Scene showing the fire’s destruction of the old Cotton Mill on November 3, 1976, taken by S. Bruce Lippincott. Bruce took them from across the Maurice River. He said that even that far away, “It was pretty damn hot!” Photo: S. Bruce Lippincott; used with permission
November 3 marks the 50th anniversary of the fire that destroyed Millville’s cotton mill in 1976. One resident remembered riding by the mill on her way to Wawa and seeing the flames before any trucks arrived. Another was struck by the intensity of the heat on his face, even from a distance.
According to Glen Nickerson in the Millville Daily, several hundred firefighters, police and emergency workers fought to extinguish the fire that destroyed the four-story building and to prevent further emergencies as embers rained on nearby houses in the third ward.
Built in 1854, the cotton mill was the foundation for the development of a small company town in Millville’s Third Ward. Generations of workers and families followed the rhythms of the mill’s work cycle and the ringing of the factory bell.
On Friday, October 16, from 6 to 8 p.m., the Millville Historical Society at Second and Main streets will host an exhibit featuring artifacts, newspaper reports, and photographs that explore the cotton mill’s construction, operation, workers, safety, and products. Many Millville families have ties to the mill, and visitors are invited to explore their families’ histories and the city’s past.
Next door, visitors can tour the 1798 Baracha Dunn House, Millville’s oldest surviving downtown structure, and learn how cotton was made into thread before mills existed. Participants can remove seeds from a cotton boll, card the fibers, form a puni, and watch a spinning wheel twist it into thread.
