Scituate Mill History
The record of Scituate's earliest mills indicate that saw
mills and grist mill were among the first. Following is a timeline of
some mills known to have existed; some for only a short time, some
incorporated into the operations of another bigger mill, some still
surviving today although not functioning in its original capacity,
and finally some taken by the Reservoir. There are some conflicting
accounts. Many mills passed through several hands. Records of these
matters are incomplete at best.
1725 - (Ponaganset) grist mill - the earliest
mill in Scituate
- Founder: William Randall
- Type: grist mill, then forge, later cotton mill
- Products: varied
- Structure: stone
- Located: on the North branch of the Pawtuxet River
- History:
- 1826 - John Barden established a forge here upon acquiring
the gristmill. Some accounts include a second grist mill on
site, some do not mention a forge.
- 1826 - sold to firm of Richmond, Bulloch, and Andres
(William Richmond, John Bulloch, and John Andres) who built a
mill for manufacturing yarn.
- 1847 - John D. Pitman
- 1852 - destroyed by fire. Purchased and rebuilt by John H.
Barden and Benjamin A. Potter. Incorporated as the Ponaganset
Manufacturing Company and manufactured cotton goods (print
cloth) until the close of the century.
- 1860 - Potter sold his interest to Alanson Steere, Otis
Steere, and James Mumford.
- Capacity: 160 hp, 127 looms, 65 employees (2/3 female), and
4,000 yards of print cloth per day.
1765 - Hope Furnace
- Founders: Brown Brothers (Nicholas, Joseph, John and Moses)
and copartners in the business, Stephen Hopkins, Israel Wilkinson,
Job Hawkins, and Caleb Arnold
- Type: iron furnace
- Products: tea kettles, hollowware, nails, hinges, and iron
hoops
- 1775-1783 produced guns and canons cast for the Revolutionary
War
- Structure: hearth and stack made of stone
- Location: Pawtuxet River south of Salmon Hole
- river provided power for bellows
- surrounding woodlands used for charcoal
- local farmers provided the stone that was heated and melted
with the ore
- the ore came from Cranston; Oaklawn Avenue
- ore, charcoal, and limestone were carted uphill in
horse-drawn wagons
- about 75 men were employed there as founders, colliers
(coalminers), woodchoppers, molders, firemen, carters and
coalers of wood, diggers and carters of ore.
- workers were paid poorly receiving about 1/4 of their pay
in goods from the company store.
- by 1768 the Furnace was producing pig iron which was sold
in England in exchange for English goods.
- 76 cannons were cast for the war effort. One remains in
front of the Hope Library.
- History:
- 1806 - sold at auction to Silvanus Hopkins and Jabez Bowen
- Became the Hope Manufacturing Company
- Structure: wood, 5 stories
- Type: cotton spinning mill
- 1820 - power looms introduced
- 1832 - 1500 workers, nearly a third women and another third
children and teenagers as young as age 9.
- 1821 - purchased by Ephraim Talbot
- purchase consisted of "all lands, tenements... Factories,
building, privileges of water...also all the machinery, Looms,
tools or apparatus attached to the Factory, Die House, Machine
Shop, Weaving Room, Picking House, Grist Mill and the other
Buildings hereby conveyed...and about 29 acres" (Scituate Land
Records Book 11, page 486 reprinted by RI Historical
Preservation and Heritage Commission)
- 1844 - John Carter Brown, Moses B. Ives, Robert H. Ives
(3/4 of the stock); Charlotte R. Goddard and William Kelly
divided remainder. All were descendants of the Nicholas Brown
family and built upon the Brown &;Ives holdings that
included he Blackstone Company in North Smithfield, the
Lonsdale Water Power Company and the Lonsdale Mills in Lincoln.
- 1847 - incorporated as the Hope Company
1812 - Fiskeville Mill
- Founder: Dr. Caleb Fiske
- Type: cotton
- Products:
- Structure:
- Location: Scituate along the Pawtuxet (mill and mill houses;
however, most other buildings in Cranston)
- History:
- 1900 became idle
- 1900s purchased by B.B. &;R. Knight Company and became
part of Jackson Mills
1810 - Pond Factory/Old Pond Factory
- Founder: Captain Benjamin Aborn
- Type: cotton
- Products: cotton yarn
- Structure: small stone mill (80 x 38, three stories, windows
lining roof)
- Location: on a tributary of Moswansicut Pond in North Scituate
- History:
- had 2 water wheels, 38' and 36' running at 30 hp
- lapsed into decay when production moved to New Pond Factory
- both mills, Old Pond and New Pond became part of the
Scituate Manufacturing Company and operated until the Civil
War.
1812 - Richmond Mill
- Founder: operated as Bullock, Richmond and Andrews partnership
- Type: cotton
- Products: textiles
- Structure: wood
- Location: Richmond
- History:
- 1812 - 1840 - ownership passed through several hands
- 1840 - leased
- 1877 - destroyed by fire
- 1877 - rebuilt by William Joslin
- under Joslin mill ran at 60 hp with 500 braiding machines
for shoe and corset lacing
- may have been known as the Joslin Shoelace Mill
1812 - Rockland Mill #1
- Founder: Joshua Smith and Frank Hill
- Type: cotton
- Products: cotton yarn
- Structure: stone
- Location: Rockland, Ponaganset River and Westconnaug branch of
the Pawtuxet
- History:
- 1822 - purchased by Timothy Greene
- later sold to Charles Hadwin who put in looms and produced
print cloth and other cotton goods
- 1834 - sold to William Harris, John Randall, and Alexander
King operating under the name of Harris & Randall
- 1846 - sold to Edward S. Wilkinson
- 1854 - destroyed by fire
- 1854 - purchased by Thomas Remington and Isaac Saunders
- 1856 - mill rebuilt and leased to Alanson O. Steere
- 1865 - mill expanded under William Alanson
- Ran at 75 hp with 131 looms producing 42 yards per day
- employed 60 employees of which 2/3 were female
1815 - Rockland Mill #2
- Founder: Peter &;Peleg Remington
- Type: cotton mill
- Product: cotton cloth and yarn
- Structure: stone
- Location: Rockland, on the lower branch of the Ponaganset
River
- History:
- 1840 - destroyed by fire
- 1840 - rebuilt and leased to John D. Burgess and
subsequently given the name Red Mill
- 1864 - leased to Alanson Steere
- facility enlarged and new machinery acquired
- production coordinated between Rockland Mill and Red Mill
for this time under same management
1823 - Jackson Mill
- Founder: Charles Jackson (governor of RI, 1845-46)
- Type: cotton
- Products:
- Structure:
- Location: Pawtuxet
- History:
- 1880s - owned by Christopher Lippett &;Co and produced
sheeting
- 1901 owned by B.B. and R. Knight Manufacturing.
- one of the smaller mill villages on the Pawtuxet
- 1926 - installed 120 hp engine ending dependence on water
power with 50 broad looms and 50 workers
- 1929 - out of business
- 1938 - destroyed by fire
1825 - New Pond Factory
- Founder: Captain Benjamin Aborn, Thomas George Jackson,
&;John L. Hughes
- Type: cotton
- Products: yarn, cotton cloth
- Structure: wooden structure, one-story
- Location: 3/4 south of original Pond Factory on Hartford Pike
- History:
- 1834 - incorporated as The Scituate Manufacturing Company
- 1840s - replaced the Old Pond Factory
- built originally as a weaving shed to the Old Pond Factory
it housed 20 looms and a storage area in its lower floor
(semi-basement), and 70 looms on the main floor
- 1870 - destroyed by fire
1826 - Scituate Manufacturing Company
(incorporated in 1834)
- Founder: unknown
- Type: cotton
- Products: print cloth
- Structure:
- Location: North Scituate
- History:
- incorporated 1 other mill in North Scituate, the North
Scituate Cotton Mill and 3 mills downstream in Ashton
- Capacity: $160,000 annually with annual production of
2,000,000 yards of 64 x 64 print cloth. A 160 hp Corliss engine
freed it from water power and permitted year round operation.
Operated with 9000 spindles and 200 looms.
- sold for $832 to clear drainage area for Reservoir
1827 - Ashland Mill
- Founder: John L. Hughes and Zephania Brown
- Type: cotton
- Products: cotton goods
- Structure: stone
- Location: Ashland, Moswaniscut River (the deepest waters of
the Reservoir)
- History:
- 1847 - Samual Allen, enlarged and incorporated as the
Ashland Manufacturing Company
- Samual Allen succeeded by son, Ferdinand
- 1858 - company constructed a church and made it available
to any denomination wishing to use its facilities
- 1915 - condemned by Reservoir Project
1831 - Remington Mill
- Founder: Thomas Remington
- Type: cotton mill
- Product: cotton cloth
- Structure:
- Location: Rockland, on the Ponaganset River
- History:
- 1831 - 36 looms
- 1840 - 48 looms
- 1845 - leased to Barden &;Manchester
- 1855 - Thomas Remington
- beginning of Civil War - new owners
- run as a shoddy mill producing "shoddy yarn" (yarn from
scraps of shredded cloth and the wool fibers)
pre 1835 Saundersville Mill
- Founder: Stephen Greene
- Type: cotton
- Product: rolls and cotton laps
- Structure: stone
- Location: Saundersville, Central Pike, Moswansicut River
- History: confusing accounts
- purchased by Coomer Waterman
- 1840 - may have been rented by Harris O. Browne who
installed braiding machinery
- later, under John Gee, productions shifted back to print
cloth
pre 1835 Saundersville Machine Shop
- Founder: Caleb Westcott
- Type: machine shop
- Product:
- Structure:
- Location: Saundersville, Moswansicut River, just below
Saundersville Mill owned by Greene
- History: confusing accounts
- purchased by Coomer Waterman and converted to cotton
- run later by Benedict Lapham, Horace Mason and others
(probably the various other partners of the Upper Mill
- 1903 - destroyed by fire, not rebuilt
1835 - Saundersville Mill or Upper Mill
- Founder: Isaac Saunders (Lieutenant Governor of RI, 1859-1860)
and Harkness
- Type: cotton
- Product: print cloth
- Structure:
- Location: Saundersville, off 116 near Brandy Brook Road
- History
- 1840 - following one partner's death (some accounts
indicate that Saunders died, others indicate Harkness) the
remaining partner entered into another partnership with Coomer
Waterman operating cotton mills in Greene and Westcott plants
- 1857 - the remaining partner (Saunders or Harkness) retired
after having confined his interest to this mill when the
partnership with Waterman failed
- operated under various partners, may have operated Greene
and Westcott plants as well
- 1895 - destroyed by fire, never rebuilt
1731 Clayville Mill
- Founder: Henry Yeaw
- Type:
- Product
- Structure:
- Location: Clayville
- History:
- 1837 - General Josiah Whittaker built the Whittaker Comb
and Bobbin Factory producing tortoise-shell combs
- 1840 - destroyed by fire
- 1847 - diverted to rubber goods following fire with
production of rubber shoes
- 1853 - converted to cotton goods production
- 1857 - destroyed by fire again
- 1857 - rebuilt with addition and leased to Lindsay Jordan,
continued by Charles Jordan following Lindsay's death. Run in
conjunction with Clayville - Lower Mill
- two mill ran at 120 hp with 108 looms
- 75 employees
1840 Elmdale Mill
- Founder: Ansel Harris
- Type: cotton
- Products: cotton and woolen goods
- Structure:
- Location: Elmdale - Huntinghouse Brook
- History:
1845 Harrisdale Mill
- Founder: Ansel Harris
- Type: cotton
- Products:
- Structure:
- Location: Harrisdale - near Peeptoad Brook
- History:
1847 Clayville - Lower Mill
- Founder:
- Type:
- Products: rubber shoes
- Structure: stone, 3 stories
- Location: Clayville on the Westconnaug Brook
- History:
- 1857 - converted to cotton
1847 - Potter Brothers Bobbin Shop
- Founder: Moses Potter
- Type: spool and bobbin works
- Product: bobbins and spools
- Structure: wood
- Location: Potterville
- History:
- ran at 118 hp with 8 employees
- 1878 destroyed by fire, rebuilt
- 1925 destroyed by fire, not rebuilt