Industrial history tour of Bellows Falls planned for Saturday

From Brattleboro Reformer:  Industrial history tour of Bellows Falls planned for Saturday

BELLOWS FALLS -- Those who choose to attend an industrial history tour on Saturday won't just be walking around the village. They'll be taking a step back in time.
The Northern New England chapter of the Society for Industrial Archeology has planned a walking tour of Bellows Falls to educate people on the area's formerly rich culture of factories and manufacturing. The tour is meant to illustrate how residents lived and worked when the village's economy was fueled by International Paper and other companies.
David Dunning, the president of the SIA's Northern New England chapter, said the tour will start at the Bellows Falls Waypoint Center - which houses numerous photographs and information of yesteryear - at 9:15 a.m. and conclude at the Adams Grist Mill & Historical Museum at 4:30 p.m. It is free but donations of $5 would be appreciated.
Dunning will act as the tour guide, though he won't be the only one speaking. Employees from a few of the establishments the tour hits, including the railroad, will also say a little something about the significance of the local history.
The tour's first stop, Dunning said, will be the Green Mountain Railroad repair shop to see first-hand how trains - a big factor in how the United States became an industrial giant - are fixed.
"We all go to see where our cars are repaired. We're going to see where trains are repaired," Dunning said. "Bellows Falls used to be a big railroad town."

Dunning and other SIA members are trying to get permission to enter the Bellows Falls hydroelectric generating facility's visitors' center to show guests what sort of work is done there. What used to be powered by humans is now remote controlled, Dunning said. If permission is granted, a hydroelectric dam employee will likely speak to guests, he said.
The tour will head slightly upstream to the roller gate dam to see how it operates and then mosey just a stone's throw away to the Bellow Falls Canal, which Dunning told the Reformer was the first one built in America with locks.
The next stop will be a visit to the Vilas Bridge and a lesson on its predecessors. A double-arch stone bridge was built in that spot in 1785, making it first to be constructed across the Connecticut River. It wasn't until 10 years later that a bridge spanning the body of water was built in Springfield, Mass.
Dunning said the original bridge was replaced by the Tucker Toll Bridge in 1840 and the Vilas replaced that one in 1931. Rosemarri Roth, executive director of the Bellows Falls Downtown Development Alliance, has previously said the two-span open-spandrel, arch bridge was financed by the roughly $67,000 donated by Charles S. Vilas. Roth said the man died before the project was completed and it was dedicated as a "Symbol of Friendship" between New Hampshire and Vermont.
Roth said the 82-year old bridge was closed in 2009 after NHDOT agents deemed it unsafe to pedestrian and vehicular traffic. It was recently named to the New Hampshire Preservation Alliance's Seven to Save list, which is comprised of historic structures the group is dedicated to saving.
Tour guests will then see the spots that once hosted large factories - International Paper, the Vermont Farm Machinery Company, Abenaque Machine Works - that employed hundreds of locals. The paper industry was particularly strong and left a profound legacy in the area.
"Bellows Falls used to be the paper-making capital of the country," Dunning said.
The tour will end at the Adams Grist Mill & Historical Museum, which Dunning said was restored for educational purposes. The mill is right next to the tunnel that trains enter to go under Main Street. Dunning said the tunnel had to be lowered a few years ago to allow bigger Amtrak trains to enter. He said the engineer on that project will be present to speak with tour guests.
"It's good for people to learn about our own industrial history, which is right in our own backyard," Dunning said. "It's not all about video games - people used to work real jobs and build real things."
He said all guests will receive a handout detailing the stops of the tour. Dunning said his chapter conducts two tours a year - one in the autumn in Bellows Falls and one in the spring in Claremont, N.H. He said there were about 50 guests in the spring.
More details about Saturday's tour can be found at www.siaweb. org/chapters/nnec/index.htm. The event is rain or shine. Refreshments will await guests at the Waypoint Center.