In New England, water power drove the industrial revolution, and Bennington's many rivers helped make it an early manufacturing center. At this site, a natural waterfall and dams built in 1784 and again in 1889 powered several industries, including one of Vermont's first paper mills, which operated here until about 1958 and was one of two possible sources for the paper on which Vermont's constitution was written in 1791. Although the mill stopped using river power in the 1950s, it continued operating until the early 1990s. Over time, the covered bridge and surrounding site suffered vandalism, water damage, neglect, and trash, even after the bridge was rebuilt in 2000. Beginning in 2009, new mill owners Bill and Maria Scully dedicated this land for public use and, with help from Bennington College, the Town of Bennington, and many volunteers, cleaned up the area and advanced plans to return the dam to hydroelectric production. The project received one of the first licenses issued in Vermont for hydroelectric redevelopment in more than thirty years, entered pre-construction, and could eventually provide power to more than 240 homes in the area.