Historic Hallowell

Michaela Graves, Halley Lane, Danna Petersen & Natalie St. Hilaire

Hallowell had a sandpaper mill which was built in 1880, owned by Mr. Ben Tenney, and located above the Wire Mill Road on the Vaughan Stream.

The Sandpaper Mill was built onto the other part of the Boston Flint Company in 1880. For many years, the Sandpaper Mill was one of Hallowell's important industries. Working in the sandpaper mill was very dangerous. Some people had a hard time breathing because of all the particles that were in the air. When they would inhale, it would damage the workers' lungs. Mr. Tenney tested with many types of minerals to create sandpaper. They crushed quartz to make the sandpaper.

Flint was a rock made of micro crystalline quartz. It was not harder than quartz but it was tougher, so its sharp edges lasted longer. They crushed the flint up so that it would be little, tiny rocks. After the sandpaper was glued, they would sprinkle the flint and granite onto the glue and let it dry. This would form into sandpaper.

This process was done during the spring because glue could not be made in hot weather, nor a large quantity in the winter on account of it drying.