User:Yeahimaboss413/sandbox109

Around 1832, the Chicopee River was dammed, and funded by The Boston Associates to establish a mill town in the northern outskirts of Springfield even though other companies and mills were established already. Samuel Cabot soon chartered the Cabot Manufacturing Company on March 20th. Four years later, Thomas Handasyd Perkins another member of the associates gained a charter on March 10th 1836, establishing the Perkins Manufacturing Company. On February 6th 1841, Dwight Manufacturing Company was chartered and named in honor of Edmund Dwight, a local member of the associates from Springfield. In 1851, Cabot and Perkins would later merge operations with Perkins Manufacturing Company retaining the name. By 1856, Perkins would soon be consolidated into the Dwight Manufacturing Company.^[1]

In 1894, a 240 acre site was chosen near Alabama City and Gadsden, Alabama for a new cotton mill and village. Howard Gardner Nichols (son of Treasurer) was sent to manage the construction, where he also served as mayor. Early one morning, he was supervising the moving of a generator when a small bridge collapsed. Pinning the machine on top of him. He died a month later, due to internal injuries.^[2]

In the original construction plan, 160 New England style cottages was built with each home having its own color and architectural styles. Continued construction would later bring the total number of homes to 70. The village also had its own schools, public library, bowling alley, a recreational park with bandstand, a baseball field, lakes, bath houses and medical facilities. ^[3]

On Christmas Day, 1895, one year after the announcement of the new cotton mill production began at the mill, until 1959 when the plant closed.

• Dwight Manufacturing Company Housing District
• Howard Gardner Nichols Memorial Library

• Dwight Mill Village HMDB