4th Privilege, The Stone Mill 1835

The 4^th privilege is the oldest of Dedham's existing mill structures. The 1835 Dedham granite mill is unlike the textile mills of the first and second privilege (at Maverick and Bussey streets) as it was constructed of stone not brick similar to the mills of the Blackstone Valley. The main mill building housed spinning jacks on the third floor and in the attic, weaving looms on the second floor, and a carding mill (for cleaning and preparing the cotton) on the first floor. The basement contained a sluiceway, breast wheel, gears and belts to power the mill and later a bolier and steam engine. The mill was expanded circa 1863 adding the wing to the rear right of the main building. Over the years mills located at this privilege have manufactured copper cents, paper, nails, wire, cotton cloth, carpets and colored handkerchiefs

The fourth privilege was developed immediately below the third one on property belonging to Nathanial Whiting and James Draper given in a grant from the Town in 1682.[1] Water rights reverted to the Town some time prior to 1787. A mill building was constructed there to block copper cents – it was used for this purpose for a short time only. Herman Mann afterwards renovated the building to manufacture paper. A second mill was erected at this privilege for the manufacture of wire and was reconfigured for making nails. A new corporation was created in 1819 known as the Norfolk Manufacturing Company for the manufacturing of cotton cloth.[2]

In 1835 the Stone Mill was built at the site and operated with Ezra W. Taft as manager and agent for nearly thirty years. The building is constructed of Dedham granite with timber floors, with 3 stories above the engine room, plus a small 4^th story. The Stone Mill was originally powered by a 10'-12' wide breast wheel running off a sluiceway which extends through the center of the building. The company continued to produce cotton goods and Taft acquired the latest machinery by which to do so. 

In 1863 Thomas Barrows purchased the mill and enlarged it adding turbines and a steam engine. Eventually due to lack of southern cotton during the Civil War the mill converted to the manufacture of woolen goods. The water powered breast wheel was replaced by turbines and a Harris-Corliss steam engine whose model dates from ca 1860: the period in which the mill was renovated by Thomas Barrows. Steam allowed operation of the textile machinery when water supply was insufficient. The turbines, engine and leather belt-drive mechanisms to convey power to the mill, from this period, are still intact in the basement and one of the best complete power plants from that era that exists.

In 1894 the third and fourth privileges with all of the associated buildings were sold and the mills demolished at the third privilege as well as the dam. The new owner of the mill, Cochrane Company specialized in the manufacturing of carpets and a smaller mill on the site was used for coloring handkerchiefs.[3] In later years, electrical power was produced on-site by a generator driven by a Westinghouse steam turbine , added circa 1917. Electricity allowed for installation of electric lighting, thus enabling longer hours of operation, especially in winter. Some textile machinery may also have been driven by electric motors as well. The Cochrane Company closed in 1917.

In 1927 the United Waste Company purchased the Cochrane plant to use in the production of shoddy wool. Shoddy wool was a type of woolen yarn, also known as “rag wool” made by using reclaimed wool, fabric and cloth mixed with new wool. In 1986, the Bergermeyer Development Company purchased and repurposed the factory buildings at the first privilege for use as 86 housing units known as Stone Mill Condominiums.

Centennial Dam, which is the current structure was erected 1893 when the 3^rd and 4^th “privileges” on Mother Brook were combined, this dam was refurbished in 1993 and 2018. 

[1] Erastus Worthington, Historical Sketch of Mother Brook, Dedham, Mass. (Dedham, MA: Press of C. G. Wheeler, 1900),

[2] Ibid

[4] Ibid