The rich history and culture of Littleton is at stake. This is yet another attack by developers on the soul of this small New England town.

 

The Conant Mill was started by cousins Waldo E. Conant and Daniel G. Houghton, two local entrepreneurs. It all began in 1882 when Conant noticed a shortage of suspenders. The original small building was built soon after with space for just four looms and two sewing machines. The business grew rapidly, many expansions were added and by 1900 the company ran 43 looms. In 1905, a large brick expansion doubled the size of the building. In 1912, the mill provided jobs for over 55 local people. The Conant mill was one of the first of its kind to switch from kerosene lamps to electric lamps, a big leap in protecting the building from fire. During World War One, the company produced webbing for gas masks and gun slings. In 1927, the Conant Houghton Company merged with a multitude of other companies to form United Elastic, the world's largest integrated elastic fabric manufacturer. By 1968, United Elastic merged into J.P. Stevens, who promptly closed the Littleton mill for bieng to antiquated to accommodate modern textile machines. The building closed in 1970. 

Now the building is being used as a commercial space. It has been split up into many smaller units. Notably, it has become home to the most dense collection of gun shops in the world. At one point, almost 100 gun shops had licences in the building. The building has fallen into a state of disrepair at the hands of its former owners.

In November 2022, the building was purchased by the Lupoli Company, who have intentions to redevelop the property. Their plans involve completely demolishing the historic structure and building a 6-story condo building with 285 residential units, +200 podium spaces. A building of this size completely disreagards the small town feel of the area and is detrimental to the towns plan to revitalize The Common neiborhood. The only way to save this historical asset for future generations is to put pressure on the developers to amend their plans. While more expensive, turning this building into a multi-use development, keeping the historical portions, and building new apartments are possible. We just need the willpower to get it done.

Please sign this petition, the soul of our town depends on it.