Laurel A Mill Town First
Nicholas Snowden (1789-1831) built a stone flour mill in 1811 on a site that would later become Laurel.
In 1820 the manufacturing census identified the site as a merchant mill, representing an investment of $2,000, consuming between 10-15,000 bushels of wheat to produce flour for breadstuff valued at $12-18,000 annually. It employed two male workers whose combined annual wages were $600.
Snowden leased this property to a Mr. Johnston, who converted the flour mill into a factory for spinning yarn, for a twelve year term in 1824. During this period Robert Pilsen installed the first loom for weaving cloth and cotton duck - Aduck@ being the Dutch word for canvas. These products were carted by wagon to Elkridge and then shipped to other factories in the region. It is reported that at one time over 100 workers were employed in this factory.
The arrival of the railroad in 1835 made receiving raw materials and shipping goods to Baltimore much easier. That same year the Patuxent Manufacturing Company was formed under the management of Horace Capron (1804-1885), who had married Louisa Snowden in 1834. Other partners included his brother-in-law Theodore Jenkins, and his cousin Osmond Capron Tiffany, a Baltimore Manufacturer.
By 1845 the two large factories - Laurel Factory and Avondale Factory (located at what is now Avondale Park, at the base of Avondale & Main, part of Riverfront Park) - had been built employing between 700-800 operatives, many of whom were women. The firm also constructed fifty “blocks” of two-story stone and brick houses for these workers, many of which are still standing. One of these is now the home of the Laurel Historical Society and The Laurel Museum. The houses were rented for between $1.25 and $2.00 a month. The monthly payroll at the Laurel Factory was about $9,000.
The 1850 manufacturing census describes the Patuxent Manufacturing Company as employing 200 men and 300 women operatives. The men earned an average monthly wage of $9.54 and the women $5.00. The factory annually produced three million yards of sheeting valued at $250,000.
Horace Capron went bankrupt during this period, and left the community. The Tiffany family assumed operations of the Mill, under the presidency of George P. Tiffany.
At this time The Avondale Factory employed 15 men and 40 women and it produced cotton osnaburg and sheeting valued at $25,000.
Both factories were served by the Laurel Machine Company, built close to Main Street in 1846, which employed 45 men and utilized steam power to produce machines and parts for the mills.
In 1850 the firm built a more substantial mill dam across the Patuxent River - 222 feet wide and twenty feet high – which channeled water into a 640 foot race to power water turbines. In the early days the mill had used an overshot wheel for converting water power to mechanical power. Reports put the cost of construction at $18,000. While water continued to be the primary source of power the firm also installed small steam engines to power the factories when the water level was too low.
The 1850s were a period of turmoil for Laurel Factory its mills and workers. Workers at the Laurel Machine Shop evidently struck for shorter hours (10 hours down from 11) in 1853, and again in 1855. Fire destroyed the mill in 1855 but it was rapidly rebuilt. The manufacturing census of 1860 records that the mill employed 40 men and 210women. The men were paid an average monthly wage of $25 and the women $9.52
The mill suspended operations during much of the Civil War and faced an uncertain future in the even more competitive post-war period. After closing again in the spring of 1877 it was reorganized with a new superintendent, General G.H. Nye, who ran the operation until 1886. Records in Nye’s diaries reveal times were often difficult for mill workers, such as when the mill shut down for dam repairs. The Mill during this period was owned by James A. Gary, later US Postmaster. The Gary family had a long connection with the mill, since Gary’s father James S. Gary operated a division of the Mill in 1838 and taken over supervision of the mill for the Patuxent Manufacturing Company in the early 1850s.
In 1886 the mill closed and was put up for auction. Reorganized as The Laurel Company it was still operating in 1895, the 1895 Dockham’s American Trade Reports notes a facility with 12,000 spindles, and 250 looms, manufacturing duck, sheetings, and awning stripes. David H. Carroll was the president, and Millard. M. Gambrill, superintendent.
20th Century: End of the Mills
At some point the Laurel Mill was purchased by the Mt. Vernon-Woodberry Cotton Duck Company which owned and operated many Baltimore area mills at this time. Circa 1914 the mill was operating as a division of the Cotton Duck Company: The American Ramie Company, but was later closed during this period. During the vacancy of World War I the building was used by soldiers from Camp Meade (now Fort Meade) and Camp Laurel. Between 1922-1929 the mill was the production site for window shades by the Lapsley Interstate Shade Cloth Company. The mill seems to have closed for good in 1929.
The mill was razed in the 1940s. While remnants of the mill dam and the race are still evident today, the old factory site became the site of the Laurel Community Pool. Plans are underway to stabilize the mill dam ruins.
The Avondale Mill
The Avondale factory continued in production much longer even though it had less water power (the dam height for Avondale was much less than for the Laurel Factory). Recognizing that there was a glut of cotton manufactories in the state, and that wheat and other grains were being produced in volume in the Laurel region, George Wheeler converted the firm back into a merchant mill. The 1860 federal census describes it as a water powered merchant mill producing 8,700 barrels of flour valued at $49,200. Its work force consisted of three men whose average monthly wage was $28.33.
Wheeler sold his interests in the property to Benjamin F. Crabbs in 1878 and the mill became known as Crabbs Mill until 1906, when he sold out. Between 1915-17 the flour mill was converted back to a factory producing cloth embroidery for dresses and military insignia patches.
After World War I it became a tractor factory and two wings were added to the main stone building. The machines fell silent in the early 1950s and the city of Laurel purchased the property in 1961. The building was used by Laurel Department of Parks and Recreation until the deterioration of the building made it uninhabitable. In 1979 it was listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The city debated how best to preserve and renovate this historic building. The question was resolved in 1991 when homeless persons sheltering in the building, accidentally set it on fire, resulting in its total destruction.
Karen Lubieniecki 05/2008
Sources:
Anacostia Trails Heritage Area: Chapter 3 Whitman H. Ridgeway
Baltimore Its History and Its People, Vol. III. New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, (1912).
Baltimore Sun, April 17, 1855
Baltimore Sun, Nov. 3, 1855
Baltimore Sun, December 30, 1926
Diaries of George Nye, July 1879 Laurel Museum Collection
Lapsley Interstate Shade Cloth Letter April 29, 1929, Laurel Historical Society Collection
History of Laurel – Originally published on the 50th Anniversary of the Laurel News Leader –Laurel Historical Society Collection
Poe, Gertrude, ed. Laurel Maryland 1870-1970 Centennial Souvenir Historical Booklet. Laurel, 1970. Reprint 1995
Ross & Fairall 1894 Residence and Business Directory, Laurel Historical Society Collection