The Buildings at Mass MoCA

I have talked so many times about how much I love Mass MoCA.  And in addition to all the exhibitions I have seen over the years, I love the buildings here.  It is an old fashioned New England factory way of building things, where the original company started with one building and then they keep adding and adding other buildings, which are all connected together.  It is a remarkable collection of parts all connected together.  The buildings that MASS MoCA now occupies were originally built between 1870 and 1900 by the company Arnold Print Works.  In 1860 the Arnold brothers arrived at this site and set up their company with the latest equipment for printing cloth. They began operating in 1862 and quickly took off. Aiding their success were large government contracts during the Civil War to supply cloth for the Union Army.

This is one of my favorite views of the facility with all its buildings.  The Hoosic river splits here and goes on either side of the museum.  Sprague Electric Company was a local North Adams company, and it purchased the Marshall Street complex to produce capacitors. During World War II Sprague operated around the clock and employed a large female workforce but also because it took small hands and manual dexterity to construct the small, hand-rolled capacitors. In addition to manufacturing electrical components, Sprague had a large research and development department. This department was responsible for research, design, and manufacturing of the trigger for the atomic bomb and components used in the launch systems for the Gemini space missions.  In the 1980s, Sprague began to face difficulties with global changes in the electronics industry. Cheaper electronic components were being produced in Asia combined with changes in high-tech electronics forced Sprague to sell and shutdown its factory in 1985.  The buildings lay empty for years until the idea of a museum came to mind.  It took a number of years of fund-raising and organization to develop MASS MoCA. During this process the project evolved to create not only new museum/gallery space but also a performing arts venue.  In 1999 MASS MoCA opened its doors.