Stearnsville Mills and School
The Stearns Family were early pioneers in the development of the woolen industry in Pittsfield and Berkshire County.
The first factory at the West Pittsfield site on future Cloverdale St. was a sawmill built by Aaron Baker about 1768. In 1770 Baker sold the mill to Valentine Rathbun who converted it to a Fulling Mill for wool brought from local farms. Fulling was a process in which wool was cleaned and thickened before being made into cloth. The Pittsfield map from 1794 shows the Fulling Mill down river from Richmond Pond in the left lower section.
Fulling mill lower left – 1794 Map of Pittsfield Drawn by H.E. Mead in 1870
Daniel Stearns, Sr. purchased the Rathbun mill property about 1803 and expanded the production of woolen products. By 1811 he was using the revolutionary carding machines and spinning jenny built by local inventor Arthur Scholfield. In 1826 he expanded to a new mill downriver on Lebanon Avenue. That area became known as Stearnsville.
At their peak, the family owned five mills, extensive land holdings and many tenement homes for workers. However they were victims of multiple devastating fires and closed operations in the 1880’s.
The Stearnsville school was founded prior to 1845 and served the children of the mill workers. The beautiful second schoolhouse below was built in 1893 and was eventually replaced by the current school in 1961.
The Mills of Pittsfield 