Une Belle Surprise Along the French River

From Dave Brigham:

I explored Webster, Mass., recently, and the most impressive thing I stumbled across was in neighboring Dudley (see December 2, 2023, "Webster: Founded by a Famous Industrialist, Named for a Well-Known Statesman").

As I walked along Main Street in Webster, making photos of the many great late-19th century buildings, my gaze drifted up and to the west, toward two imposing gray towers rising in the near distance. "Is that a prison up ahead?" I wondered. "Or a Scottish castle?" I'd driven into Webster from that direction, but hadn't noticed that building, whatever it was.

It was, of course, an old mill, the one-time Stevens Linen complex, located on the western banks of the French River, right on the town line with Webster.

Founded in the 1840s by Henry Hale Stevens, the linen production company was built on the site of the former Merino Woolen factory, which rose in 1812, according to MACRIS. "The Merino Woolen Factory was one of the earliest textile manufacturing concerns established in the United States. It was a contemporary of Samuel Slater's mills established on the Eastern side of the French River in present day Webster."

I believe parts of the Merino mill were incorporated into the Stevens facility.

More from MACRIS: "The Steven's Linen Works prosperity and expansion (by the early 20th C. it was the largest enterprise in the United States devoted to the manufacture of linen towelling) is largely responsible for the decidedly urban character of East Dudley." According to the National Register of Historic Places registration form for the former mill's historic district, the Stevens facility was the "first, and last, factory in the United States to spin flax and weave linen cloth by machine."

The mill, which operated under other names, but by the Stevens name for the longest time, is slated for redevelopment, I was pleasantly surprised to find out. I wrote that sentence after reading this press release from the Town of Dudley, which was issued in February of this year. Further research, however, leads me to believe I might need to put a pin in my above statement about a new life for the old mill.

In August 2020, property owner "Stevens Mill Owner LLC of Columbia, SC, bought the 6.95-acre property and its 267,000-square-foot mill at 8 Mill Street," according to the press release. "Project developer Camden Management Partners, who holds Stevens Mill Owner LLC, proposed a $43 million plan to renovate the mill into 156 apartments, a public event space, a possible tap room, and a river walk along the adjoining French River."

Sounds good, right? But despite a quote in the release from a financial consultant indicating, "The project isn’t at risk," and that "The delays up to this point are normal and customary as it related to making sure we have an accurate historical renovation," I saw no signs of anything happening at this site. And online searches for Camden Management Partners and its financial consultants, Weddle Real Estate Investments, didn't overwhelm me with confidence. The former has no web site, while the latter's indicated that the connection isn't private, and I was warned that the site might be an imposter. Here's hoping things move forward with this project.