Richardson Silk Mill, Belding Michigan

Date added: August 19, 2023 Categories:

The Richardson Silk Mill was the first built of four silk mills in Belding, Michigan's "Silk Mill City," and is the best preserved of the three mills which remain. The structure is unique for its unusually large size and handsome design and Late Victorian detailing. The Richardson Silk Mill was one of eight silk mills, four of them in Belding, Michigan, developed and owned by Belding Brothers and Company, Silk Manufacturers, during the late 1800s and early 1900s.

In 1860, Hiram H. Belding and his brother Alva N. Belding started selling spooled silk door-to-door from their home in Patterson's Mills, Michigan. The town of Patterson's Mills was later (1871) renamed Belding in their honor. The silk that they sold was purchased for them by the third brother, Milo M, Belding, who was then residing at their common birthplace, Ashfield, Massachusetts. The door-to-door selling efforts of the two brothers became so successful that within three years they had added several teams of salesmen and had opened an office in Chicago, Illinois. That office was originally headed by brother Milo Belding, who later moved it to New York City.

Having found such success in the retail sale of silk thread and fabrics, the Belding brothers began the manufacturing of silk thread in Rockville, Connecticut in 1866. This manufacturing concern also proved so successful that by 1872 the Belding brothers established an additional mill in Northampton, Massachusetts. This mill was dedicated to the manufacture of various broad goods and embroidery silks.

With the demand for their products steadily growing, Belding Brothers later established additional manufacturing facilities in California and Montreal, Canada. Finally, in 1886, Belding Brothers returned to Belding, Michigan and established four operating mills over a period of several years. Belding Brothers' literature in the early twentieth century claimed these were the only silk mills in the entire Midwest. The Richardson Silk Mill was designated Mill #1 and was designed exclusively for the production of silk thread. Although the Belding Brothers had enjoyed remarkable success with their other manufacturing facilities, they had doubts about the potential for success of Mill #1 and, upon its completion, sold the building to Mr. George Richardson of Chicago, Illinois, a former manager of Belding Brothers and Company's Cincinnati office.

However, the Richardson Mill was so successful that Belding Brothers, beginning in 1890, established three additional mills in Belding. Mills #2 and #3, were designed for fabric manufacture and the fourth was designed for the manufacture of sewing and embroidery silks as well as for the manufacture of a variety of crochet cotton. With the success of the silk industry in Belding, Belding Brothers in 1910 reacquired the Richardson Silk Mill from Mr. Richardson. Approximately twelve years prior, Mr. Richardson had expanded the original Mill #1 to its current size.

Because of its rapid growth, the silk industry in Belding, Michigan quickly outpaced the ability of the community to produce the workers needed for the silk mills. In order to meet their needs for qualified workers, Belding Brothers recruited heavily throughout the western Michigan area. They developed three large roaming houses, each housing 125 persons, to accommodate the single women that were hired to work in the mills and who formed the bulk of the mills' work force. These rooming houses were handsome in design and set in spacious surroundings, and were known for their professional management and clean, comfortable and wholesome accommodations. Belding Brothers also rented approximately sixty homes to married workers.

The silk industry in Belding continued to thrive until the early 1920's. In 1925 Belding Brothers sold the company to an eastern consortium. The new corporation, Belding-Heminway, operated the mills for an additional seven years, but closed them in 1932.

Since then, one of the mills has been removed and all have been converted to other uses. The Richardson Silk Mill, however, was utilized for a number of manufacturing-related purposes that did not significantly affect its architecture or the structure itself. In the 1970's, the structure was utilized for the manufacture of down-filled sporting goods, but, by the early 1980's, that use was also discontinued. Since approximately 1981, the building has been vacant and subject to some deterioration. Renovation of the structure for residential use is now proposed.

In architectural and engineering terms the mill is virtually unique among the small number of late nineteenth-century manufacturing plants in Michigan for its impressive size, substantial mill construction (with solid masonry walls and "slow-burning" heavy timber framing), and use of Late Victorian design elements to make the structure an ornament to the community it overlooked. Of particular interest in this building is the bichromatic exterior of whitish brick accented by bands of red brick. Such bichromatic brickwork is characteristic of the Holland-Grand Rapids area nearby to the southwest. This mill is possibly the largest example of this indigenous West Michigan brickwork type.

Building Description

The Richardson Silk Mill is a four-story, slant-roof, unpainted whitish brick building basically rectangular in shape which was constructed in 1886 and expanded in 1898. The oldest portion is fifty feet wide and 250 feet long and features two five-story brick towers with pyramidal slate roofs. Each tower is fifteen feet square. This oldest portion features regularly spaced windows about eight feet on center with decorative belt courses of red brick forming relieving arches above each window. The addition, built in 1898, is also fifty feet wide and about one hundred feet long. It too was constructed of whitish brick and features regularly spaced windows approximately eight feet on center. This portion des not include the decorative red brick trim. The interior of the facility is generally open except for a double row of supports along the spine of the building.

The building is situated on a 2.26-acre site in downtown Belding, Michigan. The spine of the building runs approximately north-south with the front of the building facing the downtown area to the east and the rear of the building facing west overlooking the Flat River. The building rests on the crest of the river bank approximately fifteen feet above the water level. As originally constructed, the building included a water-driven electrical generator plant. This was removed in the mid-1930s, according to local residents. The property, with the exception of the area sloping to the riverbank, is flat and without significant plantings. The area west of the building across the Flat River is characterized by residential uses. To the north of the building is the Flat River Dam and a municipal park. East of the building is the downtown commercial shopping district and south of the building lies commercial, residential, and some industrial uses.

The building was constructed to house the manufacture of silk thread. It included all of the equipment and facilities necessary to transform bulk baled silk into dyed and spooled sewing thread. The building was utilized for this purpose until 1932 when silk thread manufacture was terminated at this facility.

Following the termination of silk manufacture, the building went through a number of manufacturing uses and periods in which it sat vacant. Its most recent use has been the manufacture of down-filled sporting goods. The building has been vacant for approximately two and one-half years.

The architectural style of the building is typical of textile mills constructed during the mid-to-late 1800's. The white brick exterior is generally in good condition and the general appearance of the building is aS originally constructed. The roof line of the building appears flat from the street because a low parapet disguises a slight westward slant of the roof on the north, east, and south sides of the building. This parapet is decorated by white brick corbelling which is in fair condition. Some of the corbelling and the upper portion of the parapet on the far northeastern end of the building is crumbling and in need of tuckpointing and securing. The dominant exterior architectural features of the building are the two towers on the eastern facade. Each tower is approximately fifteen feet square and five stories in height and is capped by a pyramidal roof.

Each tower also features a steeply pitched gabled dormer on its eastern face at the top of the tower. The tower roofs are clad in gray slate shingling. In addition, the upper story of each tower features smaller rectangular buttresses attached to each of the four corners. The buttresses have metal tent-style caps. The upper story of each tower features additional red brick decoration along the roof line and on each of the buttresses.

Attached to the southwest portion of the building is a two-story white brick structure originally used in the dying process of the silk thread production. This structure is characterized by rectangular windows approximately eight feet on center in both the first and second story. In addition, where the dye shop building adjoins the main mill building, a three-story tower of white brick was constructed. This smaller tower is approximately six feet square in plan and housed an elevator shaft.

The addition to the building constructed in 1898 follows the original to a significant degree. However, this section does not include the decorative red brick trim connecting the windows along the relieving arches. In addition, the windows in this section, while approximately eight feet on center, are rectangular without arches. The corbelling along the roof line was continued in the newer portion.

Attached to the western side of the building are smaller utility buildings constructed over the years. Some of these structures are built of wood and some of brick. The original function of these structures has been lost, although local residents remember utility sheds in this vicinity. These structures tend to be in extremely deteriorated condition and are probably beyond salvage.

The existing floor plan of the structure is faithful to the original. In the older portion of the building, each floor is characterized by open space divided only by a double row of columns approximately forty-two inches apart and running along the spine of the building at intervals of approximately eight feet. The northern brick exterior wall of the original building separates it from the 1898 addition. Doorways have been opened through this wall on the first and second floors. The original wall was largely removed on the third and fourth floors. The interior space in the upper floors of the addition is identical to that in the original building. On the first and second floors of the 1898 addition, some of the interior space has been partitioned off into offices and storage areas. With this exception, very little interior finish has been added through the years. The interior perimeter wall is painted and all utilities and electrical conduits are exposed. The office space that was developed on the first and second floor of the newer addition has been altered and remodeled a number of times and is in poor condition. For several years the roof of the entire structure has leaked and some of the interior flooring is water damaged and buckled.

As indicated above, this building originally sat above a raceway that diverted water from the Flat River to drive an electrical generator. As electrical power became available from public utilities, this building was dismantled and the raceway filled in. Local residents remembered that the demolition occurred in the mid-1930's. The generator building originally sat west of the existing structure and was situated within twenty feet of it toward the northern end of the structure.