BIDDEFORD — Today, redeveloping the mill buildings that straddle both sides of the Saco River, in Biddeford and Saco, is a hot topic. But an online exhibit made available to the public in December will ensure that the historic past of the mills, which brought growth to both cities, is not forgotten.

Entitled “Biddeford, Saco and the Textile Industry,” the online exhibit details the twin cities’ textile history. People from all over the state, across the country and around the world can now access information about the cities’ industrial past through the Maine Memory Network Web site.

The Web site is a project of the Maine Historical Society.

The narrative descriptions and accompanying images were prepared for the exhibit by Renée DesRoberts, the archivist and adult librarian at the McArthur Library in Biddeford; Marie O’Brien, the Collections and Archives manager at the Saco Museum; and Elizabeth DeWolfe, a professor of history with the University of New England.

Candace Kanes of the Maine Historical Society helped coordinate the project and was responsible for getting the history onto the Maine Memory Network Web site.

The project was chosen, said O’Brien, because people are curious about the mills.

“Because the buildings are still there,” she said, “people are interested in the history of the mills.”

Each woman chose a section to focus on.

In her section, O’Brien wrote about how the mills affected the twin cities. The intricacies of textile manufacturing were described by DesRoberts and DeWolfe described the darker side of mill life. She detailed the story of young mill worker Berengera Caswell, who died after a botched abortion by a Saco physician.

In O’Brien’s narrative, “Mills and Changing Cities,” she described the rise of the textile industry in the area with the first mill, built in Saco, in 1825; the rapid expansion of the industry and the area population, in the 1840s and 1850s; the rapidly growing immigrant population, starting in the mid-1800s; the closing of all but one mill in the 1950s; and the closing of the final textile mill manufacturer, WestPoint Home, in 2009.

“My section (describes) how much the cities of Biddeford and Saco grew as a result of the factories,” said O’Brien.

In 1820, prior to the construction of the first textile mill, only 4,200 people lived in Biddeford-Saco. When the textile industry was in full swing, by the 1850s, the area population rose to more than 15,000, reported O’Brien.

First young women from farms and later immigrants, many French Canadians and others from throughout Europe moved to the area.

Many worked in the mills, while others became merchants or opened other businesses to take advantage of the growing population generated by the textile industry.

In her section, “Making Cloth,” DesRoberts described the textile manufacturing process and the work of the workers.

There were the “bale breakers” who tore apart the 500 bales of cotton, the Carding Room workers who worked the machines processing the raw cotton, the skilled spinners who oversaw the machines making the yarn, eventually the yarn ended up with the weavers where cloth for shirting, flannel, jeans, uniforms, sails and later blankets was made.

While conducting her research, the workers made a strong impression on her, said DesRoberts.

“You had to be really smart,” she said, to work in the mills. “The work was so fast and there was so much going on. You had to be really, really sharp to keep an eye on everything.”

The workers she read about were proud to work at the mills, said DesRoberts.

“They had a right to be,” she said.

“The Murder of Mary Bean,” by DeWolfe, describes the tragic end of a young mill worker.

Young single women from New England farms were the first recruits to work in the textile mills, in the 1830s to the 1850s, prior to the arrival of immigrant labor.

Middle-class moralists exhorted the dangers of young independent women, earning their own money.

The story of Caswell, who became pregnant out of wedlock and died from an infection after an abortion, was cited as a cautionary tale to young women.

The exhibit is part of the Maine Memory Network, said Kanes, which has more than 20,000 items on its network from or about Maine.

The exhibit “Biddeford, Saco and the Textile Industry,” uses both narrative text and images to describe a story central to the local area, but also representative of other areas in the state, she said.

To view the exhibit, visit the Web site www.mainememory.net and search the Exhibits section. It can also be accessed through the McArthur Library Web site at: www.mcarthurpubliclibrary.org.

— Staff Writer Dina Mendros can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 324 or dmendros@journaltribune.com.