1 stands just north of Adams' central business district, on a parcel bounded by Columbia and Hoosac Streets to the west and south, and a railroad right-of-way to the east.

The mill consists of a large main building, 3-1/2 stories in height, built out of red brick with granite foundation and trim.

[2] The mill is one of the surviving remnants of the Berkshire Cotton Manufacturing Company, established in Adams in 1888 by the locally prominent Plunkett family, and one of the town's largest employers at its height.

The manufacturing company was originally successful despite a drop in demand for the products of other Adams mills because the Plunketts decided to focus on more fashionable fine cotton fabric.

The company grew rapidly between its founding and 1900, when President William McKinley, a friend of the Plunketts, laid the cornerstone for their Number 4 Mill.