Portsmouth_Company_Cotton_Mills:_Counting_House

Portsmouth Company

Portsmouth Company

United States historic place

The Portsmouth Company was a cotton mill established in 1832 in South Berwick, Maine, USA, one of several in the area. It was operated for many years under the control of the Portsmouth, New Hampshire-based Hale family.[citation needed]

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Its counting house is now a museum operated by the Old Berwick Historical Society.

History

The Portsmouth Company cotton mill was incorporated in 1831.[2] It operated a large mill in South Berwick, Maine.

The Counting House museum

The Counting House is a historic industrial building at Main and Liberty Streets in South Berwick, the only company structure to survive.[3] Although it is traditionally given a construction date of 1832, architectural evidence suggests a later one around 1850. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975,[1] and is now home to the Old Berwick Historical Society, which operates it as the Counting House Museum.

Description

The Portsmouth Company Counting House is a 2½ story brick structure set at the southern corner of Liberty Street and Main Street (Maine State Route 4), on the eastern bank of the Salmon Falls River. It sits on a granite foundation and is topped by a steeply-pitched gabled roof. The gable ends are fully pedimented, with a recessed triangular panel featuring a three-part rectangular window on each end. The building corners are pilastered in brick, with a brick entablature encircling the building below the roof. The south-facing main facade is five bays wide, articulated by brick pilasters. The entrance is on center, accessing three rooms on the first floor and a large open space on the second. The interior has well-preserved Greek Revival woodwork.[3]

See also

References

  1. [1]
    "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. [2]
    Old Berwick Historical Society, page on Eben Nealley (1807-1888), tavern keeper, Quamphegan Hotel
    - Department of the Interior, Statistics of Power and Machinery Used in Manufactures, 1885
    - Census Reports Tenth Census, June 1, 1880: Statistics of power and machinery
    - Maine Memory Network, Boys at Quamphegan Landing, South Berwick, ca. 1900
  3. [3]
    "NRHP nomination for Portsmouth Company Cotton Mills: Counting House". National Park Service. Retrieved August 29, 2015.
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