Anthony Mill

Current view Anthony Mill main building The exquisite 1873 mill building is now the Lofts at Anthony Mill apartments. Source: Town of Coventry Assessor Date: 2020

“A prettier mill you will not find.” Built in 1873 the Italianate Anthony Mill has the distinction of being one of the best mills – architecturally speaking – in the entire state. When it was built, it was the largest building in Rhode Island. At night, the owners would have a light on in every window and it was a sight to behold. People would actually come from all around the state just to behold the spectacle.

As one of the earliest attempts at cotton manufacturing in the United States, Richard and William Anthony built the first cotton mill here, forming the Coventry Company in 1805. Anthony village is Coventry’s earliest mill village—and one of the earliest in the state, region, and country.

In 1810, the Coventry Company built its second factory in Anthony.. At the time, it was the tallest building in the state. It was 125 feet long and six stories high. The lower three levels were of brick and the upper of wood. It was destroyed by fire in 1988. The Coventry Company’s machine shop was one of the leaders in making machinery for the textile industry and developed the famous Sisson Power Loom.

The current handsome building was built in 1873 to be 316’ X 80’ with 166,000 sq ft in the main building and had a capacity of 33,132 spindles and 736 looms. For years it produced textiles including narrow fabric, using Italian knitting machines and Italian and American needle looms. The weave shed, built on the other side of the river was built in 1910.

The Berkshire-Hathaway Company owned the mill for some time but closed its doors in Sept 1962. Within a few weeks, a group of business and professional men purchased the mill and brought in new industry. By 1996 there were six separate factories in the complex, including Concordia Fibers which remains today in the weave shed which produces custom engineered fiber-based products and services.

In 1999 Anthony Mill was sold to Wayne Mills Company, Inc., of Delaware to produce narrow fabrics, tapes and light webbings.

In 2012 the main mill was renovated into luxury loft apartments by Brady Sullivan Properties, and was reborn as the Lofts at Anthony Mill apartments.

Cleaning and weaving cotton at home--The earliest Rhode Island mills only spun yarn. During this early period, the “whipping machine” for cleaning cotton had not yet been invented. The cotton was packed in twelve-pound bundles and the women and children living in the vicinity of the mill took the bundles home to clean. For this tedious task, they received about two cents a pound. In the first decade of operation, the mill sent the yarn to farmers to be woven on handlooms. In 1817 the power loom was invented and installed in the mill.. This was the beginning of prosperity for the mill owner and the villagers that continued throughout the nineteenth century.

Mill workers—The early Anthony mill workers were from the farms. Most of the early workers in the Anthony mills were members of the Society of Friends, or Quakers, as was mill owner William Anthony. In fact the village was also called “Quaker Village.” . The mill was regarded as a great benefit to the community that was having a considerable amount of difficulty making a living through agriculture. Many of the early employees were women and children who saw this as an opportunity to help supplement declining farm income. Their day often started fifteen minutes before sunrise and ended fifteen minutes after sunset.

Images

Current view Anthony Mill main building The exquisite 1873 mill building is now the Lofts at Anthony Mill apartments. Source: Town of Coventry Assessor Date: 2020

Current view of Anthony Mill rear building The weave shed built in 1910 has been in continuous use for textiles, occupied since 1920 by Concordia Fibers producing specialty textile products. Source: Town of Coventry Assessor Date: 2020

Anthony Mill The Anthony Mill was served by the Hartford, Providence and Fishkill Railroad which is now the Washington Secondary Rail Trail. The tracks were removed in 1991. You can park where the station is shown and walk the trail and take a ramp down to the mill pond. Source:
D’Amato, Donald A, “*Coventry Celebration A Pictorial History,* (The Conning Company, Virginia Beach, MA, 1991).
Date: Ca. 1900

Anthony Mill Winding Room, circa 1910 Anthony Mill Winding Room, circa 1910 Creator: D’Amato, Donald A, “Coventry Celebration A Pictorial History, (The Conning Company, Virginia Beach, MA, 1991). Date: Ca. 1910

Anthony Mill Weave Room, circa 1920 Anthony Mill Weave Room, circa 1920. Source: D’Amato, Donald A, “Coventry Celebration A Pictorial History, (The Conning Company, Virginia Beach, MA, 1991). Date: Ca. 1920

Location

Just to the right of the mill you can drive across the river and turn right to find the parking lot for the Washington Secondary Rail Path, and a ramp down to the mill pond. This is where the railroad station used to be (see the third image).

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Citation Info

Larry Manire, “Anthony Mill,” Rhode Tour, accessed November 18, 2024, https://rhodetour.org/items/show/405.

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