History of Oella Mill

The Story of Oella

Oella embodies the classic American factory town. Named for the first woman to spin cotton in America, Oella has been the site of milling operations since colonial times. In fact, the present red brick structure called Oella Mill is among the newer buildings in town, dating from 1918. Rowhouses built for the millworkers, several sizeable family homes, and the old Oella Methodist Church, now converted to office space, are all of 19th-century vintage. And the original mill race that brought the Patapsco's waters to work the mill was built in the early 1800s. The 1.75-mile mill race was the longest in America to power a single mill, and, though damaged by Hurricane Agnes in 1972, it still exists today.

The handsome building that stands today as Oella Mill was the William J. Dickey & Sons Textile Mill, which had been built on the ashes of the old Union Manufacturing Company mill, at one time the largest cotton mill in America. Dickey & Sons survived fire and flood and the Great Depression, but it could not overcome the shift to synthetic fabrics in postwar America. The mill had shut down shortly before Agnes hit, and was never to open again. It would take the combined efforts of private developers and county, state, and federal agencies over several years to bring new vitality to picturesque Oella, a town that is a genuine piece of America's past.

Oella and nearby Ellicott City are the heart of the Patapsco River Valley, one of America's first and most important centers of industry. In the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, the former colonies had declared their philosophical and political independence. To take its place as an equal among the nations of the world, however, the young country needed to establish its economic independence. Rather than simply being a supplier of raw materials to the Old World and a market for European products, America sought to nurture manufacturing of various kinds on its own soil. Close to the thriving port of Baltimore, the Patapsco River provided a convenient and reliable source of power to operate numerous foundries, iron mills, textile factories, and paper mills.

The entrepreneurial spirit that built Oella and neighboring towns also powered America's geographic and technological growth. From here, the Baltimore & Ohio railroad, the nation's first, linked the East Coast and the heartland. Today, the mills and factories that once defined this valley have all but disappeared. But many of the stalwart buildings remain, reminders of earlier chapters in the long story of these wooded hills—a story that continues into a bright tomorrow as people rediscover the enduring pleasures of living in a place like Oella.