This site was home to Harris Mills #2, 3, & 4, belonging to one of Woonsocket's most noted industrialists, Edward Harris.
Edward Harris was born in 1801 in the village of Limerock in Lincoln, Rhode Island. While his family had been in the lime business for generations, two of his uncles - William and Samuel - ventured into the textile business in the early nineteenth century. In 1822, Harris joined his uncles' cotton mills as a clerk.
The building was purchased by property developer Henry D. Vara who planned a $30-million renovation project that would have included affordable housing, stores, offices, a restaurant and a tavern. However, when the state's budget crisis ended funding for the tax credit program, the plans became unfeasible. The building was demolished in 2013 and the site is still unoccupied.
<i>Images courtesy of The Woonsocket Call (A) and Charles Noel (B)</i>
A general downturn in the wool market in the late 1940s along with the market moving toward synthetic fabrics ushered in a period of economic difficulty for French Worsted. Despite the company's introduction of synthetic yarn manufacture in 1954, they continued to struggle.
In 1889, Woonsocket politician Aram Pothier was appointed by Rhode Island Governor Royal C. Taft as a representative to the Exhibition Universelle de Paris, a world’s fair marking the centennial of the storming of the Bastille. Pothier’s travels in Europe took him to the textile centers of Roubaix and Turcoing, in France, and Verviers, in Belgium, where he met with representatives of textile producers in an effort to spark interest in establishing facilities in Rhode Island, and, in particular, Woonsocket.
LuAnn's time in the mill was initiated by her mother who worked at Finkelstein's as well. Her mom heard the mill was looking for part time help after school and during the summer. In need of extra money and thinking it might be interesting to work with her mom, LuAnn took thee job. She initially started as a Cutter but was not comfortable with the instrument she had to use to do the job. As she got better and more comfortable with this position she became bored and was moved to the ruffling sewing machine. Here she made tie backs for curtains and it was this job she enjoyed the most.
In 1825, textile manufacturer Edward Carrington decided to take advantage of Woonsocket’s newly constructed canal to establish a mill privilege on this site. Carrington and his agent, Stephen Smith, operated the Hamlet Mill, a cotton manufacturer, at this location until 1842. Power for the mill required a dam on the Blackstone and a long headrace from a point about a half-mile upstream of site. As it evolved through several owners in the 19th century, the mill complex came to include two main buildings and two long masonry rowhouses of worker housing to the northwest.
The Social Mill was established in 1810. It was the first textile mill constructed in Woonsocket. Proprietors included the Ballous and Jenckes (families who would go on to construct other successful mills in the city) as well as the Bartlett, Leland, & Arnold families. The initial capital was 16 shares at $1,000 per share, with each proprietor purchasing 2 shares. Equipment initially included 2,000 spindles along with carding equipment.
