The buildings of three different companies in the textile industry crowded the banks of the Saco River in Biddeford and Saco.

In Biddeford the far left belonged to the Laconia Company, textile manufacturers; the buildings grouped in the center belonged to the Saco Water Power Machine Shops, who built machinery used by the mills. On the right of the river and falls was Saco's Factory Island, the building on the far right was part of the York Mills, another textile manufacturer.