Bates Mill
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The Bates Mill is a textile factory company founded in 1850 in Lewiston, Maine. The mill served as Maine's largest employer through the 1960s, and early profits from the mill provided much of the initial capital for Bates College.
Benjamin E. Bates, a Boston entrepreneur, founded the textile mill in 1854 with several co-investors in the Bates Manufacturing Company. Bates built the mill in Lewiston due to its location at Lewiston Falls, which initially provided power to the mill. The Mill was operated by water power from the Androscoggin River, and combined power spinning and weaving on looms. The Mill produced textiles until the 21st century. During the American Civil War, the factory produced textiles for the Union Army with southern cotton it had stockpiled prior to the War. Thousands of immigrants from Canada and Europe immigrated to Lewiston to gain employment at the mills. In 1992, the City of Lewiston took possession of the Bates Mill Complex after years of unpaid taxes. In 2001 voters eventually decided in a referendum to sell the Complex to Platz Associates, private developers. Platz refurbished the buildings and sold all but two of them. Currently, the rehabilitated Bates Mill Complex is the site of Banknorth (People's Heritage Bank) and Androscoggin Savings Bank offices, several restaurants, and a textile museum.
