Our History: Mills Along the Charles River in Watertown

Aetna Mills

The following story is part of a series on local history provided by the Historical Society of Watertown. It was written by Paul Brennan, former President and former Vice President of the Historical Society for the October 1998 Historical Society newsletter, “The Town Crier.” When Paul was President, he lived in the Fowle House for 5 years and in December 2000 was named the “Town Historian” by the Town Council.

AETNA MILLS

On September 27, 1995, Paul Brennan, President of the Historical Society, greeted the members of the Senior Center for the sixth time in about a year for yet another much anticipated historic tour of a long-forgotten treasure of our town, the Aetna Mills. After a question and answer period in the Senior Center, the group of thirty members boarded the shuttle and traveled down to the banks of the Charles River to view one of Watertown’s early industrial influences of the 18th and 19th century.