Mill No. 1

Mill No. 1. Historic Sites of Industry in the Jones Falls Valley. , Mill No. 1 sits on the site of Laurel Mill, a late 18th century flour mill originally owned by prominent businessman and abolitionist Elisha Tyson. In 1849, the newly chartered Mount Vernon Company built a textile mill on the site. Mill No. 1 stood at the threshold of a burgeoning textile empire that would control most of the world’s cotton duck production. , To meet demand as business boomed, Mill No. 3 was built in 1853 across Falls Road. Nearby Stone Hill was built to provide housing for mill workers and the community grew as the factories prospered. When Mill No. 1 burned in 1873, it was replaced with the building that stands on this site today., In 1899, area mills including Mills No. 1 and No. 3 merged to form the Mount Vernon-Woodberry Cotton Duck Company, at that time the world’s foremost manufacturer of cotton duck. While production surged during World War I, the company soon after began moving operations to the South where labor was cheaper and less organized. Following World War II, Mill No. 1 was converted to manufacturer synthetic textiles and did so until it closed in 1972. , Lighter industry soon replaced textile production. Mill No. 1 became home to Life-Like Production, a maker of model train sets and styrofoam coolers. In 2013, the site was redeveloped by Terra Nova Ventures, with architects Alexander Design Studio, to include a variety of apartments, offices, and a restaurant.