page_title: Yarmouth, Maine
section_title: The Second Falls
hierarchical_section_title: Yarmouth, Maine / Geography / Waterfalls / The Second Falls
caption_attribution_description: English: Sparhawk Mill in Yarmouth, Maine
context_page_description: Yarmouth is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, located twelve miles north of the state's largest city, Portland. The town was settled, while a district of Massachusetts, in 1636 and incorporated in 1849, 29 years after its admittance to the Union. Its population was 8,349 in the 2010 census. As of 2018's estimation of 8,518, this is about 0.6% of Maine's total population. Five islands are part of the town.
  Yarmouth is part of the Portland–South Portland-Biddeford Metropolitan Statistical Area.
  The town's proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, and its location on the banks of the Royal River, which empties into Casco Bay less than a mile away, means it is a prime location as a harbor. Ships were built in the harbor mainly between 1818 and the 1870s, at which point demand declined dramatically. Meanwhile, the Royal River's four waterfalls within Yarmouth, whose Main Street sits about 90 feet above sea level, resulted in the foundation of almost sixty mills between 1674 and 1931.
  The annual Yarmouth Clam Festival attracts around 120,000 people over the course of the three-day weekend.
  Today, Yarmouth is a popular dining destination, with thirteen sit-down restaurants.
context_section_description: A variety of mills have used power from the Second Falls. A cotton rag paper mill, run by Massachusetts natives William Hawes and father-and-son due Henry and George Cox, operated on the falls (western) side of the bridge and the eastern side of the river from 1816 until 1821, at which point it was purchased by William Reed Stockbridge and Calvin Stockbridge, brothers who successfully operated it for twenty years as W. R. & C. Stockbridge paper company.
  In 1836 it was incorporated as Yarmouth Paper Manufacturing Company, but when advancements in machinery and processes arrived, competition became too difficult and the mill closed. On its site, Philip Kimball later operated a mahogany mill.
  The first mill of note to stand where the current Sparhawk Mill looms large was North Yarmouth Manufacturing Company. It was founded in 1847 by Eleazer Burbank. The mill produced cotton yarn and cloth. Built in 1840, the brick-made mill replaced a wooden mill dating to 1817.
  In 1855, the top half of the mill was rebuilt after a fire, but also to accommodate the Royal River Manufacturing Company, which was incorporated in 1857. It was one of the leading industries in Yarmouth, spinning coarse and fine yarn and seamless grain bags, of which it produced up to 1,000 per day. The mill was under the management of brothers Francis Orville Libby and Hosea J. Libby until Barnabas Freeman took over in 1869. Two years later, Freeman joined forces with Lorenzo L. Shaw to start up a cotton mill. After Freeman retired in 1888, Shaw ran the mill on his own until his death in 1907, during which time the mill's tower was completed.
  An iron bridge was in place around 1900, replacing an earlier 1846 structure.
  Boarding houses, which still exist today at 107 and 109 Bridge Street, were built on the crest of the northern Bridge Street hill, providing accommodation for weavers, seamstresses and bobbin boys.
  In 1953, Yale Cordage, owned by Oliver Sherman Yale, occupied it. They remained tenants for the next 39 years, until 1992, when the decision was made to divide the mill's interior up into multiple business for extra revenue. The mill got its current name in the early 1950s, when Old Sparhawk Mills Company moved into the building from South Portland. The building is now owned by Sparhawk Group. While their headquarters are in the mill, they have regional offices in Faneuil Hall, Boston, and in New York City.
  The mill's electric turbines still function, having been revitalized in 1986.
caption: Sparhawk Mill, formerly a cotton mill, looking north-east. It is now home to several small businesses. The original structure was built in the 1840s but was rebuilt after a fire. The house opposite the mill stands on the site of the mill run by the Hawes and Cox trio. On the hill stands the former home of George G. Loring[9]
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