Leeds

Content courtesy of Leeds Civic Association.

A map with monochrome black text and detail on a beige background shows a rural or semi-rural landscape marked by geographical features, early structures, and roads. A prominent, winding river flows vertically down the center and right side of the map, labeled with a branching section near the top right as "Beaver Brook." On the lower-left portion, a long, winding stream labeled "Robert’s Brook" snakes its way northeastward toward the main river. A road runs along the bottom left labeled "Meadow." Several stylized, shaded mounds representing hills or rough terrain are scattered throughout the central and lower portions of the map, alongside patches of small, repeating tree symbols indicating forested areas. Various roads, drawn as thin double-lined or single-lined paths, crisscross the landscape. Multiple black square symbols represent individual buildings, often accompanied by names. In the upper-left quadrant, properties are labeled "C. Clark," "Graves," "J. Smith," and "A. Ayres." Near the center, a small cluster of structures next to the river is labeled "School" and "Shepherd’s Factories." Further downstream to the southeast, another cluster of buildings is labeled "Cook’s Factory."
1831 map of Leeds center shows Shepherd’s woolen factories and support buildings.

Introduction

“The manufacturing village of Leeds lies about four and one half miles west of the business center of Northampton, in a deep and narrow gorge, on the banks of Mill River… For many years it was the most active part of the town; its citizens were prominent in town affairs, and exerted an influence greater than the population of the village would seem to warrant.  They were men of enterprise and energy, whose power was felt and acknowledged by all.

The village embraces a portion of what was formerly known as the Rail Hill School District.  The first house built with its limits was the dwelling of Luke Day, which was erected in the year 1793…

The business of Leeds has always been conducted by men of sterling worth… Prominent among them was Col. James Shepherd, the founder of the village.  He was one of the selectmen of the town, and for many years one of the leading men in Western Massachusetts…”

— Northampton Directory 1875-6, Gazette Printing Company, Northampton, Mass., 45-50.

Highlights of Leeds History

Mulberry Street Mill – Shepherd Woolens to Nonotuck Silk

In 1809, colonel James Shepherd purchased Joseph Burnell’s saw mill, which stood on the southeast corner of Mulberry and Main Street. Col. Shepherd first used it as a cotton mill. He soon went into business with his cousins, Charles and Thomas, who were sheep farmers. The Shepherds outfitted the mill for manufacturing woolens and built a second mill on the Northwest side of Mulberry. The village, known then as Shepherds Hollow, grew considerably. The Shepherds were the first manufacturers of broadcloth. Their business thrived until a wool tariff was imposed. They closed down in 1828. In 1830, Edward Robbins bought the Shepherd mills and started the Northampton Woolen Company. In 1858, Nonotuck Silk Company bought and converted the mills for the manufacture of silk.

A black-and-white photograph captures a multi-story brick mill building situated along a wide, rocky riverbed. The large, rectangular building features three main floors and an attic level with rows of uniform multi-pane windows, and a small, white cupola sits atop its gabled roof. In the foreground, the river flows amidst heavy devastation, with its banks severely eroded and scattered with large boulders, loose rocks, and broken timber. To the left, a partially collapsed stone retaining wall or bridge structure sits broken near the water's edge, while the background reveals bare hillsides and a few smaller damaged wooden structures connected to the main mill complex.
A black and white photograph captures a wide, scenic view of a multi-story industrial brick mill complex situated along the edge of a wide, calm river. The mill buildings feature regular rows of multi-paned windows and are fronted by a low, rustic stone retaining wall lining the riverbank. In the mid-ground, a wide dam stretches across the river, creating a smooth, white cascade of water that spills into the lower section of the river. The far bank in the distance is lined with rolling hills and clusters of trees.
Black and white photograph shows a view of a river dam. In the foreground, a large, stone dam stretches horizontally across the river, creating a wide waterfall where water cascades smoothly over the edge into a turbulent, foaming pool below. A few bare tree branches peek into the bottom center of the frame. Behind the dam, the river water remains calm and flat. Further back on the left, an arched stone bridge with an elegant balustrade spans across the river channel. On the far side of the river, a stone retaining wall lines the bank. Nestled behind the wall and the bridge are several multi-story historic buildings with pitched roofs, including a prominent brick house with dormer windows. Bare trees are scattered throughout the town landscape, and a line of evergreen trees stands on a distant hill
Black and white photograph captures an industrial mill complex alongside a river and canal system. In the center foreground, a stone-lined canal flows from left to right, bordered by a dark path and a light-colored safety railing that curves along the water's edge. A low, ornate white lattice truss bridge spans across the canal, connecting the foreground pathway to the main mill grounds. Dominating the center of the frame is a large, multi-story brick mill building with a gabled roof and a prominent central chimney stack. Rows of multi-paned rectangular windows line its facade, and a smaller, single-story entrance vestibule with an awning extends from its left side. Connected to the rear of this main structure is another long, multi-story industrial building that stretches toward the right. In the background on the far right, a low dam controls the river's flow, while rolling hills and sparse residential buildings sit on the distant tree-lined horizon. Utility poles stand on both sides of the canal.

Left to right, top to bottom:

  1. The Mulberry Street mill was the only mill in Leeds to survive the 1874 Flood. Floodwaters veered to the eastern bank destroying the boarding house, bridges, dams and mills down stream. Courtesy of Knowlton Bros., Forbes Library.
  2. Mulberry Street millpond and Top Dam, c. 1940. Forbes Library.
  3. Middle Dam below Mulberry Street Bridge before 1955 hurricane. Robert P. Emrick, Forbes Library.
  4. Mulberry Street Bridge and mill, c. 1940. Robert P. Emrick, Forbes Library.

Leeds Prosperity, Devastation, Renewed Productivity

The village of Leeds was the leading economic center of Northampton during the 1800s and early twentieth century. The mills buzzed with production of cotton, then woolens, then silk. Leeds mills were the first in the United States to manufacture woolen broadcloth, vegetable ivory buttons, and Machine Twist, Corticelli’s famous silk sewing thread.

A black and white photograph shows an old, two-story wooden building facing a paved road, partially obscured by the bare branches of several tall, mature trees in the foreground. The building is divided into distinct sections; the left portion features a gabled roof with a storefront on the ground level, showing windows and a sign above them, while the right section has a flat roofline and includes a raised outdoor deck or balcony supported by posts on the far right end. To the left of the main structure, another dark, multi-story building is visible behind the trees, and the foreground consists of an empty asphalt driveway or parking area, with tall, dry grass lining the right side of the frame.
A black and white photograph shows two open-sided, electric streetcars packed with passengers dressed in early 20th-century attire. The streetcars are stopped on a dirt street next to a multi-story brick building with rows of rectangular windows. The streetcar in the foreground has a prominent white sign on its front bumper that reads "Corticelli SPECIAL" in a cursive script, with a matching sign visible on the front of the second streetcar further back. Passengers, including women in wide-brimmed hats and long skirts, are seated inside the open compartments, while several men in suits and hats stand on the street beside the streetcars. Overhead trolley poles extend from the roofs of the streetcars to connect with electrical wires running along the side of the building.
This black-and-white photograph depicts a industrial complex featuring two prominent multi-story buildings situated behind a series of low fences. On the left stands a large, imposing brick or stone building with four stories, featuring a gabled roof topped with a small white cupola and a tall, dark brick chimney stack rising behind it. Numerous uniform rectangular windows line its facade, and a single tree grows near its front corner. To the right is a lighter-colored, two-and-a-half-story residential-style building with a gabled roof, dormer windows, and a small covered front porch supported by columns. In the foreground, a dirt or gravel road curves slightly, bordered by a white wooden fence with decorative cross-buck patterns. A horse stands near a watering trough or cart on the lower left side of the path. A lower, rustic wooden rail fence runs horizontally across the immediate foreground, separating the viewer from the scene. Thick trees form a dense background behind the structures
Black-and-white photograph of a 19th-century industrial complex with rolling, tree-covered hills in the background. In the foreground, a steam train moves along a dirt railway bed, passing a long wooden platform loaded with numerous organized stacks of lumber. To the right of the tracks stands a simple, light-colored wooden train depot with a gabled roof and a dark circular window on its side profile.The center of the image features a massive, three-story brick mill building with a prominent central tower topped by an open-air belfry and a pointed roof. A large, dark smokestack rises high into the air behind a long, multi-section factory building situated to the left of the main mill. Scattered across the rolling dirt and grass landscape are various other structures, including several multi-story stone or brick industrial buildings in the upper right, and a few small, two-story white residential homes with dark gabled roofs spread throughout the lower left.

Left to right, top to bottom:

  1. In 1827, the Northampton Woolen Co. operated a store on this corner. In 1842, Benjamin North, a popular merchant, rebuilt the store and was its proprietor until 1862 when he sold it to the Nonotuck Silk Co. Photo: Courtesy of Robert P. Emrick, Forbes Library.
  2. The Corticelli Trolley stopped in front of the mill building on Main Street. It carried passengers to downtown Northampton. The 1904 photo was provided to the Gazette by the Clarence Beliveau family.
  3. The Mulberry Street Nonotuck Silk mill and original wooden boarding house were on opposite sides of the Mill River as seen in this 1865 photo. The women workers who lived in the boarding house had a short walk across the Mulberry Street Bridge to their mill jobs. Horses used the water trough at the intersection of Mulberry and Main. Photo: Courtesy of Knowlton Bros., Forbes Library.
  4. Within two years of the flood, Leeds mills, dams, bridges and the boarding house were rebuilt. Businesses flourished. Photo: Courtesy of Robert P. Emrick, Forbes Library.

First Vegetable Ivory Buttons in the U.S. Made in Leeds

In 1858, investor and industrialist, Alfred P. Critchlow, transformed an old woolen mill on Main Street into the nation’s first factory for vegetable ivory buttons. He imported 600-700 tons of Corozo nuts per year from South America. Employees lathed, carved, etched and dyed the dried shell of the inner nut into fashionable buttons. Before the 1874 Mill River Flood, the mill employed 175 people and produced about 90,000 buttons per day.

This black-and-white photograph shows a multi-story industrial complex situated along a river. In the foreground, water cascades over a stone-masonry dam on the left, feeding into a river that flows towards the right. A rustic wooden bridge with supporting framework spans across the river from a stone embankment. Several small figures of people stand near the bridge and smaller foreground buildings. The main structures include a prominent two-and-a-half-story gabled wooden mill building with numerous small-paned windows, connected to a long, low-profile industrial wing extending to the right with a row of chimneys. In the background on the far left, another multi-story building features a small cupola or bell tower on its roof. The entire site is framed by a dense backdrop of trees and a rising hillside.
A black and white photograph of an industrial complex situated along a river. On the right, a large two-story brick factory building features a gabled roof topped with a central cupola or bell tower and a long facade lined with rows of rectangular windows. To its left, several smaller connected wooden structures with gabled roofs and individual cupolas extend into the background. A stone retaining wall and a small dam breach the water in the foreground, creating a low waterfall. A large group of workers, appearing as small figures in period clothing, are gathered in a long line across a wooden bridge and along the riverbank in front of the buildings.
A black-and-white photograph of the remains of a destroyed industrial site. In the foreground, a rushing river flows over a damaged, wooden and stone dam structure, creating blurred white water from a long exposure. The middle ground is filled with piles of rubble, scattered stones, and debris. Rising prominently from the destruction is a tall, slender brick smokestack, standing next to a small, heavily damaged section of a two-story building wall. To the left of the smokestack, a large, broken wooden water wheel sits half-buried amid the rocks. In the background, a steep, grassy hillside or embankment rises up, topped by a row of sparse trees.
A color postcard depicts a scenic view of the "Old Button Shop" situated along a calm body of water. In the center, a prominent two-story red brick industrial building features rows of small, rectangular windows, with a smaller white-painted building attached to its left side. To the far left, a small, white wooden structure sits directly on the stone-walled bank of the river, its reflection clearly mirrored in the still water below. A gray metal truss bridge spans the river from the right side, leading toward the brick mill complex. The foreground consists of glassy, dark water perfectly reflecting the brick buildings, the bridge, and the surrounding bare trees. Lush green trees and a lightly forested hillside rise in the background under a pale blue sky filled with soft, white clouds. Red text printed centered at the top reads, "Old Button Shop, Leeds, Mass."
A black and white photograph of an industrial complex. On the right, a large two-and-a-half-story brick industrial building dominates the scene, featuring a gabled roofline with a tall brick chimney rising from the rear and a grid of small, multi-pane windows stretching across its facade. A white sign and a dark banner hang on its front exterior walls. To the far left, a separate two-story residential or administrative structure stands with white siding and dark trim around its windows. Connecting these sections in the background is a long, multi-paned glass greenhouse or walkway structure. In the foreground, an unpaved, dusty road runs horizontally, bordered by a low fence and a grassy yard that separates the street from the buildings. A tall wooden utility pole stands near the center of the frame, with power lines stretching across the upper portion of the image. Mature, leafy trees frame the left side and fill the background behind the factory complex.

Left to right, top to bottom:

  1. This is the original wooden mill bought by Alfred Critchlow in 1858 from the Northampton Woolen Co. He built the structure to its left in 1863. The original mill burned down in 1870. Photo: Courtesy of Knowlton Bros., Forbes Library.
  2. The burned mill was replaced with a three-story brick building that had an overhead causeway leading to the wooden building. A new brick dry-house was in back. Critchlow sold the business to his son-in-law, George P. Warner, before the Mill River Flood. Photo: Courtesy of Knowlton Bros., Forbes Library.
  3. The 1874 flood destroyed all of the button factory buildings. Only the dry-house’s chimney stack remained standing. Stairs that Critchlow once used to get to and from work can be seen on the hill behind the site. These stairs provided an escape route to higher ground for those lucky enough to reach them before floodwaters hit. More than half of the Leeds flood victims were button mill employees. Photo: Courtesy of Knowlton Bros., Forbes Library.
  4. The Springfield News Company postcard shows the rebuilt factory after the flood. By 1880 the Leeds button factory had doubled its manufacturing output.
  5. In 1936 the mill was operated by the Corticelli Silk Co. Photo: Courtesy of Robert P. Emrick, Forbes Library.

Mill River Flood Devastates Leeds Village

In the morning of Saturday, May 16, 1874, the Williamsburg Dam collapsed, unleashing 600 million gallons of water into the Mill River. Trees, houses, livestock, and boulders came rushing toward Leeds. The mills were already open. Workers and others in the path of the flood had little time to run to higher ground. Fifty-one Leeds residents lost their lives on that fateful morning. The Mill River Flood, which claimed 139 lives in total, was the most deadly dam failure on record in the United States at that time.

A black and white photograph of a rugged, rocky landscape following a flood. In the foreground and middle ground, the terrain is heavily littered with large broken stones, boulders, and debris. Several individuals in period attire, including dark coats and hats, are scattered across the rocky area, with some standing near the edge of a water channel on the left. In the background on the upper left, a large multi-story brick or stone industrial building sits atop an elevated bank. Across the riverbed toward the right, a smaller stone structure is visible amidst trees and uneven ground.
A black-and-white photograph of a two-story wooden house heavily tilted to the right after severe structural damage. The left section of the house has been sheared away, entirely exposing its interior layout. On the second floor of this exposed section, two women dressed in long, dark, period-style dresses with patterned skirts stand near the edge of the floorboards, looking out. To their left, another individual in a dark coat stands in the doorway of a separate, higher room. The ground floor beneath them is completely destroyed, leaving the upper level precariously supported by a chaotic arrangement of thick wooden beams and makeshift stilts angled into the muddy, debris-strewn ground. The remaining intact portion of the white house features multi-paned windows with dark shutters, a shingled roof, and a dark brick chimney rising from the center. Debris and mud cover the foreground.
A black and white photograph shows a large crowd of men gathered around a massive field of debris, composed of shattered wooden planks, beams, and logs. In the foreground, several men sit or stand directly amidst the wreckage; one man near the center holds a rounded object, possibly a piece of machinery or household item salvaged from the destruction. Behind them, dozens of workers and onlookers stand in densely packed rows on a hillside, overlooking the devastation.

Left to right:

  1. Leeds center was turned to rubble. The Nonotuck Silk Mill on the north side of Mulberry Street remained intact as floodwaters tore through buildings, dams, and bridges downriver. Photo: Courtesy of Knowlton Bros., Forbes Library.
  2. The torrent ripped off the west side of William Quigley’s house on Main Street. A man, riding downriver on the roof of his own house, smashed into the Quigley house. The women in the Quigley house rushed to the window and dragged him inside. All four rode out the flood in the damaged house and survived. Survivors gazed at the destruction from the second-story landing. Photo: Courtesy of Knowlton Bros., Forbes Library.
  3. Hundreds of volunteers from the village of Leeds and surrounding towns searched for victims in the deep debris left by the flood. Photo: Courtesy of Knowlton Bros., Forbes Library.

More Leeds Histories & Photographs

Leeds Two Brick School Buildings

From 1885 to 1950, Leeds elementary (left) and middle school (right) stood on the west side of Florence Street.

Courtesy of The Ray LaBarge Collection, Leeds Civic Association.

Left: Miss Lovell’s class, c. 1900. Right: Miss Graves’ 1905 third grade class.

Courtesy of The Ray LaBarge Collection, Leeds Civic Association.

Cook’s Dam and the Electric Power Station

Cook’s Dam was named after three brothers who ran a small woolen mill here in the 1820s. Sometime before 1895, it became the Nonotuck Silk Company Power Station producing electricity for Leeds mills and the electric trolley.

Photo: Courtesy of Howes Bros., Forbes Library.

Ice Delivery to Lucius Dimock’s Mansion, 1896

Lucius Dimock managed the Nonotuck Silk mill on Main Street in Leeds when the 1874 Mill River Flood destroyed it. Dimock’s mansion was built in 1880 in the Stick-Eastlake architectural style to match the rebuilt Nonotuck Silk Mill.

Photo: Courtesy of Leeds Civic Association.

First Leeds School Survived the Mill River Flood

This building served as the first official schoolhouse in Rail Hill (Leeds) from 1814 to 1836. It was the Parker family home at the
time of the 1874 flood. Frank Parker worked as supervisor in the Nonotuck Silk Company’s spool shop across the street. When he heard
the terrifying calls that floodwaters were approaching, he ran home, gathered his family and escaped to the higher knoll near
the present post office. The Flood spared the Parker house, Emery Wheel Works and seven homes on Water Street.

Photo: Courtesy of Knowlton Bros., Forbes Library.

Emery Wheel Works Building, 1940.

From 1870 to 1913, machine parts, hydrants and household equipment were manufactured at Emery Wheel Works. The Main Street
factory that Emery Wheel rented from Nonotuck Silk Company burned down in 1872. The company then moved to this Water Street building that was also owned by Nonotuck Silk. The 1874 flood inflicted only minor damage to the Water Street factory. Soon after the flood, a temporary dam was constructed across Robert’s Meadow Brook millpond, providing waterpower for the factory. The walking bridge was the main route to the factory and to the seven houses on Water Street. New England Woven Label Company was located in this building through the 1950s.

Photo: Courtesy of Robert P. Emrick, Forbs Library.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Emrick, Robert P., comp. Leeds: A Village Within the City of Northampton, Massachusetts. Edited by James Parsons, Northampton, Mass., 1999. 

Hannay, Agnes. A Chronicle of Industry on the Mill River. Smith College History Department, 1912.

“Leeds,” Northampton Directory and Historical Register, 1875-6, Gazette Printing Company, Northampton, Mass. page 45-50.

Sharpe, Elizabeth M. In the Shadow of the Dam: The Aftermath of the Mill River Flood of 1874. NY: Free Press/Simon & Schuster, 2004.