Mill Street Dam, Greenfield River - Greenfield, MA
Posted by: 
NorStar
N 42° 35.030 W 072° 36.288
18T E 696546 N 4717382
The Mill Street Dam on the Greefield River behind the Museum of Our Industrial Heritage originally powered a gristmill, then the cutlery and metalworks factory now standing.
Waymark Code: WMD59K
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Date Posted: 11/20/2011
Views: 2
In Greenfield, below the Mill Street bridge over the Greenfield River, and by an old mill factory is the Mill Street Dam.
The Mill Street Dam is 12 ft high and 170 ft long. It is straight across. There has been mill activity at this site since the 1690s. The source doesn't indicate when the present dam was built. Thus, for now, the year 1695 is used.
Originally at this dam was a gristmill. The museum has pictures of the gristmill as well as the dam. On May 8, 1910, the covered bridge over the dam and river caught fire and burned down. Sparks from the fire started a fire on the gristmill, and it, too, burned down. The dam also powered the mill just downstream of the gristmill. This building was used as a cutlery, then a metalworks and stamping company. The pictures show a raceway from the dam to the building. Also, the dam also produced power in the 1920s. Remnants of the hydro electric power plant are near the factory.
The Museum of Our Industrial Heritage has exhibits about businesses in the Greenfield area and include the businesses in the building of the museum as well as the gristmill. There also is a page on a project to recreate scenes from old pictures in 3D graphics software.
The future of the dam is in doubt, currently. A websige from Americanrivers.org has a pdf of the Greenfield River Restoration project. There, they outline the proposed project that involve both the Mill Street Dam and the Wiley and Russel Dam downstream. The proposal calls for the removal of both dams to allow better fish passage up the river.
Sources:
Americanrivers.org
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visit link)
Museum of Our Industrial Heritage Museum:
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visit link)