Rosamond Woolen Mill National Historic Site of Canada, Almonte, Mississippi Mills, Ontario
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colincan
N 45° 13.668 W 076° 12.012
18T E 405781 N 5008957
In the 19th century the Rosamond Woolen Mill was one of Canada’s largest woolen textile manufacturers. The six storey limestone mill was constructed in 1866 by the Rosamond brothers with financing from Montreal interests.
Waymark Code: WMGQNW
Location: Ontario, Canada
Date Posted: 04/01/2013
Views: 15
Lanark County, Ontario, is an area where woolen textile manufacturing was a speciality in the late 19th century. It has been compared to Yorkshire, England, and joins Montreal, Toronto, the Grand River and the Eastern Townships as other regions in Canada where this type of manufacturing was prominent. James Rosamond, patriarch, established mills in both Carleton Place and Almonte commencing in the 1840s. These industries prompted the name of the current municipality in which the communities are located, Mississippi Mills. In 1866 his sons Bennett and William, in conjunction with entrepreneur George Stephen of Montreal, exploited the energy of the lower falls of the Mississippi River in Almonte to construct a larger mill yet. This six storey limestone structure, the Rosamond Woolen Mill, was at one point the largest wool cloth, yarn and knitted goods producer in Ontario, the 2nd largest such manufacturer in Canada. It now has been adapted into an upscale condominium complex known as Millfall. Next door in the historic annex is the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum which was once the original offices and warehouse of the mill. This component was declared a provincial heritage site in 1989. Rosamond Woolen Mill was designated of national historic importance in 1988 and plaqued by the HSMBC in 1991. In 2011 or 2012 the plaque was refurbished and moved away from some shrubs and so now stands in a more visible location alongside the street.
Credit: Felicity Leung, “Catalogue of Significant Extant Textile Mills Built in Canada Before 1940,” Thematic Study, HSMBC, June 1986.
Classification: National Historic Site
Province or Territory: Ontario
Location - City name/Town name: Almonte
Link to Parks Canada entry (must be on www.pc.gc.ca): [Web Link]
Link to HistoricPlaces.ca: [Web Link]
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