The mill and its depot, in the Gothic Revival and Queen Anne architectural styles respectively, were unusually decorative for functional buildings of that era.

Thirteen years later, when the Glenville Historic District was listed on the Register in 2003, the buildings were a contributing property.

The two structures are located on a 0.8-acre (0.32 ha) lot between Pemberwick Road on the west and the Byram River on the east, where the 30-foot-high (9.1 m) dam that powered the mills is still present.

On the west side of the street the land rises sharply through wooded bluffs to a residential neighborhood; another one is on the other side of the river, where the land rises more gently to the state line and Rye Brook, New York, a half-mile (1 km) away.

By 1814 at the latest a textile mill, the Byram Manufacturing Company, had been established at the present site.

An insurance survey done in 1875 notes that the buildings were "substantial and in good repair"; it is not known then why he chose to demolish and replace them within a few years.

[2] The depot, probably the first of the two to be built, was to have been served by a railroad, shown as planned on 1867 maps, connecting Port Chester, New York, and Ridgefield, Connecticut.

The intricate patterning on the mill facade suggests a great deal of thought went into the composition; the woodwork trim on the depot shows a Stick/Eastlake influence.

The American Felt Company, a New Jersey–based concern that operated mills in four states, acquired Hawthorne in 1899.