“When the museum was started, a lot of people who lived in Winooski had memories of working at the mill,” says Miriam Block, Executive Director of the Heritage Winooski Mill Museum. The museum was founded in 1998 to preserve the history of the textile mills in the Winooski area, which ceased operation in the mid-1950s.
But now, “a lot of the population has no memories of when the mills were operational, and they may not even know what the mills were,” says Miriam. “They see these big brick buildings and they don’t know what they were used for.”
The Heritage Winooski Mill Museum is located in one of the old mills alongside the Winooski River. A primary goal of the museum is to help newcomers to Winooski—which has the highest population of immigrants in Vermont—connect to the region’s history. But recently the museum has increased its efforts to highlight the history of child labor.
The museum currently includes photos taken in the early 20th century at the Winooski mills by Lewis Hine, who was hired by the National Child Labor Committee to document child labor. “Children were hired by these different manufacturers—including textile mills—to do work instead of going to school,” says Miriam. “It was a very big issue during the beginning stages of the Industrial Revolution.”
Vermont Humanities has supported the Heritage Winooski Mill Museum with two grants to help fund a child labor exhibit. A first grant for $5000 in 2023 aided the museum in hiring an exhibit designer to create the graphics and the layout of the exhibit. A $4500 grant awarded in 2025 will help cover the costs of printing the display panels, building interactive components, and installing the exhibit.
Miriam says that when school groups come to the museum, they’re very interested in learning about child labor. Talking about the role that children played at the mills can be a good way for teachers to introduce students to the Industrial Revolution.
However, the issue of child labor isn’t confined to a bygone era in our nation’s history. “The truth is that these issues are still ongoing,” Miriam says. “Even though labor laws were passed to protect children and make sure they go to school, this is an issue that still persists in the migrant workforce.” She also notes that some states are rolling back their child labor laws and making it easier for kids to get jobs in manufacturing plants and other dangerous workplaces.
And since much textile manufacturing has moved overseas, the exhibit will include a global map showing countries that have documented child labor practices in their textile and fashion manufacturing operations. Take-away pamphlets will share information about how to support fair labor practices.
The Museum plans to unveil the new exhibit in early 2026. Miriam says that “we do have people who visit from other parts of New England who have similar history or stories relating to their relatives working at textile mills, and they can relate to the exhibit. It’s not just a Vermont story. It’s definitely a New England story, and I think an important one.”
