Almonte GAZETTE, June 11 1986

James Rosamond built second mill in 1857

By Gerry Wheatley

Last week was the story of the first woollen mill in Almonte the Ramsay Woolen Cloth Manufacturing Company built in 1851 and burned in 1852. The second Almonte Woollen mill, built on the same site in 1857, was James Rosamond's Victoria Woollen Mill. These woollen mills were complete woolen factories; purchasing the raw fleece from the farmers and processing the fleece through all the steps to finished woollen cloth for sale to the public. The woollen industry in Almonte and the Mississippi Valley evolved through three phases, similar to the development in the industrial revolution in England. First

Several weeks ago in this "Our Heritage," the Neilson family noted their sheep produced the fleece which was washed, carded, spun and woven into "home spun grey cloth." This process occurred in all the forms in the area. The settlers were experienced with both sheep and processing the fleece into cloth.

Sheep were the most valuable animals to the early pioneers of Lanark County. Sheep provided both food and clothing, and could survive on the poorer farm land which was so plentiful, and leave the good land for crops.

The second phase was mechanised carding mills to take the tedious labor out of carding the wool and to do a better job of carding.

Farmers brought their fleece to the mill for carding and paid either in cash or with part of their fleece. They then took the fleece home for shinning and weaving into cloth. Custom carding hills appeared on the Mississippi River after 1830 and retrained long after woollen factories were built.

Both these phases were exclusively for local consumption. Some goods were exchanged locally but none went to distant markets.

How did the local woollen production evolve to factory production?

Economists simplify the process by talking about the six M's. These are materials, men, money, machines, markets and methods, which must be put together for factory production. There was a growing amount of woollen fleece produced locally and there were enough men who were experienced in processing wool. There was a demand for woollen goods in the big city markets in Canada and overseas but there was no transportation system to move the woollen goods to market. Machines were available in England but money was needed to buy them. Most important were methods; how to harness the Mississippi River's water power to run the woollen machinery and how to move the goods to market.

Businessmen saw the potential for making money in the Mississippi River valley so they built the Brockville and Ottawa Railway froth Brockville to Carleton Place to Almonte, and later extended the railway to Arnprior

Water power was the key to low cost energy, and Almonte was the best site. About 60 per cent of the drop in Mississippi River occurs al Almonte, and waste power is measured by the number of feet a volume of water drops. Daniel Shipman had installed water wheels to run his saw mill in 1821 and his grist mill in 1822. More efficient water turbines were invented in the 1820's in Europe. These probably were used in the early Almonte woollen mills because water turbines operate under water, are not affected by ice and can run all winter.

James Rosamond had built a woollen mill in Carleton Place in 1848. In 1851 he joined with 35 others in Almonte's Ramsay Woollen Cloth Manufacturing Company. After that mill burned in 1852 he bought the site and water rights.

James Rosamond had the money and, with his sons Bennett and William, were the kind of men to put all the pieces together for a woollen industry in Almonte. They recognised the importance of the railway in their business and added as shareholders in the Rosamond Woollen Company George Stephens and Donald Smith. These two later became key men in building the Canadian Pacific Railway to the Pacific Ocean.

ALMONTE GAZETTES December 30 1986

Rosamond designated a National Heritage-Site

by Gerry Wheatley

The heading for this column has never been used more appropriately than when applied to the Rosamond Woolen Company No 1 mill. This mill and the Rosamond family have been symbols of the heritage of Almonte and the Mississippi River Vailley, which became the center of Canada's woolen industry over a century ago.

Two weeks ago we learned that Parks Canada (Enviroment Canada-Parks) had designated the Rosamond Mill as a national historic site with national significance both as a historic site of the textile industry and a building of architectural architectural importance.

This designation is the most important recognition that has occurred to the textile industry in this area in many years. It comes at a time when the last textile mill in Almonte is about to close. The Collie Woolen Company will move the last of its operations from the former Rosamond Mill to Appleton in a few months. Present plans call for the Rosamond Mill main building to be converted into condominiums.

When the Rosamond Mill closes in 1987, the mill will have been producing textiles from 1867 to 1987, a total of 120 years.

Rosamond is the most important name in the history of the textile industry in the Mississippi Valley. James Rosamond began manufacturing woolen textiles in Carleton Place in 1846, and operated a carding mill before that. He was one of 36 shareholders who began Almonte's first woolen mill in 1852 on the site of the present McPherson Gallery (Pinecraft). The Ramsay Woolen Cloth Company mill burned within a year and later, James Rosamond bought the land and water rights. James Rosamond built his first Almonte mill, The Victoria Woolen Mill, in 1856 on the site between McPherson's Gallery and Peterson's Ice Cream plant. This stone building burned in the 1920's. His

As the Rosamonds built the Victoria Woolen Mill, they realized the site would be too small in the long run. They began acquiring property at the north-west end of Coleman's Island near the falls, which was occupied by a tannery and residences. Between 1857 and 1867 the Rosamonds acquired six parcels of land.

Bennett and William Rosamond took over the company leadership from James and with a relative, planned a larger and more modern mill on the Coleman's Island property. The relative was Andrew Bell, who had married Marion, the eldest daughter of James Rosamond. Andrew was an engineer and architect and had layed the rail bed for the Brockville and 0ttawa Railway from Brockville to Almonte, construction of the Rosamond Mill, Cornwall Woolen Mills, and the Arnprior Town Hall, to name a few. Andrew lived in Almonte and travelled to his many engineering assignments. He built his home on Mitcheson Street and called it "The Maples". Helen and Herb Pragnell now reside in the Bell home.

The Coleman Island mill was built in 1866-67. The first building was a six storey stone building, six windows wide by 12 windows long, centered on each side by a tower. In 1872 a three storey dye house was added on the north, and a 45 foot by 130 foot warehouse and a 40 foot by 48 foot "Counting House" on the south. Last week's 1879 Pic Of The Past showed the original Rosamond Mill with the 1872 additions.

In 1887 a four-storey north addition was built connecting and over the dye house. Also a four-storey south addition was built connecting the main building and the Counting House. The Counting House was demolished in 1899 and the south wing extended to Ramsay Street. A 26 foot by 46 foot office was added to the west end of the warehouse in 1904. The Rosamond Mill main building measures the dye house wing measures 175 feet long. Expansion of the mill was both to increase production and to bring in new lines of fabrics. Earlier production used local grown wool, a coarse variety. The Rosamonds brought in fine wool to manufacture a line of "fine tweeds, fancy worsteds, suitings and trouserings, covert cloths, whipcards and indigo serges." These products earned many prizes for quality in Canada and around the world . The Rosamond Woolen Company of Almonte, Ontario, Canada became the symbol of quality for woolen goods around the world. The Rosamond Mill was considered the most modern and most technologically advanced woolen mill in Canada. It also became the largest mill in Canada. The Rosamond Mill was considered a "model mill" of the textile industry and was studied by many engineers and entrepreneurs in the textile industry. In the future, "Our Heritage" will feature more stories about the Rosamonds, the Rosamond Mill, its architecture and its architect, Andrew Bell.

ALMONTE Gazette January 28 1987

Rosamond mill considered model in industry

By Gerry Wheatley

The Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada recommended that, "the Rosamond Woollen Company Mill complex is of national historic and architectural significance and should be commemorated by means of a plaque."

The Minister of the Environment, Tom McMillan, approved the recommendation. The commemoration of the mill complex with a plaque will take place sometime in the future.

This is the information obtained by the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum from the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada. A further enquiry revealed that the board does not release its discussions on the matter or reasons for the designation.

The research files of the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum contain considerable information on the Rosamond family and the Rosamond mills.

Tire following may explain why the Rosamond mill complex was designated a national historic site for both historic and architectural reasons.

The Rosamond number one mill was considered a model mill. It incorporated unique design features and represented a stage in the development of textile mill buildilngs. Today, those buildings are in good condition, almost the same as they were 80 years ago. They are a visual link today with our historic textile milling past.

The major woollen mills in early Canada were primarily in Ontario. In the 1880's, the major woollen mills in Ontario were the A W Brodie and the R Forbes mills in Hespeler, the Cornwall Manufacturing Co in Cornwall, and the Rosamond and Victoria woollen mills in Almonte, while Sherbrooke, Quebec, had the Paton Manufacturing Company.

The Paton mill was the largest, followed closely by the Rosamond mill. The Paton mill remained the largest mill until the 1930's when the Forbes mill of Hespeler, a small mill in the 1880's, became the largest woollen mill. Again, the Rosamond mill in Almonte was the second largest mill.

It is my understanding that the architectural design of the Rosamond mill incorporates "slow burning" method of construction in the building.

In the days before electric light, fire was the greatest fear in mill buildings. Mill buildings were built with thick load bearing brick or stone outer walls, and brick internal framing or cast iron pillars which could collapse with the heat of a fire.

The Rosamond mill used heavy wooden columns and beams and heavy double plank flooring. It is all excellent example of this "slow burn" method of construction.

It sould be noted that this same principle was selected in the design and construction of the present Almonte arena. Laminated beams and a heavy plank roof were selected as "slow burning" and keeping their structural strength in a fire as compared to timber or steel construction.

The life of the Rosamond family and their progress and developments in the texile industry were typical of the historic development of the woollen textile industry in Canada.

James Rosamond began in the 1830's in Carleton Place with a carding mill, the first step in machine application to wool processing. He followed in the 1840's with a small mill to produce finished woollen goods. He built the Victoria Woollen Mill in Almonte in 1851, and doubled its capacity in 1862 by building the present McPherson Gallery building.

His sons Bennett and William built the number one mill on Coleman's Island in 1866-67, and expanded several times in the next 40 years to produce fine woollen of international quality. Following World War 1, the Rosamond mill production declined until its sale in 1952.

The Rosamonds were leaders in the community, leaders in the textile field and leaders in quality and technology. In their time they produced a full range of woollen goods including blankets at the Brown Mill (where the Thoburn mill now stands), knitted goods at the Almonte Knitting Company (the Red Mill, downstream and across the river from the Almonte electric plant), fine woollens in their number one mill, and shoddy at the Victoria Woollen mills.

The Rosamond family was in woollen manufacturing for 120 years, from the beginning of machine manufacturing of wool until wool lost its dominance in textiles.

The Rosamond family, situated in Almonte the major woollen manufacturing centre a century ago, and the model Rosamond mill they built, are a natural choice for historic recognition of Canada's woollen textile industry.

In 1987, Parks Canada did an exhaustive picture survey on the mill before its reincarnation as a condominium. These pictures are available in the two links below (disc 1 and disc 2) as well as the report. Clicking on disc 1 or disc 2 will present you with a listing of the photographs. Click on any file to view the photo. A word of warning - there are 266 photos in these two listings.

Parks Canada Article

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disc_2

The Evolution of a Woolen Mill

The images below are taken from various insurance maps plus Andrew Bell's map of the Rosamond Mill

	1879					post 1902					post 1902
		1926				1950				Andrew Bell