Wamsutta Four-Tenements
In 1892, the Reverend William J. Potter referred to the Wamsutta four tenements as a "pestiferous excresence." While the company built neat rows of brick double-houses for its skilled workers close to the mills, the company also constructed dwellings for its other workers—loom operators, floor sweepers, and laborers—several blocks away, across the tracks.
Wamsutta began building wood “four tenements” (containing four rooms) for its workers in 1848 in the area bounded by Linden Street on the north, Hazard Street on the south, County Street to the west and Purchase Street to the east. By 1876, there were thirty-eight buildings, and by 1887, this number had increased to fifty-nine.
By 1892, Wamsutta had subdivided the individual units to accommodate a growing number of employees, who paid monthly rents that ranged from $5.25 to $7.50 while earning about $8 per week. In 1913, the U. S. Department of Labor counted eighty-one one-and-a-half and two-and-a-half story tenements owned by Wamsutta Mills in this area. One square block, bounded by Austin, Hazard, State, and Pleasants Streets, contained twenty buildings. Units rented for $2.50 per week. In addition, up to ten lodgers slept on cots in the attic for ten cents per night.
The density of dwellings and occupants contributed to the poor living conditions noted by reformers by reformers like the Reverend Potter. However, most of these Wamsutta four tenements have survived. In 1978, the New Bedford Housing Authority rehabilitated them for subsidized housing, and they continue to provide dwellings for working people. Today, these buildings are included within the larger Acushnet Heights Historic District, designated by the National Park Service in 1990.
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