CAROLINE Stevens ROGERS BUILDING (1962, 1966)
John Radford Abbot designed this building to house the Merrimack Valley Textile Museum whose purpose was to collect, exhibit, and study material related to the history of American textile manufacturing. Caroline Stevens Rogers was the driving force behind this museum because she wanted a gallery in which to display the collection of looms, spinning wheels, and other hand operated textile equipment, which she had inherited from her father Samuel Dale Stevens.
This building was designed recreate the visual presence of an 1800's New England Textile mill similar to her great grandfather's 1813 mill. The bell tower contains the bell from her family's mill. In addition, the building complements the 1932 brick (now white) building to its right.
Caroline in 1964
Caroline Stevens Rogers in 1979
Caroline Stevens Rogers Building then & now
