In 1852, the Social Manufacturing Company was incorporated with Oren Ballou as President, Henry Lippitt as Treasurer, and Charles Nourse as Superintendent. Nourse served as superintendent for 35 years. Under his direction, the mill grew from 17,000 spindles to 125,000 spindles. He eventually secured an interest in the company and served as its President.
In 1874, tragedy struck when the Mill was destroyed by a tremendous fire caused by the main belt in the weave room. The fire began at 3pm and the mill was destroyed by 6pm. The total loss was valued at $500,000. Work of rebuilding the mill began immediately and was completed the following year. The new mill was 5 stories tall and made of brick. It contained 55,000 spindles, 1,400 looms, and employed 650 people.
Since the mill required more employees than were available locally, labor was recruited from Canada on a massive scale. A housing community known as the Nourse Village (named after Charles Nourse) was built between what is now Clinton & Social streets for these workers. Additionally, in 1883 the Nourse Mill (also named in honor of Nourse) was constructed to expand the Social Manufacturing Company. Sadly, Nourse died in 1886 from injuries sustained fighting a fire in the Social Mill’s office building.
<i>Images courtesy of the Woonsocket Historical Society</i>
