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BELKNAP MILL
INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE PROGRAM
TEACHER PACKET
The Industrial Heritage Program was renamed from the 4th Grade Program
to better reflect the diversity of participants as well as any eye to the future
expansion of the program.
PACKET CONTENTS
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Background Information on the Belknap Mill
Terminology
Word Search
Comic Strip – Word Study Activity
Build Your Own Mill – STEM PROJECT
Math Exercise
Cost of Living in 1916
Writing Prompts
Post-Visit Review Suggestions
Bibliography
Contributions for this Teacher Packet were generously provided by
volunteers and staff of the Belknap Mill Society and lakes region educators.
For more information:
[email protected]
603.524.8813
www.belknapmill.org
Belknap Mill Industrial Heritage Program – Background Information for Teachers A HISTORY OF THE BELKNAP MILL Since 1823 the Belknap Mill has played an exciting role in Laconia, New Hampshire. It has been a pioneer in the textile industry and in industrial preservation. The Belknap Mill is said to be the nation’s most important mill. How did that come to be? 1800 – 1850 Because of the abundance of rivers and lakes, “Meredith Bridge”, as Laconia was once known, was attractive to business people by the early 1800s. Sawmills and gristmills first graced the waters of the Winnipesaukee River, followed by a paper mill, a tannery, an oil pressing factory, woodworking, machine, and blacksmith shops, and carding, spinning, and weaving mills. The Belknap Mill, located on the river in today’s downtown district, replaced a wooden cotton mill that burned in 1823. Stephen Perley built a canal to run from the river and under the mills to power them. The canal ran from Laconia Spa on Church Street to the Post Office, and under Canal Street, the Colonial Theatre and Re/Max Realty to the “Beacon Street West” apartment building. The latter used to be part of the enormous Laconia Car Company before being repurposed to become the Allen‐Rogers Corporation, a wood‐turning company that used a water‐driven turbine to produce electricity through 2003. During the 1970s, because water power became obsolete, the section of canal that ran under the Busiel and Belknap Mill was filled with cement. You can still see the evidence of the canal today: look for the archways in the foundation of these two mills. When the Belknap Mill was built in 1823, it was the latest design for mass production. If you want to see what a mill looked like at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, take a look at the Belknap Mill. It is the only surviving example in the country. 1850 – 1900 Located about 100 miles north of Boston, the Winnipesaukee River valley was attractive to many businesses because it offered lakes and rivers for water power, railroad transportation (since 1848), a low cost of living, and plenty of labor accepting cheap wages. Families migrated here from Canada, Ireland, and Germany to work in the mills. They lived in houses they found for themselves, and they walked to work. Along with business owners and mill workers, inventors came to the Winnipesaukee River valley. The Aiken family of Franklin and the Pepper family of Laconia helped develop the circular knitting machine, which revolutionized the textile industry. Many businesses operated weaving mills at that time. Examples are the mills in Lowell and Lawrence, Massachusetts, and Manchester, New Hampshire. Weaving is a “flat” process, using looms. The Winnipesaukee River valley became known for knitting. Knitting involves a looping process with needles. With circular knitting machines, the fabric came out in a tube and did not require seaming an edge. Background Information p.1 The Belknap Mill and the Busiel Mill were among the first knitting mills in the country. In 1853 John W. Busiel built the Granit Hosiery Mill (the Busiel Mill today, next to the Belknap Mill). In 1856 he installed circular knitting machines patented by the Aikens of Franklin. John Busiel’s son Charles was the first mayor of Laconia and later a governor of the state. In 1855 Robert M. Bailey and Kimball C. Gleason of Lawrence, Massachusetts, bought the Belknap Mill. In 1861 they switched from weaving cotton to knitting seamless hosiery and bags with circular knitting machines to help the Union soldiers in the Civil War. In September 1861, the Winnipesaukee Gazette reported that two other mills in Laconia were also manufacturing hosiery, and a third one was “running their machinery to its fullest capacity night and day on army goods.” The newspaper described knitting as a novel operation: “This new branch of industry here, the machinery for the particular kind of work demanded by Government having been introduced here this season. This business provides employment to a large number outside the mills, in making up the work after the web has been prepared by machinery.” In the 1850s and 1860s, the new knitting machines were fast, but they made only a tube of fabric. The feet of the tube socks had to be finished by hand with knitting needles. Companies hired thousands of women who worked at home to finish the feet of the socks by hand. 1900 – 1918 The Winnipesaukee River valley became an international center for the manufacture of hosiery and knitting machines. Mills like the Belknap Mill made knitted goods. Some companies, like W.D. Huse & Son, located across the river and up the hill, made circular knitting machines. Its iconic white building was demolished in 2004 to make way for a new housing complex. Scott & Williams, who employed 5,000 people, moved its knitting machine operation to Laconia from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Scott & Williams sold its machines throughout the world. Other companies made knitting needles. Foundries made machine parts. Some companies made wooden boards for stockings or boxes for shipping. The feet of socks could now be knit by machine. Other machines closed the toes. The Belknap Mill endured many economic cycles, owners, and name changes over the years. It was known as the Belknap Mills Corporation for several decades. Spinning the yarn and dyeing the socks occurred in separate buildings. Payroll and packaging were done in the old original brick building. The downtown area was so crowded with buildings, a car or wagon could not drive through. World War I (1914‐1918) helped increased production. The Belknap Mill manufactured socks for the soldiers in this war as it did in the Civil War. The production was so profitable that the owner J.P. Morin was able to invest $100,000 in a hydro‐electric power system that ran the generators, lights, and machines in all of the buildings that were part of the Belknap Mills Corporation. The hydro‐electric power system, with its three under‐ground turbines, gears, and pulleys, replaced a steam engine. The system still exists today. Background Information p.2 The Belknap Mill is an earlier mill. It shows how mills looked at the start of America’s industrial revolution. It is the only remaining example of this early stage in the country. The Lowell, Lawrence, and Manchester mills were major weaving factories run by investors from the state of Massachusetts, which was pro big business. As businesses flourished, the buildings expanded, modernized, and changed. The Massachusetts investors were often absentee landlords. Mill girls lived in tenement housing owned by the companies. Labor problems involving wages and working conditions were decided by people in power who never had direct contact with the employees. Many businesses in New Hampshire had a hard time making profits in this “live free or die” state. New Hampshire government did not support “big business.” Laconia never lost its rural nature. Many mills were run by single, local owners. The mill owners lived in the same neighborhoods as employees. The Belknap Mill was run for many years by a local Franco‐American family. J.P. Morin lived down the street from his employees. He worked his way up from a minor employee to owner. The families once associated with the Belknap Mill still live in the Winnipesaukee River valley. Children can interview their parents and grandparents to learn about their own region’s change over time. 1969 – 1980 In the 1960s, many businesses began to move south. Why? With electricity, water power was no longer needed. Unions in New England caused wages to increase. Shipping raw cotton from the south to New England was expensive. Many Laconia residents were bitter that they had lost their jobs. They began to see mills as ugly, obsolete buildings. The City of Laconia approved an Urban Renewal plan for redevelopment. Buildings were demolished and replaced with a mall, a parking garage, and a parking lot. A few residents worked together to save two mill buildings. The Belknap Mill was converted into a cultural center. It was the first to receive a grant to preserve an industrial building. It was also the first to receive an award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation for industrial preservation. Because many people considered the mills as ugly and out of date, the Belknap Mill Society promoted the building as an art center, not a textile history museum. Rooms in the Belknap Mill were converted over into gallery space for art exhibits and a hall for concerts and lectures. The Belknap Mill Today In 1991 the Society launched an oral history program and contacted 130 former mill workers. Several interviews were taped and transcribed. Mill workers donated machines and photographs. In 1992 the Society opened the nation’s first permanent exhibit on industrial knitting. Today, visitors may see the machines in operation, tour the hydro‐electric power system and trace the old canal. The Belknap Mill Society worked with Laconia Rotary and the City of Laconia to convert an adjacent parking lot (former site of many mills) into a riverside park with a bandstand for concerts and other programs. Background Information p.3 Belknap Mill Industrial Heritage Program – TERMINOLOGY Apprentice: A person who learns a skill from someone with more experience working on the job. Assembly Line: A method of production, often with workers arranged in a line. Each worker finishes one step of the manufacturing process. Belt: A wide endless strap or band for transferring motion from one wheel or pulley to another. Canal: A waterway, made by people, to carry water from a natural waterway to a place where people can use the water for a specific purpose. Dam: A barrier, made by people, built across a river or stream to block the flow of water to keep out of some place or to store it for use. Employee: A person working for pay. Employer: A person or company who pays people to work. Gear: A toothed wheel designed to mesh with another one to move (or be moved by) other parts in a machine. Hosiery: Socks, stockings, or other knitted goods. Hosier: A person who makes or sells hosiery or goods similarly knitted or woven. Knitting: Making a fabric by joining loops of yarn either by hand or with knitting needles or by machine. Sweaters are made on “flat” knitting machines. The rectangular pieces are seamed (sewed) together. Socks are made on “circular” knitting machines. The tubes do not have to be seamed. Mill: Term frequently used as a synonym for “factory” or “industrial plant” Patent: Legal ownership of an invention. A government grant that gives the inventor – for a specific period of time – the right to make, use, and sell the invention. Piecework: Work done and paid for by the “piece”. The worker is paid according to the number of products completed, not the number of hours worked. Pulley(s): A small wheel (or a series of them) with a groove in which a rope or chain runs to raise or pull something; a series of such wheels is used to increase power. Supply and Demand: Supply ‐ the ability to provide a person or company with a product. Demand ‐ the popularity or need for a product. Terminology p.1 Switchboard: A collection of switches, meters, and fuses mounted on panels to control all the major electric circuits for a mill. Textile: a woven or knitted fabric Timecard: A card to record a worker’s hours on the job. A worker “punches a time clock” to record the worker’s arrival and departure from a job. Time Clock: A clock that can record on a timecard the time an employee arrives at and leaves work. Turbine: A machine that has blades that are driven by moving air or water. Wages: Money paid or received for work or services. Waterwheel: A wheel or turbine turned by the weight or pressure of water, which is used to power machinery. Weaving: Making a fabric by interlacing yarns or threads on a loom. Weaver: A person who runs a loom. Shortly after the American Civil War, the French‐Canadians of Quebec began to hear stories of opportunity in the mills and factories of New England. By the early 1850’s a major railroad had been built between Canada and New England providing French‐Canadians an easy way to get to “the States” to find jobs. Usually, one or two members of a family would come to New England, find jobs, save as much money as possible, and then send for some (or all) of the other members of the family. This would include parents, brothers and sisters, cousins, aunts and uncles. We know for certain that there were many such families in Laconia, because in 1891 there were enough French‐
speaking Catholics to form their own parish with services in French. The Laconia parish also built a parochial school where the teaching was almost entirely in French. Almost all of these immigrants – some as young as 12 or 13 years old – worked in the mills, including the Belknap Mill. French terminology used during school program bonjour – hello / good day / good morning merci – thank you entrez – enter, come on in s’il vous plaît ‐ please Terminology p.2 Belknap Mill Industrial Heritage Program‐Word Search
Name: ______________________
Date:___________
Locate the words listed below in the jumble of letters. They may be found in a variety of diagonals and directions.
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Belknap Mill Industrial Heritage Program‐Word Study Activity
Name: _____________________________
Date:_________________________
Draw a comic strip about the jobs at the Belknap Mill. Try and use one of your spelling words in each comic.
BUILD YOUR OWN MILL ‐STEM PROJECT
Materials: recycled cardboard, hot glue gun, pencils, rulers, Sharpies, scissors, writer’s notebook/sketch book. 1.
Sketching‐ In small groups have your students sketch out their plan for a mill. It is helpful to remind them that many mills are basic shapes with right angles.
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Measuring‐ Have the students use copy paper to create a template of each side of the building. Using a ruler to measure the length and width allow for precision when assembling your mill later on. *This is also a great time to refresh those perimeter and area skills!
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Transfer‐ Once the templates are completed, have the students trace the templates onto the recycled cardboard. After the templates are traced, have them double check their measurements before cutting each one out! *Measure twice, cut once!
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Windows and Details‐ Using pencil first, then Sharpie, students should add all of their doors, windows, signs, and detail. It is much easier to draw on the mill before it becomes a 3‐dimentional building.
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Assembling the Mills‐ Once students have added their final details, it’s time to glue the mill together. Depending on your class, you might decided to let them glue the pieces together in partners or you may want to do the gluing while they assist you.
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Advertise your Mill‐ Now, have your students write a description of their mills using the templates on the following page. Make sure that you discuss what would be historically accurate for the time period they select. (If a candy factory did not exist in your city or town at that time, it wouldn’t fit the parameters of your project). STEM – p.1
STEM – p.2
BELKNAP MILL INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE PROGRAM ‐ MATH ‐ post‐ visit Activity Name ______________________________ Date: __________________________ It is 1904, and Paul and Angelique Bedard are moving to Laconia. They live on a farm in the town of Sainte Pérpetue, Québec in Canada. Sainte Pérpetue is 45 miles northeast of Montreal. Paul, Marie, their parents and 4 other brothers and sisters are moving to Laconia to have a better life. The Bedard family has no car. They ride a hay wagon 45 miles to Montreal. They ride a train 240 miles from Montreal to Laconia. They walk from the train station to a tenement house. The Belknap Mill makes socks. Their father can walk to work. He will work as a boarder. He will put socks on boards in a steam chamber. He will also ring the bell in the mill. He will ring the bell at 7 a.m., noon, 1 p.m., and 5 p.m. He will work 6 days a week. At 7 a.m. the next day, Paul and Angelique hear the bell ring. Their father is already at work. At noon, they hear the bell again. Their mother has prepared a hot lunch. Paul and Angelique carry their father’s lunch in a pail to the Belknap Mill. Soon Paul, Angelique, and 2 other brothers and sisters will also work at the Belknap Mill. Their mother will take care of the 2 younger children. 1. How many children are in the Bedard family? ______________________________ 2. Paul was born in 1890 and Angelique was born in 1892. In 1904, how old is Paul? __________ How old is Angelique? ________________ 3. How old would Paul be in 2017? ______________ How old would Angelique be in 2017? _________________ 4. How many miles did the Bedards travel from Sainte Pérpetue to Laconia? ____________________________________________________________________ 5. Why does their father ring the bell 4 times a day? ____________________________________________________________________ 6. How many hours will he work each day at the Belknap Mill? ______________________________________________ 7. If Pierre rings the bell 4 times a day, how often will he ring it in a work week? ______________________________________________ 8. If the hay wagon traveled at 10 miles per hour, and the train traveled at 60 miles per hour, how long would it take them to arrive in Laconia? ___________________________________________________________________ 9. If they left at 7 a.m. from Sainte Pérpetue, when would they arrive in Laconia? ________________________________________________________________________ Suggestion: Use this page for students to add, subtract, and multiply while they compare the cost of living one hundred years ago!
Cost of Living
1916
AUTOMOBILES Oldsmobile: $1,195 Studebaker: $875
CLOTHING Black Cat Hosiery: women and children: 25 cents Boy’s Gun Metal Blucher Shoes: $1.25 and $1.45 Boy’s Storm King Boots: $2.49 sale price, originally $3.25 Boy’s Walton School Shoes: $3t. price $2, on sale $1.49 Boy’s Suits: $5.00 Boy’s Overcoats: $3.79 Boy’s Knee Pants: 39 cents Children’s Cotton Underwear: 2 pairs for 25 cents Children’s Rompers: 25 cents Child’s Sweater: 49 cents Girl’s Dresses: 50 cents to $2.98 Petticoats: 75 cents Plaid Gingham Dress: $1.00 White Tea Apron Trimmed with Lace: 9 cents Men’s Shawknit socks with white feet: 19 cents per pair, 3 pairs for 50 cents
ENTERTAINMENT
Columbia Records: 10 cents Movies: 5 to 10 cents Playing Cards: 9 cents FOOD Skates: 35 cents to $3/pair Coffee: 30 cents per pound Sled: $1 to $3 Cod Fish: 8 cents a pound Upright Piano: $300 Cheese and Milk: 20 cents/lb. Bacon: 16 cents/lb. Victrola: $15 to 150 Gignac & Gerry, Central St., Franklin: 35 cents for a “regular dinner” Peerage Chocolates: 35 pieces/lb., caramels, nougats, nut tops, real fruit centers: 50 cents Eggs: 32 cents/dozen REAL ESTATE
House: $2, 200
Farm of 300 acres: $4,000
Belknap Mill Industrial Heritage Program‐Writing Prompts
*What would be your dream job at the Belknap Mill? Why?
*Why do you think restoring and protecting a building like the Belknap Mill is important?
*If you were J.P. Morin, what would you do to change the mill for the better? What technology improvements could help?
*What would you do if someone gave you $1,000,000, but you had to spend it on the Belknap Mill, what would you keep? What would you add?
*What was the most fun/interesting part of your field trip to the Belknap Mill? Why?
Belknap Mill Industrial Heritage Program ‐ post‐visit REVIEW Suggestion Name _________________________________ Date______________________ Please answer the following questions about the Belknap Mill. For some, you will have to circle the correct answer and for others you will have to fill in the blank. 1. What year was the Belknap Mill built? 1823 1853 1918 2. Why did they build it out of bricks? ____________________________________________ 3. The Belknap Mill is located on the _________________________ River. That meant it was a ______________ powered mill. They built a canal to the mill. Could you see the canal on our trip? YES NO Where did the canal run? _______________________________________ 4. The water went into the TURBINES WATER WHEEL A HOLE which made the gears move. What were the 2 things the gears were made of? _________________ & ______________ The gears made the _______________ move. What animals got stuck in the turbines? _________________ 5. The Belknap Mill was a ______________ mill because it made _________ for the soldiers during World War I. 6. Explain 3 ways that the Belknap Mill used the river? 1) ________________________ 2) ________________________________ 3)_______________________________ 7. Why would you not want to go swimming in the river? ______________________________________________________________________ 8. Who owned the Belknap Mill? _______________________________________ 9. Most of the workers were from ________________________________________ 10. They were called to work by a _____________________. They worked from dawn to sunset. Why did they work longer in the summer? ____________________________________________________________________________ Post Visit Review p.1 11. In 1918, the Belknap Mill got a NEW BUILDING ELECTRICITY NEW FLOOR 12. There were 7 jobs at the mill. Name each job and put a P after it if those workers were paid by the piece or put an H after it if they were paid by the hour. ______________________________________________________________________________
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______________________________________________________________________________ 13. Who were the lowest paid workers? _______________________________ 14. What were some advantages to being paid by the piece? _______________________________ 15. What were some disadvantages to being paid by the piece? _____________________________ 16. Why was the Belknap Mill built with a lot of windows? __________________________________ 17. After electricity, a mill could be built anywhere. Why? ______________________________________________________________________________ 18. Workers punched in on a _____________________ to keep track of the hours they worked each week. 19. The Belknap Mill made socks for soldiers so they did not get what disease? ____________________________________________ (updated 2/2017) Post Visit Review p.2 INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE BIBLIOGRAPHY TEACHER RESOURCES: Anderson, Carol Lee. A History of the Belknap Mill. Charleston, The History Press. 2014. Bartoletti, Susan Campbell. Kids on Strike. NY, Houghton Mifflin Co. 2003. Freedman, Russell. Kids at Work: Lewis Hine and the Crusade Against Child Labor. NY, Clarion Books. 1998. Graber, David. The Industrial Revolution: Technological and Social Change in Europe and the United States (reproducible blackline masters). Carson Dellosa Pub. 1994. Gr.5‐8. Housel, Debra. Industrial Revolution. Huntington Beach, CA, Teacher Created Materials. 2007. McDaniel, Melissa. The Industrial Revolution. Scholastic. 2011. Mooney, Carla. Industrial Revolution (Investigate How Science and Technology Changed the World.) with 25 projects. White River Junction, VT. Nomad Press. 2011. Mullenbach, Cheryl. Industrial Revolution for Kids. (with 21 activities). Chicago Review Press. 2014. Orfinoski, Steven. The Child Labor Reform Movement: An Interactive History Adventure. NY, Capstone Press. 2013. Smith, Robert W. Industrial Revolution. (Spotlight on America Series). Garden Grove, CA, Teacher Created Resources. 2006. Gr.5‐up. Stamps, David. “A Story about the Belknap Mill and Laconia.” 10 min. Video. STUDENT BOOKS: Littlefield, Holly. Fire at the Triangle Factory. Minneapolis, Carolrhoda Books, Inc. 1996. Gr.2‐4. McCully, Emily Arnold. The Bobbin Girl. NY, Penguin Putnam Inc. 1996. Gr.3‐up. Noyes, Alice Daley. Yvonne of the Amoskeag Textile Mills. Manchester, NH. Published by author. 2000. Gr.3‐up. Patterson, Katherine. Lyddie. NY, The Penguin Group. 1991. Gr.4‐up. Weisman, JoAnne B. The Lowell Mill Girls: Life in the Factory. Carlisle, MA, Discovery Enterprises Ltd. 1991. Gr.3‐up. Winthrop, Elizabeth. Counting on Grace. NY, Random House Inc. 2006. Gr.3‐up.