It was built in 1886 by the Nashua Manufacturing Company to regulate water flow from the mill yard.

By the time the water reached the mills, it had enough velocity to turn the waterwheels under the building.

A Lowell, Massachusetts contractor, L.F. Kittrege, hired men to build five new lift gates that would be protected by the brick walls of the gatehouse.

During the Great Depression of the 1930s, construction of new commercial buildings came to a stop as the economy declined.

With changing manufacturing practices, many textile companies in New England closed or relocated to the South, where non-union workers could be hired for less money.