The Hilliard Mills

The Hilliard Mills complex is located at 642 Hilliard Street in Manchester, Connecticut, west of Adams Street. This historic mill site currently consists of six buildings, roughly 104,000 square feet of space on over five acres of land at the confluence of the Bigelow Brook and Hockanum River. The site is listed on the State of Connecticut List of Historic Places.

In 1672, John Allen was granted land for a sawmill by the General Court of the Colony of Connecticut, making it one of the oldest (if not the oldest) continuously occupied industrial sites in the country. Records indicate that the early American industrialist Aaron Buckland already had a woolen mill in operation at the site ca 1780, making it the oldest woolen mill in the country. During the period when Mr. Buckland owned the mill it has been reported that it produced the wool for the suit that President George Washington wore to his inauguration. It is confirmed that blankets for soldiers in the War of 1812 came from this factory. In 1824 Aaron Buckland sold the mill to Tracy and Williams. In 1828, Tracy and Williams then conveyed the property to Sidney Pitkin, who took on Elisha Edgarton Hilliard as an apprentice there.

In 1832, Mr. Hilliard became one-quarter owner and by 1842 became sole-owner of the mill. In 1849, E. E. Hilliard sold one quarter of his interests to Ralph E. Spencer and the business was known as Hilliard and Spencer. By 1871, the factory was again solely owned by Mr. Hilliard and named the E. E. Hilliard Company. During Mr. Hilliard's tenure, the company made blankets and clothing for the Union Army in the American Civil War. After the death of E. E. Hilliard in 1881, his son took over the family business built the structure known today as Building #2 in 1895. The company acquired the rights to a brick lined pond in 1901, the former Peter Adams site and built a long raceway that extended through Building #4 for both power and washing requirements. The mill was further expanded in 1925 by the addition of Building #1 to accommodate the upturn in business.

The Great Depression took its toll on the business and by 1940, the mills were silent. When it closed in 1940, the Hilliard Company was the oldest family-owned, continuously operated factory in the U.S [4]. The site was then sold to Mr. Aaron Krock, who leased them to the United Aircraft Corporation for the war effort. During the War the site was known as Plant J at Buckland. Small tubes, tappets and roller guides were produced at Plant J, as well as the tool refurbishment for all of United Aircraft was completed at the site.

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