved the publishing office into the Clinton House Block at the corner of High Street and Church Street. Ballard continued to print and published the newspaper until 1862, when he closed the office. In 1865, William J. Coulter...of Troy, New York, purchased Ballard’s printing business. Coulter had worked at the Clinton Courant prior to enlisting in the military during the Civil War. He resumed publishing the Clinton Courant with William E. Parkhurst as editor."

So that covers the "Coulter Press" part of the sign, and the "Courant" part of the building and business. Let's get to more of the story: "The first Clinton Courant Printing Office, 162 Church Street was constructed in 1872 by local builder Elisha Brimhall....By 1878, the Clinton Courant’s editor Robert Orr was running the newspaper and a book and stationary store out of the storefront on Church Street. By 1888, the printing office was located on the first and second floors of the building, and the third story was used as a hall by one of the numerous fraternal organizations in Clinton. William J. Coulter added a second paper, the Clinton Daily Item, in 1893, which was printed every day but Sundays and holidays."

I did not make a photo of 162 Church Street. Here's more: "Coulter built the Courant-Item Building, 156 Church Street (1902), also known as the Coulter Press Building, and the company occupied both buildings until 1904....In 1915...the building housed the W.J. Coulter Press offices on the first story, the Clinton Courant and Clinton Daily Item on the second, and the Free Methodist Church on the third. The third floor continued to be rented by numerous fraternal organizations and businesses throughout the 20th century including the Loyal Order of the Orange Hall, the Ancient Order of the Hibernians Hall, the Clinton Chamber of Commerce, the Union Hall, and the Brae Burn Dance Academy.

"The Courant-Item Building remained in the Coulter family until 1996, when it was purchased by The Chronicle Publishing. The building is now owned by the Worcester Telegram and Gazette, the parent company of the Clinton Item, and a portion of the building is rented for professional offices and storage."

That MACRIS report dates back seven years. I'm not sure who owns the building these days. The Clinton Item is currently published by CherryRoad Media, which owns and operates newspapers in 16 states.

Across from the Courant Item Building is the Old Timer Restaurant & Bar.

When I wrote about Clinton the first time, this restaurant was on the verge of closing after being in business since 1929 serving Irish food and drink. On Google Street View, the latest image is from October 2018, and there is an OPENING SOON! sign on the front of the restaurant. I don't know whether that happened. You may be able to see there is a building permit in the front window now, so perhaps the Old Timer will be new again. According to the town assessor, the building dates to 1920.

Next door, heading back up toward High Street, is the very impressive Crossman Building.

Built in 1883, this Queen Anne-style building is currently home to...I have no idea.

On the southeast corner of High and Church streets is the former First National Bank Building.

This Classical Revival building rose in 1881. "The First National Bank Building was designed with four storefronts on the first story, office space on the second, and space for function halls on the third," according to MACRIS. "In 1888, the four storefronts on the first story of the building contained a dry goods store, a clothing store, post office and a book store, and the First National Bank of Clinton....By 1904, the First National Bank shared the space with the Clinton Savings Bank. In 1919, the First National Bank became the Clinton Trust Company, and the building was thereafter referred to as the Clinton Trust Company Building."

Current tenants include the law offices of Bailey & Burke and the Kerrigan O'Malley and Bailey Insurance Agency.

Clintonians don't lack for insurance agency options on High Street.

Across High Street from the old bank building is the Wachusett Building, the highest-profile tenant of which is the Strand Theatre Movie House & Grille.

Unfortunately, the theater/restaurant closed in late 2021, which I didn't realize when I made the photos above. Before shutting down, the theater offered "a unique twist in movie entertainment," per its web site. "Known in the trade as a Cinema Pub, Drafthouse or Grille, The Strand Theatre [offered] movie patrons the ability to enjoy a casual light meal and drink while watching a current motion picture on the big screen, with state-of-the-art sound and service in a comfortable and relaxing atmosphere. The Strand [featured] the finest in recent motion picture entertainment on one of the largest screens in Worcester County."

Sounds lovely. So sad to see yet another great old moviehouse turn out the lights. Perhaps someone will bring it back to life.

More from the cinema's web site: "The Strand Theatre was built in 1924 and initially operated as a vaudeville theater and silent movie house. With the collapse of vaudeville and the advent of 'talking-pictures', The Strand continued to operate as a movie house until the late 1970's. The Strand was completely renovated and re-opened in March of 1995 as a cinema and draught house."

As for the building, according to MACRIS, "After fire destroyed the Clinton House and Hall in January 1923, the Philbin Brothers purchased the lot, where they constructed a commercial block with stores, offices, apartments and a theater, designed by Haynes & Mason, between 1923 and 1924. They hired Thomas P. Hurley from Marlboro as contractor. The theater cost over $200,000 to build and could seat 2,000 people. The Strand Theatre...[was] originally called the Philbin Theater...."

Current tenants include Sunrise Boutique, which has been in business since 1971; the Vegan Nest Cafe; and Corner Sports Embroidery.

The last building I shot on the west side of High Street is the Doggett Building.

Currently home to First Concern Pregnancy Resource Center and Coffeelands, a coffee shop and cafe, the circa-1890 Romanesque Revival building "was designed with two storefronts on the first floor, offices on the second, tenements on the third, the Clinton International Order of the Odd Fellows (IOOF) and Daughters of Rebekah hall on the fourth, and undefined space on the fifth," per MACRIS.

My last stop on High Street, and the final site for this tour of the town, is a former Woolworth's store.

While my head is always on a swivel looking up for named buildngs, ghost signs, murals, abandoned mills and the like, I am constantly looking down for these old tile entryways. This one is located in front of what is now Ciccone Family Fitness Center. Last May, I mentioned a former Woolworth entryway in Waltham (see May 7, 2022, "Getting Moody in Waltham").

Clinton Redux: Mills and Industrial Sites

From Dave Brigham:

Since I posted about Clinton, Mass., in early 2016, I've been jonesing to get back there (see January 27, 2016, "Finding Hope, But Losing a Mainstay, in Clinton"). I drove through a section of the old mill town after exploring nearby Sterling back in November of 2019, took a few photos and made a mental note to return (see March 26, 2020, "A Sliver of Sterling"). Finally, in mid-April of this year, I got back there.

This is the first of two "redux" posts about Clinton, in which I will cover former mills and industrial spaces. The second installment in this mini-series will cover the main drags and their great old buildings, as well as other stuff.

In my 2016 post, which I wrote back in the days before I really got into exploring a town or neighborhood as deeply as I could, I skirted around Clinton's industrial past, just briefly mentioning the old Bigelow Carpet Mill. This factory and others defined the town for decades, and the buildings today are still woven into Clinton's fabric.

Originally part of neighboring Lancaster, Clinton split off in 1850 after it became clear that the latter, with its burgeoning inudstries and highly concentrated population, was largely incompatible with its more spread-out, rural "mother" town. The largest and most successful mills of Clinton were founded by the Bigelow brothers, Erastus and Horatio, beginning in the early 1840s.

Erastus, the more mechanically minded of the pair, invented a power loom to mass produce ornamental cloth bordering known as coachlace, according to this Bigelow Society article. "Horatio created a company to manufacture [the cloth]," the article continues. "They chose the name, 'The Clinton Company,' because of their love for the DeWitt Clinton Hotel in New York. Thanks to this new industry, the district first became known as Factory Village, then Clintonville. Bigelow's invention dropped production costs of coachlace from 22 cents a yard to 3 cents a yard and created many new jobs in the area."

In time, the brothers developed the carpet loom, and their Bigelow Carpet Company "manufactured the world's best carpets from 1849 to 1933," according to the arguably biased Bigelow Society web site. "Its carpets could be found in the White House, the U.S. Senate and House, the State House, the Waldorf-Astoria, St. Patrick's Cathedral, the SS Titanic, and many of the finest restaurants and theaters in the world."

The brothers also founded Lancaster Mills and the Clinton Wire Cloth Company, each of which I will discuss below. Let's get to the old Bigelow Carpet buildings for now.

I featured a photo of this mill building in my 2016 post. I just love the tower, and how boldly the name BIGELOW CARPET CO. and BUILT IN 1864 are chiseled into it. And of course the GIN RYE ghost sign near the base of the tower. I haven't found out why those liquors are painted there, but I assume there was a distillery or liquor warehouse here at some point.

Located on Main Street where Union Street intersects, this building's current tenants include Society Cannabis (not the only pot shop in a former Clinton mill building), carpet-cleaning business Pro Expert Services and H&R Auto Services.

There are multiple buildings between Main Street and the old railroad right of way just to the west. Bigelow Carpet also used buildings between Union and Pleasant streets.

(The above photo was taken in 2019.)

Part of the factory complex, now known as Blackstone Mills, is currently occupied by Phillips-Medisize, which manufactures various medical injection devices.

In my 2016 post, this smokestack was emblazoned with the corporate name INJECTRONICS. Phillips-Medisize acquired that company in 2016.

Across Mechanic Street, at the eastern end of the old Bigelow complex, is the Museum of Russian Icons.

The museum was founded at some point in the 1990s, in what the organization's web site refers to as a 150-year-old former mill building. I assume it was once part of the Bigelow complex. Plastics engineer, and member of the Plastics Hall of Fame, Gordon B. Lankston, who was president of an injection molded plastics company in Clinton, founded the museum after becoming quite enamored with icons during his first visit to Russia in 1989, according to the museum's web site. Lankston's company, Nypro, Inc., was located at the former Bigelow site. The company was acquired in 2013 by Jabil, Inc., which is now located at that site.

I was quite taken by two sets of rowhouses located a three minute walk from the mill complex. It's likely that factory workers lived here. The buildings may have been built or owned by the Bigelow company at some point.

(The Clinton assessor says these units were built in 1900.)

(This adjacent building rose in 1932, according to the assessor.)

Half a mile north along Main Street, we get to the next mill and mill-adjacent sites.

Located at 625 Main Street, the former Swift Cold Storage building rose in 1892, according to MACRIS.

Currently home to Country Dogs, a dog daycare and retail shop, this impressive and imposing building has seen better days. At some point in its history, it was also the site of the Witherell Shoe Factory. The Romanesque Revival-style building was designed by architect Warren B. Page. "Throughout the 20th century, the building was altered with additions, and the building has begun to deteriorate," MACRIS indicated in a June 2016 report. "In the early to mid-20th century, several window openings on the facade were infilled with concrete block."

The Swift/Witherell building is located in what's known as Depot Square, which features a nice little green space where Main, Sterling and Water streets meet. Directly across Main Street, on the southwest corner of Sterling Street, is Union Station, which dates to 1914.

I wish I'd gotten better photos of this gigantic slab of a building. "The station is a north and west-facing, Renaissance Revival-style, one- to three-story, brick building," according to MACRIS. "The building is seated on a brick foundation and topped with a flat and hip roof. The flat roof has an arched parapet at the north end, and is surrounded by a white terra cotta cornice. The hip roof has a white and red terra cotta cornice and is clad with terra cotta tiles."

I've never seen a brick train station with these types of details, which were obviously quite impressive in the depot's heyday. The station sits at the "intersection of two sets of railroad tracks, one at ground level, and the other, elevated set, crossing the Railroad Bridge over Main Street," MACRIS continues. "Union Station opened [in 1914], serving lines on two levels, the upper serving the Worcester, Nashua, and Portland Division (WN&P) and Central Massachusetts Branches of the Boston and Maine system, and the lower, the NYNH&H line linking Worcester and Fitchburg," according to the Pacific Coast Architecture Database.

When the mills in this area were running at full steam, I imagine this station was humming, with freight coming in and going out on one set of tracks, passengers arriving and leaving from the other. While the ground-level, north-south tracks are defunct, the east-west railroad is used by freight haulers CSX and Pan-Am, I believe. "Since the cessation of rail service to Union Station, the building has deteriorated and has been altered on the first story with the addition of commercial doors on the north and east elevations and infill of historic window openings," MACRIS reports.

To read more about the station and see some great photos, check out this blog post at I Ride the Harlem Line, a blog dedicated to transit.

Current tenants include Clinton Speed Wash Coin-Op Laundry, Six 20 Six consignment boutique and Regonini-Zoll Memorials.

North and west of Union Station, along Sterling Street all the way to Greeley Street, are several buildings that were originally part of Clinton Wire Cloth Company, another Bigelow brothers venture.

But first, let's discuss a building that I really love, from the painted brick to the mansard roof to the hint of a ghost sign.

Built in the 1870s for the Gibbs Loom, Harness and Reed Company, this beauty was converted to condos sometime late last century. "The building is a Second Empire-style, two-and-one-half story, nine-bay, U-shaped, brick building," MACRIS indicates. "The building is seated on a granite block foundation and topped with a mansard roof....The Gibbs company began as the Loom Harness and Reed company under George H. Foster and was taken over by 1868 by Gibbs, who incorporated the Gibbs Loom, Harness and Reed Company in 1874," MACRIS continues.

OK, let's get to the Clinton Wire Cloth Company, which was in business from 1863 to 1919, according to MACRIS. The former company's footprint is 11.49 acres and comprises nine parcels. Here are the technical details from MACRIS: "A combined 8.92-acre plot south of Sterling Street is bounded on the north by Sterling Street, on the east by the Springfield Terminal Railway’s north-south right-of-way, on the south by CSX Transportation’s freight line between Clinton and Leominster, and on the west by Greeley Street and consists of three parcels at 56 Sterling Street (...3.89 total acres), one parcel at 96–100 Sterling Street (...3.03 acres), and one parcel at 104 Sterling Street (...2 acres). The area also includes four parcels north of Sterling Street: a 0.59-acre parcel at 55 Sterling Street... a 0.36-acre parcel at 19 Parker Street...a 0.87-acre parcel at 10 Parker Street, and a 0.75-acre parcel at 89 Parker Street that is disconnected from the main area boundary."

Across the north-south railroad tracks from Union Station is the former weaving and winding mill for the wire cloth company, dating to around 1910.

Currently occupied by Consignment Gallery at 56 and Lloyd & Bouvier, Inc., a wire and cable manufacturing operation, this building was also the main office for the wire cloth company. The Romanesque Revival-style building rose in 1882, per MACRIS.

(Details from newer part of the weaving and winding mill. I took these photos in 2019; I don't believe these details still exist.)

(Clinton Wire Cloth Company office entrance.)

Across Sterling Street from the former main office building is #55, below, which was built in 1904 and served as a storage and electric welding building for Clinton Wire Cloth, according to MACRIS.

From MACRIS: "In 1911, the building stored wire and reels on the first floor and wire netting on the third and fourth floors, and the electric welding department occupied the second floor. It is a south-facing, Italianate-style, three-and-one-half-story, 8-by-14-bay, rectangular, masonry industrial building."

(Detail of Clinton Wire Cloth Company storage and electric welding building.)

(Boarded-up entrance to the former storage and electric welding buildng.)

55 Sterling Street is currently occupied by AIGA Eye on Design, something called Custom Window Treatments Drapery Workroom and perhaps other businesses.

I wish I'd taken more photos of the buildngs along Sterling Street on my most recent trip. I mistakenly thought I had more from my previous visit in 2019. Anyway, I did shoot photos of some buildings along Sterling and Greeley streets that were also once part of the Clinton Wire Cloth operation.

Located just north of the train bridge at Rigby Street, this is the former galvanizing building for the wire cloth operation. "A conveyor at the northeast corner originally connected the building to the annex of the No. 10 Hex Netting Building," per MACRIS. "The building was constructed in 1914 and is a west-facing, 13-by-8-bay, rectangular, masonry industrial building." A steel-frame building was added in the late '60s or early '70s, seen below.

Businesses in these buildings include Keith Industrial Group, Inc., which provides high-quality chiller solutions for industrial and commercial use, per its web site; Varise Bros. Florist, which has been family owned for more than 90 years; T.C. Lando's Sub & Pizzeria; and Breakaway Billiards Sports Bar & Lounge.

I will get to more outlying Clinton Wire Cloth Company buildings in a moment, but first I want to point to a site across Greeley Street from the former galvanizing complex. There I found a gigantic empty lot that had obviously been cleared of several buildings.

Here's the same view from Google Street Maps, from several years ago:

A company called Rockbestos Surprenant Cable Co. was here most recently, but I believe these buildngs were torn down around late 2007 or early 2008. I found a Town of Clinton Master Plan from 2009 that indicates oil and hazardous materials exist at this site. I don't know whether redevelopment is planned here. This site is listed alongside several others in a separate Town of Clinton Open Space & Recreation Plan from 2016 about contamination, but it's not clear whether this site is being considered for green space.

Now, back to the wire cloth outer universe.

At 89 Parker Street, about a five-minute walk due north from 56 Sterling Street, was once Clinton Wire Cloth's perforating building, according to MACRIS. "The building was constructed after 1894 by the CWCC as an offsite foundry connected to the main complex by spur lines on the B&M [right-of-way], converted to a perforating facility by 1915, and expanded northward between 1938 and 1963."

Today the building is home to cannabis operation New England Harvest.

As for Clinton Wire Cloth, the company in 1919 merged with Wright Wire Company, Morgan Spring Company of Worcester and two subsidiaries, the National Manufacturing Company and Miller Wire Company of Worcester, according to MACRIS. "The Clinton-Wright Wire was incorporated with a capital stock of $12,500,000. The Spencer Wire Company...joined shortly thereafter, expanding the organization to the second largest wire company in the country. The nextyear Clinton-Wright Wire Company purchased the Wickwire Steel Company of Buffalo and formed Wickwire-Spencer Steel Corporation, the second largest steel corporation in the world.

"During the Second World War, concertina and heavy wire netting for air fields were produced in the Clinton plant. In 1944, Wickwire-Spencer Steel Corporation was bought by Colorado Fuel and Iron. The Clinton operations were closed fourteen years later. Of the ten buildings, some were sold, to Standard Signal and Sign Company and Van Brode Milling Company."

Just a short distance further north along Parker Street, is another building that isn't listed as having been part of the Clinton Wire Cloth empire, but it served some sort of industrial/warehouse role for some company.

The building was most recently used by MPHW, Inc./77 Recycling, which specializes in the postindustrial recycling of plastics.

If you were to walk north-northeast across the railroad tracks, you'd see a remnant industrial smokestack next to the CVS (located on the former site of Mass Chair, Inc.), and then come to a partially demolished industrial building along Main Street.

Currently occupied by Continental Cabinetry, this very long, one-story brick building dates to 1960 and was once home to Quantum Chemical Corp. According to this LoopNet listing, the site is a proposed new retail development on 2.84 acres. "Initial concept plans include multiple pad sites with flexibility on the size of the buildings and opportunities for drive-thru establishments," the listing indicates. "The developer will accommodate specific tenant requirements upon request."

I'm going to wrap up this review of some of Clinton's mills with a gigantic complex on Green Street, hard by the Nashua River.

The Lancaster Mills was the Bigelow brothers' first venture, founded before the carpet mill and wire cloth company. "In 1845, Erastus Bigelow received a patent for the manufacture of ginghams of complex patterns as well as checks and the next year such cloth was being produced by his power looms in the Lancaster Mills," according to MACRIS.

"The site chosen for the new mill on the banks of the Nashua River was one of the oldest industrial sites within the present Clinton town limits," MACRIS continues. "Elias Sawyer settled there in the late eighteenth century, but apparently did not meet with success as little is known about his venture other than the fact that he sold the remnant of a dam and an incompleted building to James Pitts in 1810. Pitts, who did not occupy the site until 1815, had a fully operative multi-purpose mill powered by a seven foot water fall by 1816. During his tenure the mill produced a variety of products including cotton, lumber and wire.

"When the Lancaster Mills Co. acquired the property in 1844, the complex was entirely rebuilt, and the wooden buildings which housed Pitts' activities were moved to the Sidney Harris Comb Factory at 525 Water St....The first structure [for Lancaster Mills] measured 614'x46' and ran parallel to Green Street. The dam was reconstructed to provide a fall of thirteen feet and a canal was dug. Power was supplied by three 26' breastwheels each capable of producing 75 horsepower. This was supplemented in times of drought by a 250 horsepower steam engine. The original wood dam-works were replaced with stone in 1867; it has been rebuilt and strengthened many times since, the last being in 1930.

"The original structure was demolished and another one story structure (256'xl74') which housed carding, spinning and weaving operations and was lit entirely by skylights was erected. A three story packing house (181'x72') and a one story dye house (182'x96') were also constructed to the southeast of the Main Mill. By 1877 there were over 1,500 looms in operation at the Lancaster Mills."

The mills shut down in 1929 at the beginning of the Great Depression. In the 1930s the principal owner was the Colonial Press, which for a time was known as "the World's largest book bindery under one roof," per MACRIS. In 1977 the Press closed operations and the Lancaster Mills sat vacant and unused until 1981, when the complex was purchased by NIUNA Corp., a Massachusetts-based real estate development corporation, according to MACRIS.

The western portion of the old mill complex has been refurbished, renovated and redeveloped into The Lofts at Lancaster Mills, which comprises 202 apartment units.

The eastern section of the complex is rougher-looking and still used for commercial purposes.

Known as MacGregor Mills (and before that Amory Mill), this taller section of the old mill complex is home to Newton Bindery and Dunn & Co. Legacy Publishing Group, which offers a "full line of high-quality greeting cards and fine paper-based gift products," per the company's web site.

That's a wrap for Clinton's mills. Make sure to check back for a post about the town's main drags and other features.