The mill
Noone Falls is pronounced "Noon." The name comes from Joseph Noone's Sons, who made felt here for more than a century.
- 1758Sawmills, gristmills and woodworking shops run on the falls.
- 1759The dam is built.
- 1872The previous mill burns to the ground.
- 1875The building you'll stay in goes up, brick by brick.
Felt for the nation's money
This building was a textile mill owned by Joseph Noone's Sons, also known as the South Factory. For years it was the only source of the felt cloths used to print United States paper money at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Eighty people worked here, turning 14,000 pounds of wool a week into felt, all powered by the Contoocook River.
Built 1875
Several mills stood here before; the last burned in 1872, and this one went up in 1875. The bricks were made three miles away on Windy Row and hauled here by horse and wagon. The beams overhead were cut from trees that grew a few hundred yards away, already centuries old when they were milled. The machinery was so heavy that parts of it are still buried in the foundation, and the second bedroom was once part of the bell tower.
The Fitchburg Railroad ran right in front of the building, north into town and south toward Massachusetts.
The dam and the King's pines
The dam dates to 1759. Its core is said to be the trunk of an eastern white pine once reserved for His Majesty's Navy: the Crown claimed the best pines within ten miles of a navigable waterway and marked them with the "King's Broad Arrow." Sawmills, gristmills and woodworking shops ran on these falls from 1758 on, and generations of Peterborough families spent their working lives here.