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Old mills along the Blackstone River in Rhode Island tell history story
By Bob Downing
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Sunday, Feb 22, 2009
PAWTUCKET, R.I.: The yellow building with the white-topped cupola along the Blackstone River is one of the most historic structures in the United States.
It is Slater Mill, America's first factory and the birthplace of the American Industrial Revolution.
It is also the centerpiece of the Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor, a new-style national park that stretches north into Massachusetts.
In 1789, Providence merchant Moses Brown was attempting to build a factory to spin cotton fiber into thread at the falls on the Blackstone River. His efforts were unsuccessful. In December 1789, Brown hired Samuel Slater, a recent immigrant from England, where he had worked seven years in a textile mill.
Slater was convinced that he could modify Brown's equipment and get it to work. In 1793, the mill became the first successful water-powered cotton-spinning factory in the United States.
Using water power to produce textiles spread throughout the Blackstone Valley and revolutionized America.
Mill towns sprang up throughout New England. Workers were initially drawn from farms and small towns. They came from Ireland and French Canada. Later they came from Poland, Sweden and Portugal.
In Pawtucket, you can tour three buildings at the Slater Mill Historic Site: the 1793 Slater Mill, the 1810 Wilkinson Mill and the 1758 Sylvanus Brown House.
The museum complex with its vintage textile machinery and its flax and cotton processing draws about 30,000 visitors a year. It is a National Historic Landmark and looks like it
did about 1835.
The 21/2-story Slater Mill was originally 29 feet by 42 feet but it is obscured by additions made over the years. Today the building is 140 feet long and 51 feet wide.
It features 24 machines dating from 1775 to 1922 to turn cotton into cloth. Children were a major part of the mill's labor force.
Later the mill was used to make jewelers' tools, coffin trimmings, cardboard and bicycles.
The Wilkinson Mill, dating to 1810, features leather belts and pulleys to drive machines. There is a reproduction of the 1826 16,000-pound waterwheel that was used to make tools.
The Brown House was moved to the site. It is original except for the basement and chimney and is typical of 18th-century structures. You can learn about spinning, weaving, cooking and quilting.
Hours are 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekends in March and April; 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday in May, June October and November; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday July-September; 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Dec. 26-31. It's closed in January and February.
Admission is $9 for adults, $8 for senior citizens and $7 for children 6 to 12.
The old mill is just off Interstate 95. For information, contact Slater Mill at P.O. Box 696, 67 Roosevelt Ave., Pawtucket, R.I. 02862 (401-725-8638, http://www.slatermill.org).
The Pawtucket Visitor Center is across the street from the Slater Mill complex at 175 Main St. (401-724-2200 or 800-454-BVTC, http://www.tourblackstone.com).
The Industrial Revolution that followed swept through the Blackstone River Valley that stretches from Providence, R.I., to Worcester, Mass., a distance of 46 miles.
Slater and his brother, John, established America's first mill village, Slaterville, in 1803. Today it is part of North Smithfield, R.I.
The Blackstone Canal was built from 1824 to 1828 to get the textiles to market faster.
The railroad came to the Blackstone Valley in the 1830s and 1840s. The factories switched from water power to steam power in the 1860s and 1870s.
The 250,000-acre valley is filled with old textile mills, mill villages, mill housing and non-industrial hilltop villages.
The Blackstone was once a hard-working river but today is a green north-south corridor filled with parks, farmland, six cities and lots of historic sites and attractions.
You can explore the Blackstone Valley by car, by boat, on bicycles and on foot.
Travel on the Providence & Worcester Railroad aboard Blackstone Valley Scenic Railway Tours, an operation managed by the Blackstone Valley Tourism Council. For information, call 401-724-2200 or check http://www.tourblackstone.com/rail.htm.
You can hop aboard the Blackstone Valley Explorer, a 49-passenger boat that annually handles 120,000 passengers, or even take an overnight trip aboard the Samuel Slater, a 40-foot-long canal boat that can sleep four as a floating bed and breakfast. You can rent canoes and kayaks.
The boat operations are based in Central Falls and Woonsocket. For information, call 401-724-2200 or check out http://www.rivertourblackstone.com.
Pedal eight miles on the Blackstone River Bikeway between Lincoln and Cumberland in Rhode Island, with 3.5 miles atop an old canal towpath. Plans call for the bikeway to extend 48 miles from Providence to Worcester.
For bikeway information, call 401-723-7892 or check out http://www.blackstoneriverbikeway.com.
The federal corridor — officially known as the John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor (you have to get all nine words to be complete) — was established in 1992.
It is similar to Northeast Ohio's still-developing Ohio & Erie National Heritage Canalway that stretches from Cleveland through Akron and Canton to New Philadelphia.
The National Park Service does not own the land, as it does at many national parks. It works closely with government, private and nonprofit partners to operate the federal historic corridor. There are seven visitor centers in the Blackstone federal corridor.
For information, write to the John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor Commission, 1 Depot Square, Woonsocket, R.I. 02895 (401-762-0250, http:www.nps.gov/blac).
You can also get tourist information from http://www.blackstonevalley.orgor by calling 800-454-2882.
One of the most unusual and popular events in the corridor is WaterFire Providence.
It is a public art display that lights the city's three downtown rivers with 100 floating bonfires. It was created in 1994 by Barnaby Evans, who was commissioned to celebrate the 10th anniversary of First Night Providence.
It has been called a powerful work of art and a symbol of Providence's renaissance.
You can enjoy WaterFire Providence from the riverside parks or from gondolas.
WaterFire is usually staged every other Saturday night from Memorial Day through October.
For information, check out http://www.waterfire.org.
Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com.
PAWTUCKET, R.I.: The yellow building with the white-topped cupola along the Blackstone River is one of the most historic structures in the United States.
Get the full article here.
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