The Harmony Mills

The Harmony Mills. . , The Harmony Mills were the primary catalyst for transforming Cohoes into a prominent 19th century manufacturing center. With extremely successful local management by Robert and David John Johnston, Thomas Garner and Company expanded a single cotton mill into a large industrial complex of six mills, which were often referred to as "the Lowell of New York State.", What did the Mills produce? , The Mills were the largest cotton fabric manufacturing establishment in the United States from the late 1860s through the 1880s. The largest mill in the complex, Mill #3, stands 1,185 feet long, 75 feet wide and five stories high. In its day, it was considered among the greatest technological achievements in American cotton mill design., Who were the Mill Workers? , In 1860, more than half of the employees were Irish immigrants. By 1869, the Harmony Mills employed 3,100 people, of which two-thirds were women. By 1880, due to an extensive recruitment program in Quebec, more than one-third of the workers were French-Canadian., Why did children work? , Children as young as nine years old also worked in the mills to help support their families, since adult workers earned as little as 50 cents a day for an exhausting 72-hour, 6-day work week. Despite these difficulties, many were attracted to the mills by the promise of stable employment and the security of company housing., [ Photo Captions: ] , - A quiet moment for Harmony Mills workers to be captured for posterity., - Panorama of the Harmony Mills as seen from across the Mohawk River at Waterford , - Children were extensively employed in the Harmony Mills., - Workers In the Harmony Mills standing before their machines and below the complex belting system.