on foot through
factory point
SPORTS • EVENTS
EXHIBITIONS
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Cross Center Bridge; turn left into
Factory Point Town Green, and
walk along the sidewalk closest
to the river. The pathway is part
of Riverwalk. (See more about
Riverwalk on p.52.) Here, you have
a scenic view of the spillway and
the gristmill.
Look for the information panel
along the sidewalk—it tells
about Manchester’s place in
America’s history.
Continue past the bandstand
until you come to railing at a
spot overlooking the river’s
natural banks.
Here you can see the steep slope
on the opposite side, and you
will realize that the backs of the
buildings along Main Street are
high above. This town green,
re-landscaped about 30 years
ago, was not always so open,
so pretty, or so green—until
about 1890, it was the site of a
56 manchester life | manchesterlifemagazine.com
Are they mills or
factories?
Mills generally process
raw materials into usable
commodities, while factories
make finished goods and
merchandise. For example, a
mill processes bales of cotton
into spools of thread and bolts
of cloth, and then a factory
uses the thread and cloth to
make dresses.
huge, positively foul-smelling
tannery operation. In old
photos, its big, square, 60-foot,
brick smokestack towers above
the surrounding rooftops, and
yet, “the Grand Old Equinox”
dwarfs it in the distance.
Bill Badger sums it up this way,
saying, “This part of Main
Street is interesting because
everything is representative of
a period.” The buildings hang