Woonsocket, is a city in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 41,186 at the 2010 census, making it the sixth largest city in the state. Being Rhode Island’s northernmost city, Woonsocket lies directly south of the Massachusetts state line and constitutes part of both the Providence metropolitan area and the larger Greater Boston Combined Statistical Area.
This is a list of properties and districts listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Rhode Island. As of May 29, 2015, there are more than 750 listed sites in Rhode Island. All 5 of the counties in Rhode Island have listings on the National Register.
Allen Street Historic District is a historic district encompassing a collection of smaller textile mills in central Woonsocket, Rhode Island. The district extends on either side of Allen Street, a road isolated between Truman Drive and the Blackstone River, and includes buildings dating from c. 1860 to c. 1930. Of the five textile mill buildings in the district, four are brick structures built between about 1900 and 1920; the oldest building in the district is the c. 1860 Pond's Warp Mill at 148 Bernon Street. The latter is also adjacent to a rare visible fragment of the once-extensive canal works that characterized the industrial center of Woonsocket. Many of the district's buildings have been converted to housing.
The Bernon Worsted Mill is an historic textile mill at 828 Park Avenue in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. It is a brick building, two stories tall, about 280 feet (85 m) in length. It was built in 1919 by Charles Augustus Proulx, and was operated as a producer of specialty custom worsted wool yarns, in what was then a sparsely populated part of the city. The building saw somewhat regular use in the manufacture of textiles until 2004.
The Glenark Mills or Glenark Landing is a historic textile mill complex on 64 East Street in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. The original stone section of this mill was constructed 1865 by William Norton and was enlarged with a brick addition in 1885. Originally a cotton mill, the building was converted for use as a knitting mill and then as a worsted mill. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.
The Hanora Mills are a historic textile mill complex the center of Woonsocket, Rhode Island.
The Island Place Historic District is a historic district at Island Place and South Main Street at Market Square in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. The district includes six historic buildings, three of which are part of the Woonsocket Rubber Company Mill, dating from c. 1857 to c. 1919. The other buildings in the district are the Island Machine Company, the Barnai Worsted Company Dyeworks, and a wood-frame structure, that is the last surviving elements of the Wilkins Manufacturing Company. The district is bounded by Market Square, Bernon Street, and a bend in the Blackstone River. The site is now home to the Museum of Work & Culture, a project of the Rhode Island Historical Society.
Woonsocket Rubber Company Mill is an historic mill at 60-82 Main Street in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. The mill consists of a series of 3- and 4-story brick buildings built between 1865 and 1875 by Edward Harris, one of Woonsocket's leading businessmen. These buildings housed the Woonsocket Rubbert Company, one of Rhode Island's first manufacturer of rubber products, principally shoes, boots, and rubberized fabric. In 1910 the complex was purchased by the Falls Yarn Company, which used it for the production of fine woolen yarns.
The Woonsocket Company Mill Complex is a historic district encompassing one of the largest mill complexes in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. The district includes all of the buildings historically associated with the Woonsocket Company, a major manufacturer of cotton textiles in the 19th century. The complex is located along the eastern bank of the Blackstone River between Court and Bernon Streets. It includes three handsome stone mills, built between 1827 and 1859, and a power plant that was built on the site of the former #3 mill between 1890 and 1920, as well as the remnants of the canal that originally carried water to the buildings for power.
The Philmont Worsted Company Mill is an historic mill building at 685 Social Street in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. The large three-story brick building was erected in 1919 by Joseph and Theofile Guerin, Belgian investors brought to Woonsocket by the promotional activities of Mayor Aram Pothier. Unusually for the Guerins, the mill used the "English system", instead of the French system of their other operations, for the production of worsted wool yarns. The Philmont Company was shuttered by the Great Depression in 1933, but the building was later used by other textile producers until 1955. The building has been converted to residences.
The Rising Sun Mill, formerly the National and Providence Worsted Mills, are a historic textile mill complex located at 166 Valley Street in Providence, Rhode Island. The complex consists of thirteen brick and stone structures, ranging in height from one to four stories, located on the banks of the Woonasquatucket River in the Olneyville neighborhood of the city. Most of them were built between 1880 and 1890, with a small number from 1907 and later. The National and Providence Company and its successors operated here from 1881 into the 1950s, a time period when Providence was a leading manufacturer of worsted wool material.
The French Worsted Company Mill Historic District encompassed a historic mill complex in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. Bounded by Hamlet Avenue, Davison Avenue, and Manville Road, a complex of sixteen brick buildings was built between 1906 and the late 1920s. The complex was home to the French Worsted Company, a manufacturer established with funds from French investors brought over by Aram Pothier, the Quebec-born mayor of Woonsocket. The company engaged in the manufacture of fine worsted wool yarns. The company survived the Great Depression and competition from Southern mills, but finally failed in 1969. The buildings were then converted to a variety of light manufacturing interests.
The city of Woonsocket in the U.S. state of Rhode Island was established as a union of six mill villages along the Blackstone River. These villages are described in more detail below.
The Earnscliffe Woolen-Paragon Worsted Company Mill Complex is a historic mill at 25 and 39 Manton Avenue in Providence, Rhode Island. It consists of a grouping of eleven industrial buildings on 4.4 acres (1.8 ha) in the Olneyville neighborhood of Providence, on the banks of the Woonasquatucket River. The buildings were built between 1898 and about 1939. Building 1, the oldest building, began in 1898 as a two-story rectangular brick structure with a three-story tower and a monitor roof, but was expanded over the years, obscuring both the tower and the monitor. The complex was begun by the Earnscliff Woolen Company, which failed in 1909. The Paragon Worsted Company purchased the property, and operated on the premises until 1960, when the company closed the mill.
The Pocasset Worsted Company Mill is an historic industrial complex at 75 Pocasset Street in Johnston, Rhode Island. It consists of a complex of four connected brick buildings, built between 1897 and 1902. The buildings form a rough U shape on a 3.38 acres (1.37 ha) parcel of land between Pocasset Street and the Pocasset River. The two legs of the U are nearly identical main mill buildings, constructed in 1897 and 1902; they are joined by an engine and boiler house. The mill office building is attached to the southern (1897) mill building. The Pocasset Worsted Company was Johnston's largest employer in the early 20th century; its buildings were used for textile production until 1989.
The Heaton and Cowing Mill is a historic industrial facility at 1115 Douglas Avenue in Providence, Rhode Island. The small mill complex consists of three connected building sections; the oldest is a c. 1832 rubble-walled two story mill building constructed by David Heaton and Martin Cowing on the banks of the West River. The partners used the facility to manufacture and dye cotton cloth. The building is the remnant of a much larger Geneva Worsted Company works that Heaton and Cowing built on the site in the 1860s and 1870s.
The Naushon Company Plant is a historic textile mill complex at 32 Meeting Street in Cumberland, Rhode Island. First built in 1902-04 and enlarged over time, it illustrates the adaption of the site to differing uses between then and the 1950s, when its use for textile manufacture ended. The complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.
The Rochambeau Worsted Company Mill is a historic textile mill complex at 60 King Street in the Olneyville neighborhood of Providence, Rhode Island. Set between King Street and the Woonasquatucket River, it is a three-story brick-clad steel frame structure, built about 1923. It was the third mill in Rhode Island in which a French system of textile processing was implemented. The business was established in 1922 by the Lepoutre Brothers, French immigrants who had first begun operations at the Lafayette Worsted Company in Woonsocket, and operated until 1956. It was thereafter occupied by the Imperial Knife Company, which operated here until 1987, manufacturing tableware.
The Lafayette Worsted Company Administrative Headquarters Historic District encompasses the two surviving buildings of a once-extensive textile mill complex in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. Located near the Woonsocket Middle School on Hamlet Avenue are a former guest house, built about 1920, and the mill's 1923 administration building, an elaborate Second Empire brick building designed by Woonsocket architect Walter F. Fontaine. The Lafayette Worsted Mill, established in 1900, was one of three major local mills engaged in the French style of worsted wool production. Most of its buildings were demolished in 2008.
The Andrews Mill Company Plant is a historic industrial complex at 761 Great Road in North Smithfield, Rhode Island. Built beginning in 1918, it was home to a maker of French worsted wool textiles, part of a major industrial development push in northern Rhode Island at the time. The complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2018.
