Yankee Notions #5 New England Block by
Dorry Emmer
The New England Block represents New England's industrial landscape with its clock towers.
Middlesex Mills, Lowell, Massachusetts, painted by Fitz Hugh Lane, about 1840
The industrial city, Lowell,Massachusetts
New England didn't invent the factory town; old England gets the credit but New England's cities contrasted sharply with the antebellum Southern village and town.
The country town, Holly Springs, Mississippi
People told time by the sun in rural America.
The Yankee economy and New England's industrial cities ran on a schedule.
"Work Commences.
At Ten minutes after last morning bell..."
The New England Block by Becky Brown
Belfry at the Boott Mills in Lowell
The industrial town resonated to the factory bell.
The Block
The New England Block by Denniele Bohannon
12" version
BlockBase 1802b
The New England Block was given the name in a 1930 catalog from Needlecraft Supply.
Just two pieces---a square and a half-square triangle. It had been a popular block for several
decades. Earlier published names included 4X Star and Churn Dasher.
Quilt from about 1910
12-Inch Block
A - Cut 17 squares 2-7/8"
B - Cut 8 squares 3-1/4". Cut each in half with a single diagonal cut. You need 16 triangles.
18-Inch Block
A - Cut 17 squares 4-1/8"
B - Cut 8 squares 4-1/2". Cut each in half with a single diagonal cut. You need 16 triangles.
The New England Block by Denniele Bohannon
18" version
This Month's Tangible Yankee Notion
Watches & Clocks
Dorry found clock fabric.
Clocks were a classic Yankee notion...
... miniaturized to pocket watches before the Civil War.
And then there were alarm clocks.
Connecticut's Hubbell alarm clock works patented in 1865
The curse of the working class.
Blocks 1-5
Five 18" blocks set with a 3" sash.
Late to work?
New Hampshire, about 1910
Photo by Lewis Hine, Library of Congress
Read about the Lowell National Historical Park in a preview of Thomas Dublin's guidebook here:
The Story of an Industrial City: A Guide to Lowell National Historical Park:
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