Over a decade ago, Mill researcher Tom Calderwood set out to photograph and identify as much of the Old Schwamb Mill’s contents as he could. Among his many interesting finds was a wooden “door bell” style button in the corner of the glue room. Beside the bell were the words: 1 Bell Call Engineer 2   … Continue reading Call the Engineer: The Mill’s Signal System to the Engine Room

In 1873, the growing town of Arlington planned to build a municipal water delivery system. An earlier private venture to draw water from Spy Pond had not succeeded, so the town decided to take matters into its own hands, this time using the Lexington Great Meadows watershed as the source. There was already a dam … Continue reading I’ll Sue! Mill Owners vs. the Town of Arlington

At the Mill, we often find tools and other objects that we cannot identify. Manufactured tools are easy to look up, but not so jigs and other custom-made objects. Shaker Workshops had used the Mill’s Barn for its showroom for nearly 40 years before ceasing operations there in 2019. In preparing the Barn for a … Continue reading A Mystery Object Identified at the Mill

In 1847, Charles Schwamb arrived in Boston from Germany and began making oval frames. By 1864, he had his own frame factory in what is now the Old Schwamb Mill. In 1904, his grandchildren Clinton and Louis Schwamb took charge of the business, running it as The Clinton W. Schwamb Company, Inc., until Clinton’s son … Continue reading Frame-making in the Schwamb Mill’s Business Years

In December of this year, NASA will try to launch the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). This project has suffered from delays, technical problems, and budget woes. In that respect, it is typical of Big Science endeavors. A century ago, the world's largest telescope was under construction in greater Boston and going through the same … Continue reading Engineering, Then and Now: Peter Schwamb and the Construction of the Mount Wilson Telescope

For the late nineteenth century, the Arlington Advocate is a rich source of information on the Schwambs, their businesses, and their workers. The Advocate reported on visits to the Charles Schwamb mill, the doings of Arlington’s German immigrant population, road races in the Heights and a statewide Schützenfest of German Americans at Spy Pond. This … Continue reading Schwambs in the News, 1871-1899

Visitors to the Mill have seen the dozens of graffiti on the walls recording the first snow (and other remarkable weather events) going back to the 1860s. Although our “first snow” was in October this year, we have followed that with a big December snowstorm blanketing the Mill. Old Schwamb Mill in the snow December … Continue reading Winter and Christmas at the Mill

The Clinton W. Schwamb Company, like its predecessor Charles Schwamb and Son, manufactured frames for retailers such as frame shops, furniture stores, and galleries. One of the Schwambs’ strengths was making specialty items to the exact specifications of their customers. On a tour in 2011, Wayne Schwamb, who worked with his father Elmer at the … Continue reading The Old Man of the Mountain Frames