Editing Dover, New Hampshire (section)

===Mill era===
[[File:Dover NH August 2016.jpg|thumb|left|[[Cochecho River]] with repurposed mill buildings, from Henry Law Park]]
Located at the head of [[navigation]], Cochecho Falls brought the [[Industrial Revolution]] to 19th-century Dover in a big way. But cotton [[textile manufacturing]] actually began about two miles upstream with the Dover Cotton Factory, which was incorporated in 1812, its mill built in 1815. The business would move to Cochecho Falls when it acquired water privileges occupied since the 17th century by [[sawmill]]s and [[gristmill]]s. In 1823 it was renamed the Dover Manufacturing Company, but was not successful. So in 1827 the [[Cocheco Mills|Cocheco Manufacturing Company]] was founded (the misspelling a clerical error at incorporation),<ref name="Garland, Caroline Harwood 1987, p. 383">Garland, Caroline Harwood, Old Dover, New Hampshire; Castle Books, Edison, NJ 1987, 2002, p. 383.</ref> and the next year, the mill was the site of the first women's strike in the United States. "The Strike of the Mill Girls" took place on December 30, 1828, when about half of the 800 women employed at the mill walked out over lower wages and longer hours that the new owners had implemented.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.dover.nh.gov/government/city-operations/library/research-learn/history/strike-of-the-mill-girls/ | title=The Strike of the Mill Girls | publisher=Dover Public Library | access-date=January 27, 2024 }}</ref> Expansive brick mills were constructed downtown, linked to receive [[cotton bale]]s and ship finished cloth when the [[Boston & Maine Railroad|railroad]] arrived in 1842. Incorporated as a city in 1855, Dover for a time became a leading national producer of [[textiles]], the mill complex dominating the riverfront and employing 2,000 workers.<ref>Hindle, Thom; Dover, Images of America; Arcadia Publishing, Portsmouth, NH 1994, p. 69.</ref>

The mills were purchased in 1909 by the Pacific Mills of [[Lawrence, Massachusetts]], which closed the printery in 1913 but continued [[spinning (textiles)|spinning]] and [[weaving]]. The printery buildings were demolished in 1913, their site is now Henry Law Park.

In 1922, it was affected by the [[1922 New England Textile Strike]], shutting down the mills in the city over an attempted wage cut and hours increase.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Foner |first=Philip Sheldon |title=History of the labor movement in the United States. 9: The T.U.E.L. to the end of the Gompers era / by Philip S. Foner |last2=Foner |first2=Philip Sheldon |date=1991 |publisher=Intl Publ |year= |isbn=978-0-7178-0674-4 |location=New York |pages=19–31}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=E. Tilden |first=Leonard |date=1923 |title=New England Textile Strike |jstor=41828627 |journal=Monthly Labor Review |volume=16 |issue=5 |pages=13–36 }}</ref>

During the [[Great Depression in the United States|Great Depression]], however, textile mills no longer dependent on New England water power began moving to [[Southern United States|southern states]] in search of cheaper operating conditions, or simply went out of business. Dover's millyard shut in 1937, then was bought at auction in 1941 by the city itself for $54,000. There were no other bids. Now called the Cocheco Falls Millworks, its tenants include technology and government services companies, plus a restaurant, brewery and bar.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.dovermills.com/index.htm | title=Cocheco Falls Millworks | publisher=Cocheco Falls Millworks | access-date=August 15, 2011 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://archive.today/20120330195132/http://www.dovermills.com/index.htm | archive-date=March 30, 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.dover.lib.nh.us/DoverHistory/mill_history%20new.htm | title=A Yarn to Follow: The Dover Cotton Factory 1812—1821 | publisher=Dover Public Library | access-date=August 15, 2011 | author=Beaudoin, Cathleen | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030223084509/http://www.dover.lib.nh.us/DoverHistory/mill_history%20new.htm | archive-date=February 23, 2003 }}</ref>

Textile manufacturing in Dover wasn't limited to cotton. In 1824, Alfred I. Sawyer established the [[Sawyer Woolen Mills]] beside the Bellamy River. It would expand to include 15 major buildings over {{Convert|8.5|acre}}, and by 1883 was the largest [[woolen]] manufacturer in the state.<ref name="Garland, Caroline Harwood 1987, p. 383"/> In 1889 it was acquired by the [[American Woolen Company]], but closed and was sold off in 1955. The buildings have been repurposed into housing.