The Indiana Cotton Mill was built between 1849 and 1851 under the direction of Charles T. James on land donated by the American Cannel Coal Company, with architect Thomas Tefft of New England designing the variegated locally quarried sandstone building. Facing the Ohio River, the 70,000 square-foot structure had a 280 foot frontage, rose five stories, and was once the largest industrial building in Indiana and the largest mill west of the Appalachians. The river brought raw materials and carried finished products to market, while local coal fueled the steam boilers that powered machinery shipped from England, with construction costing $80,000 and the machinery valued at $175,000. Many young women experienced in mill work came from England, modest housing was built for workers, and several hundred workers operated 11,000 spindles that produced 40,000 yards of sheeting each week. The mill manufactured Union Army uniforms during the Civil War and materials for both world wars, operated continuously from 1841 to 1954 under two ownership changes, and has since been adaptively reused for public housing while being recognized in the Historic American Engineering Records and as a National Historic Landmark.