Behind the old world charm and easy comfort of the Mill Falls Inn and Marketplace is a history of one and a half centuries. What is now the site of attractive stores in a restored mill, four modern country inns, tumbling falls and covered walkway, was once the site of fledgling industries and commercial enterprises that led to Meredith's development. The current beauty of the restored mill marked a new beginning and a new focus for the town. This prime property had deteriorated to an unsightly sprawl, making the area one of the most forgettable things about Meredith. The transformation of the town's core became an occasion for looking back at the role the site had played in Meredith's history. The following information was compiled by the staff of the Meredith News.

Early History
In the late 1700's, Atlantic salmon and shad still swam up the Merrimack and Winnipesaukee river basins to the series of small waterfalls connecting Lake Winnipesaukee with Lake Waukewan located in the hills above Meredith. The waterway between the two lakes was a natural source of waterpower for the early mills founded at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in this country.

In 1795, John Jenness bought the water rights and land along this outlet, which is now the tiny Corliss Brook running between Lang Street and Steven's Avenue, and past the fire station before trickling into Meredith Bay Near the Town Docks. Jenness built a grist mill and a saw mill on the waterway. Besides the mills, Meredith then consisted of only 10 dwellings and a general store. The property soon changed hands.

At the turn of the century, a young man named John Bond Swasey purchased or inherited most of the land on which Meredith Village now sits. Swasey had inherited a 95 acre lot from his father Benjamin who had bought the land in 1777. The farm was located at what is now the core of Meredith. Across from his homestead on Main Street, Swasey owned the General Store which supplied the many new settlers moving into Meredith Village. According the remembrances of early 19th century residents however, the mills ceased operations sometime between 1810 and 1816.

Swasey's Legacy
Swasey then undertook a project that was to have great significance for the town of Meredith, a project that marked the beginning of the development of the present Mill Falls Marketplace site. Starting from the frontage on Lake Waukewan, that is now called the John Bond Swasey Park, Swasey built a rock-lined canal over 600 feet in length channeling the water under the Main Street Horse Path to where the land drops sharply to Lake Winnipesaukee. Water power was now concentrated into one fall of about 40 feet.

The Waukewan Canal and the fall were probably completed by 1818. Now Swasey was able to build a number of profitable mills for sawing lumber, grinding flour, combing cotton flax, and weaving cloth. All these mills helped stock the shelves of the Swasey Store. Swasey's man made waterfall was considered among the best mill drivers in the state. Swasey died in 1828 at the age of 46. He had carved out an industrial center that became the hub of Meredith. Town citizens today still credit him with nursing the village through its infancy, and setting the town on the road to prosperity.

The Meredith Village Cotton Factory
The current restored mill at Mill Falls may have been producing textiles originally. Some historical evidence indicated the large mill was built and housed a rustic cloth manufacturing business by about 1820. However, according to the History of Belknap County," written in 1885, the mill was a grist mill until Joseph W. Lang and several partners founded the Meredith Village Cotton Factory Company at the site in the 1830's, after purchasing it from the Swasey estate.

The cotton mill evidently did not prosper for very long. The same history book says the mill was an idle cotton mill by 1850. Soon after a man named Seneca Ladd leased the mill and installed new machinery "for the manufacture of pianos and melodeons." At that time, Meredith covered a much larger area than it does today. Meredith settlements consisted of Meredith village, Meredith Bridge, (now Laconia), Weirs, Lake Village (now lakeport), and Meredith Center.

The Great Catastrophe
During the mid 1850's, Meredith Village and Meredith Bridge were about equal in size. But at an 1854 town meeting, residents voted their preference for the Village over Meredith Bridge as the site of a new Town Hall. It was built at the corner of Main and Lake Streets. When the first meeting was held in March 1855, construction had not yet been fully completed. As voters crowded towards one end of the hall on the second floor, the building collapsed, killing four men and injuring scores of others. A rift developed between the town sections. Only four months after the "Great Catastrophe," on July 14, Meredith Bridge seceded and became Laconia. Meredith Village now had to make it on its own.

In 1858, a man named Joseph Ela recognized a new cooperative effort was necessary to promote growth in the town. Swasey's waterfall and the canal were still the key to the town's further development. So Ela and his partners formed a corporation, the Meredith Mechanic Association, to buy and control the water rights and mill buildings along the Waterway. Ela was the first president of what was locally called "The Corporation." The purpose of the Mechanic Association was to make capital investments to attract new manufacturers to the town, and utilize available mill space. The corporation constructed a flume or chute for the waterfall and made numerous other improvements to the water power system. In time, most of the land encompassed by Main Street, Dover Street and Lake Winnipesaukee was purchased and held by the Mechanic Association.

In 1889, a disastrous fire destroyed one of the larger mills owned by the Mechanic Association. The disaster triggered the beginning of the end of the Association. The tenant of the mill that was destroyed was Hodgson Hosiery, perhaps the town's most profitable company at that time, and a major source of income for Association. The firm had employed 160 workers before being put out of business by the fire. Then in 1890, the founder of the Association and one of Meredith's most significant citizens, Joseph Ela, died at the age of 93. In that same year, Sam Hodgson bought the property of the Association and formed the Meredith Water Power Company. The current Mill of the Mill Falls Marketplace was one of many buildings on the site at the turn of the century. The rights to these mills were purchased from Hodgson about this time by J.Q.A. Whittermore, and inventor from Newton, Mass. He empowered two brothers, Allie and Minot Hall to develop linen manufacturing operations at the site.

The Meredith Linen Mills
The Halls were very successful. Each year the factory turned out increasing quantities of linen towels, and the workforce increased accordingly. The Halls soon married into some of Meredith's oldest families. Minot Hall married Cassandra Swasey Lincoln, the great granddaughter of John Bond Swasey. By 1908, the Halls were in full control of the company, which was now called the Meredith Linen Mills and specialized in the manufacture of rough linen toweling. By 1915, it was the town's principal industry. When Allie Hall died in 1928, the firm employed about 150 workers.

Hesky Park
In 1935, Thomas Dumper of Winchester, Mass., purchase the Linen Mills. However, the towel factory was not able to survive the devastated economy of the Depression years. When World War II broke out, the mill machinery was all but idle. During the war though, a man named Egon J. Hesky, owner of Hesky Flax Products of Toronto, Canada, purchased the mills and reorganized the Meredith Linen Mills. The Hesky name is best remembered today for the park named after him along Meredith Bay. The park land was divided from the rest of the mill property when the new Route 3 was constructed in the late 1940's. There were several mills then operating at the site. Today's existing Mill was the site of finishing rooms. There, the cloth bolts were cut into towels, stitched, and finally distributed to wholesalers.

The End of an Era
The upswing was a last gasp. In September of 1948, the Linen mills suspended operations, By the summer of the following year, the once thriving mills stood vacant and idle once again. In 1951, the Keasbey and Mattison Company bought the property and began manufacturing textiles there - until they were bought out Amatex Corporation in 1962. Deterioration of the mills and huge heating bills led them to relocate at a modern industrial park in Laconia in 1983.

The Mill Gets A Facelift
In 1983, Meredith Bay Corporation bought the mill property. Amatex had used a cinder block and wood structure for most of its manufacturing operation. That structure and several others were razed. Only the historic old Mill remained.

The Mill was reconstructed into a four floor shopping experience Most of the original hand hewn beams and wide barnyards remain in the building. A central stairway was added, and dormer windows were built to give natural light to the fourth level. Two wings were constructed to accommodate the new restaurants and a half ton copper cupola from atop the tower of a North Woodstock Church was acquired and hoisted to a new perch on the mill roof. A shopping plaza with three new retail buildings was created, and the magnificent 54 room Inn with swimming pool was added to the complex. The area was beautifully landscaped, and the waterfall exposed. Instead of walking around the mill property to get to the waterfront, people could now stroll along red brick paths and enjoy the shops and scenery of the Mill Falls Marketplace.

The opening of the Inns at Mill Falls and the Mill Falls Marketplace was the end of the industrial chapter for Meredith, but just the beginning of a new era for the town.

The Inn at Bay Point
During 1993, a building built in 1968 came up for sale. This building dominated one of the most visible and best locations in town, directly on the lake and surrounded by town parks. The building itself was a rather undistinguished three story flat roofed office building. Some members of the community eyed the building as a new town office. This idea was overwhelmingly defeated at Town Meeting and the site was purchased by the owners of the Mill Falls Inns and Marketplace. After a total reconstruction, the Inn at Bay Point and the Boathouse Grille opened in May of 1995.

The Chase House at Mill Falls
It was shortly after this that a landmark business, Chases's Country Town House restaurant decided to sell. This restaurant, started in 1949 by Carl Chase and operated ever since by his family, was located adjacent to Mill Falls and offered a wonderful view of Meredith Bay. The property was, however, divided by a town road. At the March 1997 Town Meeting, the voters of Meredith voted to close the road and give it (that's right, give it!) to Hampshire Hospitality Holdings, the owners of the Inns, in order to allow for the development of the Chase House at Mill Falls. As you can see, the townspeople as a whole have had a major impact on the decision to allow the continued success of the Inns at Mill Falls.www.millfalls.com