Amesbury’s Industrial Architecture – Gone But Not Lost
Looking east from Mill 4 on Water Street, 1889 (top) and 2024 (bottom). Click to enlarge.
Downtown Amesbury once was crowded with industrial buildings, mainly constructed by textile manufacturing companies. These brick buildings were designed by talented architects, and for the most part they were pleasing to the eye. Up on Carriage Hill, the gigantic Babcock building and other factories stood above the rail yard. Around the neighborhoods, wood frame carriage-making shops seemed to be everywhere.
But times and circumstances change, and the majority of these grand and not-so-grand buildings fell into disrepair. It often became more economical to demolish the derelict structures instead of maintaining and reusing them. As a result, relatively few of these factories remain today, although you can see several of them repurposed in the Upper Millyard near the front door of the Amesbury Industrial Center and along Oakland Street on Carriage Hill.
Despite the disappearance of the old buildings, we can still view and appreciate the former industrial landscape thanks to a few curious and dedicated researchers at the Amesbury Carriage Museum. Mike Harrold, Steve Klomps, Joyann Reynolds, Tom Murphy, and others have been seeking out and preserving images and information related to the old buildings. Their efforts let us go back in time simply by visiting the ACM website or the Industrial History Center.
For a recent example of how these researchers preserve and present the visual history of Amesbury’s golden industrial days, browse through Mike Harrold’s latest report, “What We See Now vs. What Was.” Its collection of then-and-now photos and illustrations will give you a new appreciation for the hyper-industrialized town Amesbury once was.