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November 1940. "Young workers at the Penomah Mills Inc., Taftville, Conn." Brown-bagger meets the lunchbox set. (Or, as a commenter on our Facebook page puts it: "I think that's Archie.") Photo by Jack Delano. View full size.
It could also be for a similar reason firehouses have towers - its to hang hoses to dry so they don't kink, crack, and otherwise become unusable. In a factory, they could well have firehoses, so you'd have a similar use.
It could also simply be so you're a landmark. There is no better way to show how big you are then to have the tallest structure in town, visible to all.
StefanJ has lots of good reasons. Here are a couple more:
Stairs were put in separate towers so they wouldn't act like chimneys in case of fire. Once you have a tower, the natural Victorian impulse is to make it a landmark.
Also, factory towers often held a water tank for sprinklers.
Belltower on a factory? Any number of reasons. Supposed that there is a bell installed in the first place.
- Ringing off work hours and shifts? Not every worker had a watch at the time. Maybe not every factory operated a whistle, either.
- Fire alarm?
Otherwise:
- Architectural must-have at the time?
- Style?
- Pride of builder and owner in their building?
- Showing the community that the factory is there to stay?
Why does a factory have a bell tower?
Coincidentally, there is an article on the mill in the local newspaper the same day this picture was posted: Ponemah Mills renovation back on track. The Ponemah mills were purported to be the largest textile mills in the world. I drive by these every now and then and I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case. It is enormous.
At least three dozen of Jack Delano's negatives from this series have been saved and scanned by the LOC. But, as can happen, they are indexed under at least two spellings, "Penomah" and "Denomah," neither of which are actually correct, apparently. The LOC's HABS photos and other online listings for this cotton and rayon mill, once the largest in the United States, can be found by searching for "Ponemah" Mills. But running this spelling in the search engine won't locate the Delano images, perhaps a good example to remind researchers to try alternate spellings as a matter of course. Here's an interior shot from the Delano photos, a negative filed under "Denomah."
It looks like he's about to lose his milk money and his girl friend.
Looks to me like the woman is the mother of the boy to the left and she's got that "see what will happen if you don't stay in school?" look
That lean! Those legs! It's the younger Gene Kelly and he's ready to dance!
From Google Streetview: http://goo.gl/maps/66ZHz
The place sure has seen better days!
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