Watkins Woolen Mill State Park and State Historic Site
Watkins Woolen Mill State Park and State Historic Site, 19th-century textile mill complex in Lawson, United States
The three-story woolen mill contains preserved machinery, wooden floors, and original equipment spread across multiple production rooms.
Waltus Watkins established this industrial complex in 1860, developing one of the earliest planned manufacturing communities in North America.
The mill represents the transition from manual to industrial textile production methods through its collection of preserved manufacturing equipment.
The state park includes 96 campsites with electrical hookups, a 100-acre lake for fishing, and multiple trails for hiking and cycling.
This facility remains the sole 19th-century textile mill in the United States maintaining its complete original machinery configuration.
Location: Missouri
Inception: 1964
Website: https://mostateparks.com/park/watkins-mill-state-park
GPS coordinates: 39.40110,-94.26030
Latest update: May 17, 2025 10:46
Missouri offers a mix of geological formations and historic sites that show the natural resources and industrial past of the state. The landscape includes massive granite boulders, deep limestone caves, and clear springs that bubble up from the ground. Parks and conservation areas preserve forests, creeks, and bluffs along the state's rivers. Visitors find hiking trails that wind through wooded hills, along stream beds, and to viewpoints that overlook broad valleys. Historic sites add layers of human history. Stone mills like Bollinger Mill and Alley Mill still stand, their waterwheels and timber structures recalling a time when grinding grain and making textiles happened locally. Ha Ha Tonka State Park displays the ruins of a stone castle perched on a bluff above a lake, while Watkins Woolen Mill contains a preserved 19th-century textile factory. Caves such as Onondaga Cave and Meramec Caverns open beneath the surface, revealing stalactites, stalagmites, and underground rivers. Elephant Rocks State Park shows giant pink granite boulders scattered across hillsides, and Dogwood Canyon Nature Park offers waterfalls and forest trails. These places provide a look at Missouri's natural geology and the communities that once used it.
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