 The neighborhood where the historic district is located is around the mills of the Blackinton Company, founded on the north bank of the Hoosic River in 1821 by Sanford Blackinton, Rufus Wells and J.L White.It was one of the three mill villages, with Greylock and Braytonville, that contributed to the westward expansion of North Adams.It would become one of the largest manufacturers of woolen goods in Western Massachusetts, buoyed especially by large orders from the Union Army during the American Civil War.