Florence Mill - Rockville in Vernon, CT - Converted Factories on Waymarking.com

The Florence Mill was built in 1864 to produce woolen cloth. The business collapsed after the Civil War and the mill was converted into manufacturing envelopes. It became the U.S. Envelope Company until the 1970s. In 1978 it was then converted into apartment housing.

The four story high brick building with an Italianate bell tower in the center for the side facing W. Main Street. There are 11 bays on both sides of the bell tower and five bays deep, all with rectangular windows. The roof has on and five dormers on each side of the bell tower. The building is L shaped with the entrance on the north wing. The north wing is built into a hill side so that the top three floors have 14 windows the first floor has 9 windows and the basement level has 6 windows.

An information panel at the entrance to the apartment complex provides the history of the Florence Mill. It is inscribed:

Florence Mill

The original mill on this site was constructed in 1831. The framing from the old Vernon meetinghouse was used for part of the building. the structure was replaced in 1847 by Colonel Francis McLean who named it "Frank Mill”. The mill produced cassimere, an all-wool cloth that was used primarily for men’s suits.

A catastrophic mill fire in 1853 caused the company to go into financial collapse. Nathanial O. Kellogg purchased the factory remains plus seven acres of land, and organized a new company. By 1860, the company was successfully producing cassimere, as well as doeskin, a woolen cloth used for dress uniforms of British naval officers.

In 1864, the company expanded operations and erected a new mill. This new building was in the Second Empire style and was noted to be the "finest mill-edifice in Rockville"

The mill profited significantly from the Civil War. When the war ended and the wool products were no longer needed for military uniforms, the business failed. The mill was foreclosed in 1869. E.N. Kellogg & Company of Hartford purchased the mill, but it was not successful and the woolen mill closed in 1881. Cyrus White and Lewis Corbin then took over the building to make envelopes, a new product for this time. The successful company employed over 100 people and produced approximately one million envelopes a day, six days a week. In 1898, the company consolidated with other envelope companies to form the U.S. Envelope Company, By 1954, the plant was producing three million envelopes a day and employed 225 people.

In the 1970s the envelope company closed. The building was named a national historic landmark in 1978 Shortly afterward it was converted to apartment housing, giving new life to this beautifully-built 1864 mill structure. A dedication ceremony was held and attended by Governor Ella Grasso.