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.
At the age of 30, Harris used $2,500 that he had saved, and $1,000 that he borrowed from his father, to begin his own mill at Market Square. This mill became known as Mill #1 and received its power from the Market Square Trench. The success of Mill #1 allowed Harris to construct these three additional mills on Main Street -- Mill #2 (1840), Mill #3 (1844) and Mill #4 (1846). It was the production of these three woolen mills that would bring Harris financial success that was unmatched in Woonsocket during this period.
<i>Image courtesy of Harris Public Library</i>
