American Mill

American Mill. . , The American Mill was originally the site of a saw and grist mill owned by Rufus West and Horace Vinton. In 1846, Phineas Talcott purchased the site, and in 1847, he and Nelson Kingsbury organized the American Mills Company and constructed a new mill. By this time the success of the Rockville textile factories was well recognized and the American Mill Company was one of the first to draw investors outside of the local area., The new mill was was an imposing six-story structure 200 feet by 45 feet. The first two stories were stone, and the upper three stories and attic were wood-framed with Greek Revival details and a handsome bell tower. The timber for the mill came from Allegheny County in western New York, where Phineas Talcott's son, Frederick, had a lumber mill. The lumber was brought to the school yard on School Street, where it was framed and set up in the presence of many on-lookers., The American Mill manufactured primarily cassimere, a high-quality wool product. The manufacturing process needed superior looms and other technological changes that required a work force that was skilled in the trade. These tradesmen, many from foreign countries, came to Rockville and marked the beginning of the industrial age in Rockville., The American Mill Company merged with the Hockanum Mills Company in 1918. The Company survived the difficult economic times in the 1920s and 1930s [Unreadable]. However, by the late 1940s, the competition from synthetic fabrics caused the demise of the woolen industry in the north. The mill closed in 1951. In 1960, a dramatic fire consumed the old, unoccupied wooden mill structure., The present owner and occupant of the American Mill site is Anocoil Corporation. Anocoil began operations in a two-story brick building behind the mill in 1958. The company pioneered the manufacture of the first continuously anodized-lithographic printing plates, now used by most newspapers and printers worldwide.