In South Windham, near the Maine Correctional Center, the remnants of the old Cumberland & Oxford Canal and very close to the town of Gorham, stands what’s left of the woolen mill, which provided employment to hundreds of people for many years. It was built on the site of the first sawmill in the town.

It started in 1866 when several men from Gorham and Windham bought the water power on the Windham side of the Presumpscot River and built a small woolen mill. In 1867 they obtained a charter and named the company the “Mallison Falls Manufacturing Company.” Stock was sold and the mill ran for a couple of years and closed – the mill had been manufacturing material for uniforms used during the Civil War. For several years, the mill was leased to a variety of people but that all changed in 1879.

In October 1879, Thomas Robinson came from Oxford and got the mill going again. He installed machinery, many looms and continued to expand, purchasing the mill and surrounding property by 1880. He built four tenement houses and employed around 100 people, some of whom lived in these houses.

In the winter of 1888, a fire totally destroyed the mill. Robinson immediately built a new brick mill, which is still standing.

It was unfortunate that Robinson, who was very involved with the community and industry, took ill and died in June 1890, prior to completing the new mill. His two sons, Joseph and Charles, finished building the mill and in the fall of 1891, it started up again.

Operation of the mill was stopped for a few years in around the turn of the century because of a business depression. Subsequently, Rindge Woolen Co. ran the business and many other companies used all or part of the facility, into the 21st century.

When the state of Maine established the prison, they also took over the tenement houses and property of the mill, and in the 1990s, these houses were removed because of the expense of needed renovations and repairs.

Recently there has been renewed interest in the facility, with talk about renovations and a totally different use.