Betcha Didn’t Know…

The Belknap Mill is a historic building, and as such holds many stories, experiences and historical information.

Due to its age (built in 1823), there are many things about the Mill that may be unknown to most people. We have made a top 10 list of things we “betcha don’t know” about the Belknap Mill, with some help from a former Belknap Mill board of directors’ member, and a former Mill executive director.

1. The original wooden mill burned in the early 1800s and was replaced by the brick mill that stands to this day, based on designs of an 1813 mill in Lowell, Massachusetts. It was listed in 1972 as one of the first buildings on the National Register of Historic Places.

2. A handmade stool was donated to the Belknap Mill by Gwendolyn and Rolland Gove and is a good example of the days of child labor in mills. This stool and others like it were used in mills as chairs for children as young as 10 years of age. The children wound bobbins and did other work. Their feet barely touched the floor as they sat at their tasks.

3. The historic Belknap Mill was nearly the victim of fire in 1860 when a huge blaze destroyed much of downtown Laconia. Luckily the Niagara Engine Company of Lake Village came to the rescue, and the brave men pushed into the area, showing the community “how fires were fought by real men!” as a newspaper reported at the time.

4. In 1973, members of the Belknap Mill Society had cast 150 replicas of the original Holbrook Bell. The number (150) was to reflect one bell for each year of the Mill’s existence until 1973.

5. When the Belknap Mill was built, fire was a frequent occurrence, and it took many buildings. To prevent a fire, the Belknap Mill was built mostly of brick and featured post-and-beam construction. The bricks were made at a brickyard in the Weirs area. The wooden beams of the Mill had shaved corners to make them fire resistant as much as possible. It is uncertain if these measures kept the Mill from burning but something went right, because the structure stands to this day.

6. Hollywood personality/TV host Jay Leno visited the Mill and signed the guest book around the year 2000. (Information from former Belknap Mill executive director Mary Rose Boswell.)

7. In 1977, a Proclamation was distributed to state that the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration regarded the Belknap Mill as a project of national scope with state focus and recognized it as an official program for the Bicentennial.

8. In the 1990s, the gallery at the Belknap Mill, had an exhibit featuring the work of Sandwich, NH artist Ted Sizemore. His detailed paintings were artwork for the covers of romance novels. The exhibit was one-of-a-kind, offering to the viewer a significant collection of unique and beautiful paintings.

9. The Belknap Mill’s summer outdoor concert series was started in the 1990s with the first band playing and making do with the back cement flat surface as a “stage” of sorts. The area is today the beautiful Rod & Gail Dyer Powerhouse Patio. Audience seating for the first concert was folding metal chairs placed in the former parking lot (now Rotary Park). What started as a one-evening concert morphed into the summertime ambitious lineup of outdoor concerts well attended by the public each year.

10. Politics, politics, politics! Before area citizens vote there is the campaign trail. That trail has led to the Belknap Mill on many occasions, from Bob Dole to Bill Clinton and many more. Over the last 45 years, visiting presidential candidates have included John Edwards, Marco Rubio, Newt Gingrich, Joe Biden, Edward “Ted” Kennedy and Jerry Brown. The candidates over the years stopped at the Mill to speak, meet voters and answer questions in their bid for the presidency and vice presidency. It is a true testament to the Belknap Mill’s title as the “Meetinghouse of New Hampshire.”

Sen. Edward Kennedy addresses a crown at the Belknap Mill in February 1980 during his run for president
-Courtesy photo/Phillip McLaughlin , Foster Daily Democrat

(Thanks to David Stamps Mary Rose Boswell and Rick Hopper for information for this blog.)