Uxbridge is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States, first colonized in 1662 and incorporated in 1727. It was originally part of the town of Mendon, and named for the Earl of Uxbridge. The town is located 36 mi (58 km) southwest of Boston and 15 mi (24 km) south-southeast of Worcester, at the midpoint of the Blackstone Valley National Historic Park. The historical society notes that Uxbridge is the "Heart of The Blackstone Valley" and is also known as "the Cradle of the Industrial Revolution". Uxbridge was a prominent Textile center in the American Industrial Revolution. Two Quakers served as national leaders in the American anti-slavery movement. Uxbridge "weaves a tapestry of early America".
North Smithfield is a town in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States, settled as a farming community in 1666 and incorporated into its present form in 1871. North Smithfield includes the historic villages of Forestdale, Primrose, Waterford, Branch Village, Union Village, Park Square, and Slatersville. The population was 12,588 at the 2020 census.
Smithfield is a town that is located in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. It includes the historic villages of Esmond, Georgiaville, Mountaindale, Hanton City, Stillwater and Greenville. The population was 22,118 at the 2020 census. Smithfield is the home of Bryant University, a private four year college.
Route 146 is a 20.99-mile (33.78 km) north-south state highway in the U.S. state of Massachusetts, maintained by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT). Spanning approximately 21 miles (34 km) along a south–north axis, it is a continuation of Route 146 in Rhode Island, which splits from I-95 in Providence. The southern terminus within Massachusetts exists in Millville, where it enters the state from North Smithfield, Rhode Island. Among several local roads, Route 146 intersects with the Massachusetts Turnpike (I-90) in Millbury and I-290 in Worcester before arriving at its northern terminus at the intersection of several surface streets in downtown Worcester. Most of the route is a freeway, except for a short section near the boundary between Millbury and Sutton where there is driveway access and at-grade crossings.
Abby Kelley Foster was an American abolitionist and radical social reformer active from the 1830s to 1870s. She became a fundraiser, lecturer and committee organizer for the influential American Anti-Slavery Society, where she worked closely with William Lloyd Garrison and other radicals. She married fellow abolitionist and lecturer Stephen Symonds Foster, and they both worked for equal rights for women and for Africans enslaved in the Americas.
Route 98 is a 3.87-mile-long (6.23 km) southwest-northeast numbered highway in central Massachusetts. The highways southern terminus is a continuation of Rhode Island Route 98 in Uxbridge and the northern terminus is at Route 146A in Uxbridge.
Union Village or "Bank Village" is a village and historic district located in North Smithfield and Woonsocket, Rhode Island on Rhode Island Route 146A. Union Village developed because it was at the cross roads of old Great Road and Pound Hill Road.
John Willard Capron was an American military officer in the infantry, state legislator, and textile manufacturer. Famous for being a military uniforms manufacturer, he became Colonel in the army and Chairman of the Board of Selectmen.
Nathan Webb, an early-American Congregational Church minister.
The Seth Aldrich House or S. Aldrich House is an historic house located at 317 Aldrich Street, in Uxbridge, Massachusetts. On October 7, 1983, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
The Jacob Aldrich House, also known as the J. Aldrich House, is an historic house located at 389 Aldrich Street, in Uxbridge, Massachusetts. On January 20, 1984, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
The Moses Farnum House is an historic house located on Route 146A. in Uxbridge, Massachusetts. On October 7, 1983, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
The Smithfield Friends Meeting House, Parsonage and Cemetery, is a Friends Meeting House of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), rebuilt in 1881. It is located at 108 Smithfield Road in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. The meetinghouse is home to one of the oldest Quaker communities in the region.
Ercildoun, population about 100, is an unincorporated community in East Fallowfield Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States. The hamlet was founded by Quakers and was an early center of the abolitionist movement. In 1985 the entire hamlet, including 31 properties, was listed as a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places. Of these properties two were vacant land, 14 were significant buildings, ten were contributing buildings, and five buildings, built in the 1950s, were non-contributing. The Lukens Pierce House, an octagon house listed separately on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places, is located about half a mile northwest of the hamlet. Ercildoun is one of about ten hamlets in the township, which has no cities or towns, but has 31 sites listed on the National Register. It is one of the larger hamlets, located near the center of the township, and historically among the best known. The city of Coatesville is about 3 miles north.
The history of Uxbridge, Massachusetts, founded in 1727, may be divided into its prehistory, its colonial history and its modern industrial history. Uxbridge is located on the Massachusetts-Rhode Island state line, and became a center of the earliest industrialized region in the United States.
Richard Mowry became an Uxbridge farmer, in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States who "successfully built and marketed equipment to manufacture woolen, linen or cotton cloth", from around the time of the Revolution.
Effingham Lawrence Capron, a Quaker, was a mill owner, and nationally recognized leader of the anti-slavery movement prior to the Civil War. He was known especially in the Northeast United States for his anti-slavery work. He was born in Pomfret, Connecticut in March 1791, and died in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1859 at the age of 68. He was also a noted manufacturer of cotton and woolens in the early American Industrial period.
