{"id":397,"featured":1,"modified":"2026-04-17 19:57:16","latitude":41.7263999999999981582732289098203182220458984375,"longitude":-71.472499999999996589394868351519107818603515625,"title":"Pontiac Mill","subtitle":"","fullsize":"https://rhodetour.org/files/fullsize/a51a65fe24422966bff9b70850547ce4.jpg","address":"","all_locations":[],"zoom":9,"creator":["Larry Manire"],"description":"In between a fire, seven new owners, labor strikes, and financial failures, this original home of the iconic “Fruit of the Loom” brand was very successful, but shut down in 1970 and is now just a nice place to live. The mill produced uniforms for Union soldiers during the American Civil War and by the late 1880s the mill employed 1,500 workers to operate 27,000 spindles in a complex of 38 buildings.
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\r\nA cotton spinning mill was built here in 1810, sold in 1827 to a partnership which collapsed in the depression of 1829, bought at auction by John H. Clark, who built a stone mill in 1832 and a bleachery in 1833 which were to be sold to what became the giant B.B. and R. Knight company that added buildings in 1863 and 1866. The bleachery burned in 1870 and was replaced by a new 160’ X 53’ building. By 1912 the Knight family was the largest cotton manufacturer in the world, but, with labor unrest building and increasing competition from the South, the family sold it in 1920 to Consolidated Textile Corporation of New York which barely survived the labor strikes and eventually stopped production in 1970. After one failed attempt at conversion, a new owner, using $9 million in historic tax credits, invested $35 million to create 150 apartments in the restored buildings in 2016.
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\r\nThe brand “Fruit of the Loom” started in 1856 when the owner, Robert Knight, had a friend that owned a small shop in Providence that sold cloth from the mill. His friend’s daughter painted images of apples and other fruit and applied them to the bolts of cloth. The ones with the apple emblems proved most popular. Knight thought the labels would be the perfect symbol for his trade name, Fruit of the Loom – an expression referring to clothes, paralleling the phrase "fruit of the womb" meaning "children", which can be traced back to the Bible (Psalm 127:3). The business has gone through much turmoil in the textile industry but world famous “Fruit of the Loom” clothes are still on the market today.","sponsor":null,"accessinfo":"Walk around to the bridge over the river to get a great view of the river side of the mill.  Check out the beautiful apartments online.","lede":"","website":"","related_resources":["

Warwick, Rhode Island Statewide Historical Preservation Report, (Rhode Island Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission, 1970).

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Gary Kulik and Julia C. Bonham, Rhode Island: An Inventory of Historic Engineering and Industrial Sites, (U. S. Department of the Interior Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation Historic American Engineering Record, 1978).

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Don D’Amato, Pontiac Village, Warwick, Rhode Island Digital History Project

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Oliver Payson Fuller, The History of Warwick, Rhode Island, from Its Settlement in 1642 to the Present Time: Including Accounts of the Early Settlement and Development of Its Several Villages; Sketches of the Origin and Progress of the Different Churches of the Town, &c., &c (Warwick, RI: Angell, Burlingame & Company, printers, 1875).

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Gary Kulik, et al, eds., The New England Mill Village, 1790-1860 (Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1982)

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A “spindle” spins cotton or wool into yarn which is woven into cloth by looms.

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This 1828 diary of N.B. Gordon, a salaried mill manager, is a rare source of information about the inner workings of an early textile mill and his continual efforts to get his mill running smoothly—often without success.  Gordon was closely involved in the problems of water and raw material shortages, broken machinery, and absent workers: 

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[January 3] Extreme cold day.—One weaver sick, one weaver sick 4 Looms stopped.—Water wheel froze up this Morning.–Took until 8 o'clock to start it 

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[January 6] One weaver still sick.—4 Looms stopped.- Water failed some about 4 o clock P.M. & stopped the old spinner  January 23] No 2 weaver lame hand; N° 5 sick & absent 

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[January 26] All hands present.-Sent a load of goods to Boston  

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[February 13] All Hands—Short of filling & short of roping.–Roping short on account of Beater being out of repair.—One old spinning frame stopped 1/2 day 

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[February 15] Lords Day.—1/2 of it spent in the factory covering & repairing sizing rollers. 

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[February 17] N° 4 weaver absent 1/4 day Short of fill & roping the cause of the roping being short is mostly owing to cold weather. One old spinning frame stopped all day  

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[February 21] Snow storm continued with increased violence blocking up the roads & even the river Got in some of the hands and hoisted about 9 o clock, but had not water to get speed with only 1/2 the card room 12 Looms, Dresser & mules Pond at night  

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February 23] Back water & small pond 2 spinning frames & Picker stopped.-Dresser stopped at 4 o clock for want of L. Beams 

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[March 9] All hands.—Filling short.-Loom spring Broke. 

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[March 11] Roller hook to Loom broke N° 5 weaver absent

"],"files":{"https://rhodetour.org/files/fullsize/a51a65fe24422966bff9b70850547ce4.jpg":{"id":1650,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Pontiac Mills from bridge over Pawtuxet River","description":"The mill’s dam is in the foreground and the original headrace is at lower left. | Larry Manire | 2021","thumbnail":"https://rhodetour.org/files/square_thumbnails/a51a65fe24422966bff9b70850547ce4.jpg"},"https://rhodetour.org/files/fullsize/5badba27657170c6bf15822134843ab1.jpg":{"id":1651,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Pontiac Mill and Bleachery","description":"Portion of Pontiac, Rhode Island lithograph, 1889 | O.H. Bailey & Company Lithographers, online here. | 1889","thumbnail":"https://rhodetour.org/files/square_thumbnails/5badba27657170c6bf15822134843ab1.jpg"},"https://rhodetour.org/files/fullsize/4118d235ed7144fc0d678efad41724ab.jpg":{"id":1652,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"“Fruit of the Loom” Trademark","description":"Created by the daughter of a merchant friend of the mill owner in 1856 this symbol became known for quality in textiles around the world and is still in use today. This is the seventh and current version. | Fruit of the Loom, Wikipedia","thumbnail":"https://rhodetour.org/files/square_thumbnails/4118d235ed7144fc0d678efad41724ab.jpg"},"https://rhodetour.org/files/fullsize/3c388d9f510374d25650dcaab073c6ab.jpg":{"id":1653,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"The Knight Empire","description":"Lithograph showing textile mill holdings by B.B. and R. Knight, at the time, the largest cotton mill owner in the world. The mills were Arctic, Manchaug, Valley Queen, Readville, Royal Mill, Hebron, Cranston, Natick, Pontiac, Clinton, Jackson, Lippitt, Fiskeville and Grant. | Poster in Pawtuxet Valley Preservation and Historical Society | 1893","thumbnail":"https://rhodetour.org/files/square_thumbnails/3c388d9f510374d25650dcaab073c6ab.jpg"},"https://rhodetour.org/files/original/138a82c57f52c9c6715e448ff5446749.m4v":{"id":1654,"mime-type":"video/mp4","title":"How it’s Made: Cotton Yarn","description":"Virtually every mill spun its own yarn and then wove it on power looms. This shows how modern mills spin cotton. | Video on Youtube, from How It’s Made TV Series"}}}