Along the wall of one building is a large white-washed plywood sign, the paint peeling and fading. At the edge of the sign is a small traffic light, all but one light still intact. Factory No. 4. A person would not need to wonder what industry took place here, as long as this sign remains. But it too is fading, the weather taking its toll.
Signs are the last clues to the mill's past.
In 1925, the mill was the largest in the world. The roof to a small addition to one of the buildings is sinking in. Across Main Street is a building that once housed the boiler for the plant. Today it is covered in vines that wrap the tall smokestack. What once served as the pump house, sandwiched between the boiler building and the modern Helmetta Fire House, has become a dilapidated building, hidden behind weeds with broken windows exposing metal screens to the elements.