Valley Queen Mill

Valley Queen Mill (Bradford Soap Works) Valley Queen Mill (Bradford Soap Works) Source: Google Date: 2020

From “Kentucky Jeans” to “Fruit of the Loom” to the world’s most popular soaps and cosmetics, the “lower mill” at Riverpoint has seen a lot of fame!

The Greene Manufacturing Company built a small spinning mill here on the South Branch just above its junction with the North Branch in 1812, but by 1816 the company had failed.

In 1834 the company constructed a dam and a stone mill on a newly acquired water “privilege” downstream from the original mill. A third mill was built in 1844 and enlarged in 1855 to become one of the seven largest cotton mills in the state. Before the Civil War the primary product of the mills was a cotton twill fabric known as “Kentucky Jeans.” Following the Civil War the market collapsed and the company suffered financial losses.

In 1884-1885, the property was purchased by the Knight Company, one of the world’s leading cotton manufacturers of the famous "Fruit of the Loom" brand.

The Knights owned the mill until 1931 when it was bought by its present owners, the Original Bradford Soap Works. This firm, founded in Providence in 1876 by English immigrants James Rodgers and William Murgatroyd, produced soaps for the textile industry. With the collapse of the Rhode Island textile industry in the mid-2Oth century, Original Bradford diversified by producing chemical and cosmetic soaps. Today they produce products for such global brands as Dove, Paul Mitchell, Clinique, Johnsons Baby, Olay, Palmers, Neutrogena, Cetaphil and others.

Have money? Help build a mill!--When the [British] embargo and the War of 1812 halted British imports the Rhode Islanders had the manufacturing facilities, technical experience, financial resources, and market connections to capitalize on the sudden shortage of foreign goods.

Stimulated by high profits as well as by the transfer of capital from the depressed maritime industry, cotton manufacturing expanded rapidly during the war. The number of mills almost trebled and spinning capacity more than doubled. By 1815 nearly three-fifths of southern New England's cotton factories were in Rhode Island. Many mills expanded their capacity. In 1810, only seven factories operated 1,000 or more spindles, but by 1815 this number had trebled and those utilizing 2,000 or more spindles had increased ninefold. The largest single mill—5,170 spindles, was that of Almy, Brown, and Slater located on the Branch River in Smithfield. The center of production, however, was on the Pawtuxet River, where a third of the state's mills, almost half the spindles, and over three-fifths of the largest mills were located.

Video

How a Loom Works Machines, especially the power loom, revolutionized textile production. Here’s how a loom works. Source: Video on Youtube Creator: Dawna Baugh

Images

Valley Queen Mill (Bradford Soap Works) Valley Queen Mill (Bradford Soap Works) Source: Google Date: 2020

Best View of Valley Queen/Bradford Soap Works To get a great view of the Valley Queen Mill park in the lot shown on the map and walk down the Washington Secondary Trail (old railroad bed) about 1,300 feet. Source: Google Maps annotated by Larry Manire Date: 2020

Lower Mill (later Valley Queen Mill), Greene Mfg. Co., River Point, R.I. The Lower Mill is three and a half stories high, made out of granite. Albumen print. On the left side note the New York and New England Railroad (now the Washington Secondary Trail). Source:
American Textile History Museum, Lowell, MA on here.
Date: Ca. 1860

River Point No.1 Mill (Later Valley Queen Mill) Portion of Clyde, River Point and Artic lithograph, 1889 Source:
O.H. Bailey & Company Lithographers, online here.
Date: 1889

Location

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Metadata

Citation Info

Larry Manire, “Valley Queen Mill,” Rhode Tour, accessed November 18, 2024, https://rhodetour.org/items/show/399.

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