Amoskeag Millyard and Museum, New Hampshire

The Amoskeag Manufacturing Company grew into the largest cotton textile mill in the world here in Manchester, a town aptly named after the famous British mill town it would surpass in output. At its peak, during World War I, it had 17,000 employees working in around 30 buildings, providing 137 acres of floorspace, and harnessing the energy from the Amoskeag Falls on the Merrimack River to drive more than 24,000 looms. Only the mills downstream, in Lowell and Lawrence, came close. After World War 1, demand decreased, and production went south, closer to the source of cotton, and to less centralized mill complexes, due to the power of steam, and electricity. Amoskeag went bankrupt in 1935, and the process of abandonment, decay, demolition, urban renewal, and revitilization began at the massive mill site, which continues to this day (famous redevelopers include Dean Kaman, known best as the inventor of the Segway, who bought several mill buildings and based his businesses here). Some of this story is told at the Amoskeag Millyard Museum, operated by the Manchester Historic Association, located in Mill No. 3.