The Old Schwamb Mill in Arlington, Massachusetts, is located on the oldest continuously operating mill site in the United States. Mills have been located on the main building site since the late 1600s. In 1971, the Old Schwamb Mill was listed on the United States National Register of Historic Places. The Mill is located at 17 Mill Lane in Arlington Heights.
The Mill is open Tuesdays and Saturdays, 10:00 am to 4:00 pm.
Admission is free, with a suggested donation of $5.00
You can add yourself to the Old Schwamb Mill’s monthly e-newsletter list here.
Calendar of Events:
David W.Graf, Master Woodturner, creating a frame.
In 1864, Charles Schwamb purchased a rebuilt, two-and-a-half story wood frame industrial building that had been built three years earlier but never occupied. The Schwambs proceeded to build west and east wing additions in 1869 and the late 1880s, respectively and were still making picture frames on the premises as late as 1969. After 105 years operating as a family-owned business, a remarkable transition from working factory to a living history museum was made possible by the vision and determination of Arlington resident and early preservationist Patricia Cunningham Fitzmaurice
The Mill’s unique 19th-century elliptical lathes, its original belt-driven shaft-and-pulley machinery, and the original hand-turning process are used to this day to create custom-made oval and circular frames for customers around the world.
Group tours are available daily by appointment. Admission is free, with a suggested donation of $5.00 per person. Photography policy: You are welcome to take as may still pictures or videos of the Mill as you like, If, however, you enter your photograph in an exhibit or contest, please credit the image with “Courtesy of the Old Schwamb Mill.” Thank you!
Before there was an Old Schwamb Mill or even an Arlington, Massachusetts, there was this Land, Water and Woods, the ancestral home of the Indigenous Massachuset People. We acknowledge and honor these people, their history and their culture.
Old Schwamb Mill 