[1] The Mill itself has since burned down and as of October 2018 is currently open field, although the canal structure remains in place.
[citation needed] The town of Somers was settled in the 17th century as part of the Agawam Plantation (now Springfield, Massachusetts), was separately incorporated in 1739, and transferred to the jurisdiction of the Connecticut Colony in 1749.
In that year, Spencer & Chaffee were the first in a series of proprietors to use the mill privilege for the production of textiles.
In 1879 the mill was purchased by the Somersville Manufacturing Company, which built the present three-story brick building, and greatly expanded and modernized its production capacity over the next decades.
[2] The historic district is roughly T-shaped, the base of the T extending along Maple Street on either side of the mill complex.