A two-acre contaminated site, the location of the former Pillsbury Mill, was cleaned up and is being redeveloped into a river-front park with attractions for the public.

A hundred years ago, the huge bell in the mill tower at Pillsbury Mills in Tilton would regulate the daily lives of the mill employees, many of them girls just 12 years old. The bell would ring to get them up in the morning, start their day, take lunch, and go home after ten to twelve noisome hours laboring in the mills.

Now, the old bell remains, but the mill and its demanding routine are gone. It now presides over kids playing ball, having picnics with their families, or just plain goofing off at the new Tilton Riverfront Park.

The former Pillsbury Mill site is being redeveloped into the Tilton Riverfront Park. In 2002, New Hampshire conducted brownfield site assessment work using Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) funds. That assessment pointed out the need for soil removal, and in 2004, EPA provided funds for the cleanup of the former mill site. Contaminated soil has been removed from the site.