The Textile Factory in Pre-Civil War Rhode Island

THEODORE ANTON SANDE

Introduction Less than thirty-five years earlier the n the night of December 24, 1822, project would have been impossible on Zachariah Allen wrote in his di- this side of the Atlantic. And in England, 0 ary: where the modern factory was invented, Christmas eve - The church bell is its history can only be dated back as far as now ringing a merry peal. To me it is the first years of the 18th century.4 In rather melancholy - as it recalls days 1702, what is now considered to be the long since past, when I hailed the return first factory, a silk mill, was built on the of Christmas as one of the happiest days of my life . . . Now more anx- Derwent River at Derby by Thomas ious thoughts, & deeper laid schemes of Cotchett. It was a simple 3-story brick future aggrandizement engross my structure, measuring approximately 62 mind-- ’ feet in length by 28 feet in width. Portions What could have inspired such solemn survive today in what is now a technologi- reflection, this somber Dickensian cal museum on the site.5 But factories did passage? Allen was tried; he had just not appear in large numbers in England spend over eight months building a small until after the middle of the 18th century textile mill on the east bank of the when, as a result of a series of mechanical Woonasquatucket River in Allendale inventions, textile spinning and weaving (now called Centerdale), Rhode Island, were transformed from handicrafts to and it is clear that this was uppermost in fully mechanized operations. And it was his mind at the time. He had begun spin- not until the late 1760s that the new spin- ning woolen yarn during the first week of ning machines were brought together by December, and the entry continues: “I Richard Arkwright and others into a com- shall be compelled to go out to my mill pletely integrated system of production, tomorrow.“2 housed within a single structure.6 The building of a textile factory at this We call this structure a factory, which time was not in itself remarkable. Indeed, Andrew Ure defined in 1835 as the locus Allen had proceeded cautiously into of: “the combined operation of many or- manufacturing, spending several years ders of work-people, adult and young in thinking about it, and visiting factories tending with assiduous skill a system of throughout the region, carefully writing productive machines continuously im- down all the technical information he pelled by a central power.“’ What we are could acquire on water power, textile confronted with in the factory, then, is the machinery and business practices.3 What emergence of a totally new building type was remarkable was the very case with reflecting this technological development. which he could build and equip a textile It is the first important building type to mill once he had made up his mind to do appear in Western Europe since the so. Renaissance, and the one which repre-

13 14 Old-Time New England sents the momentous shift in Western ularly one outside the mainstream of con- European and American civilization from ventional architecture, an extraordinarily a pre-industrial to an industrial society. rare analytical opportunity is provided. For the United States, the story of the We are not dealing with the work of pro- textile factory’s origin and development fessional architects or gifted amateurs begins in the Rhode Island textile indus- preoccupied with, or guided by, funda- try in the early 1790s and ends with the mentally stylistic and formalistic con- Civil War. In 1793, the firm of Almy, cerns, but with pragmatically-motivated Brown and Slater constructed a spinning millwrights and business-minded entre- mill, on the west bank of the Blackstone preneurs, seeking practical answers River at Pawtucket Falls. It was located a to crucial technical and economic ques- short distance upstream from an old full- tions. This allows us to see more clearly ing mill where Samuel Slater’s improved than is usually the case with self-con- spinning machines, based on Richard sciously artistically-motivated architec- Arkwright’s patents, had been initially set ture, the technological, economic and up in 1790.8 This modest structure was social forces present in all architecture. the first successfultextile factory in North These forces exert sometimes direct, America.9 sometimes subtle influences. All too fre- During the next 67 years textile mill quently these important factors have been sites proliferated throughout the state, ex- ignored in favor of the artistic aspect ploiting the better locations along avail- alone. able water resourcesby about 1840. Graph It has therefore seemed best for under- 1 depicts the number of new sites estab- standing its growth to treat the Rhode Is- lished each decadeduring this period.tO land textile factory under four discrete Defining the Rhode Island textile facto- categories. For each we will attempt to ry’s architectural development is some- find the principal causes underlying its what more complicated. In tracing the change during the preCivil War period. emergence of a new building type, partic- The categories, which in this instance I

GRAPH 1. VOLUME OF SITE DEVELOPMENT BY DECADE. (Data from 286 sites)

68

57

44 41

9 r-r1790- 1800 1801 - 1810 1811 - 1820 1821 - 1830 I831 - 1840 1841 - 1850 I851 - 1860 The TextileFactory in Pre-Civil War Rhode Island consider to be the major architectural ratio of width to length also changes. variables, are: Volume, Structure, Thus, not only do textile factories become Configuration and Decorative Style.11 For wider and longer, they become pro- the latter, the topic lends itself to more gressively narrower, or more attenu- general examination and discussion will ated, in proportion as well. In general, broaden well beyond the borders of height tends to remain relatively uniform Rhode Island. throughout the period. Rhode Island mills Since some of the best surviving exam- were usually 3 or 4 stories.13 ples of the early Rhode Island type textile The Rhode Island textile factories of mills are in outlying parts of other New the 1790s were small buildings (Figure 1). England states, I have chosen to use them For example, the Almy, Brown and Slater where they better illustrate a point than Mill of 1793 was only 29 feet wide and 47 extant Rhode Island buildings. Indeed, feet long, 2 stories high, with a useable at- many of the statements made for the tic above.14What does this mean in com- Rhode Island textile mill’s structure and parison with other sections of the eastern configuration, as well as decorative style, United States, where textile manufactur- can be applied, with slight modification, to ing was also taking hold? the lower capitalized textile factories in We have an indication from records other areas of New England as well. kept by an English clothier named Henry Wansey, who travelled the eastern Volume seaboard from Nova Scotia to Philadel- Turning to the buildings themselves, let phia in the spring and summer of 1794.15 us begin by examining their dimensions Among his entries are brief descriptions and how these change over time. Not of at least two textile mills visited, and surprisingly, plan size tends to increase as mention of a third. One factory was IO- the industry develops. cated about three miles from New Haven, Table 1l2 reveals a general tendency for manufactured wool and cotton yarn, and plan dimensions to become larger. The measured 100 by 38 feet. It was 4 stories

TABLE 1. Volume. (Data from 214 sites)

Decade Length Width Ratio:W/L Height Range Mean Median Range Mean Median Mean Median Range Mean Median

1790- 1800 33-47 39 40 26-30 28 28 1:1.4 1:1.4 2-3 2.75 3 1801 - 1810 38-108 73 80 30-43 36 40 1:2 1:2 2-5 3.55 3 1811- 1820 36-125 64 56 18-50 33 32 1:1.9 1:1.8 l-5 3.25 3 1821- 1830 28-165 80 80 ‘S-80 39 40 1:2.1 1:2 1-6 3.80 4 1831- 1840 40-175 95 82 25-50 37 40 1:2.6 1:2.1 2-6 3.60 3 1841- 1850 36-300 130 102 20-58 42 44 1:3.1 1:2.4 2-7 4.05 4 . 1851- 1860 40-4 10 158 148 30-72 49 44 1:3.2 1:3.4 2-5 3.60 3 16 Old- Time New England

FIG. 1. CONJECTURAL DRAWING OF THE ALMY, BROWN AND SLATER MILL OF 1793, PAWTUCKET, RHODE ISLAND. (Courtesyof the Slater Mill Historic Site, Pawtucket, Rhode Island.) in height.t6 The second site contained two Were the Rhode Islanders backward identical buildings, 80 feet long and 4 sto- compared to their neighbors? Not ries tall, and was located at “Hell Gates” necessarily. We know, for instance, that New York.” A third building referred to Samuel Slater was thoroughly familiar was a cotton mill at Paterson, New Jersey. with larger and more advanced structures From other sources we know it was 90 than the 1793 Almy, Brown and Slater feet by 40 feet, 4 stories, and built of mill from his years in England. Through stone.t* If Wansey’s notes are accurate, correspondence he kept abreast of the and we have no reason to doubt them, the latest developments at home, such as mills he saw far exceeded contemporary William Strutt’s Belper West Mill, begun Rhode Island textile factories in plan size in 1793 and the first multi-storied iron- and height. Buildings of comparable size framed incombustible building.2t Rather, do not appear in the state until 1803 and it seems the Rhode Islanders were just later.19 It is also of interest that the Pater- proceeding cautiously. This explanation son mill was built of stone. In Rhode Is- has support from Wansey, who was criti- land the earliest use thus far uncovered of cal of the textile enterprises he had seen: load-bearing stone walls for a textile facto- “The general error of all their large under- ry dates from 1807.20 takings,” he chided, “has been, their lay- The TextileFactory in Pre-Civil War Rhode Island ing out their capital in large buildings and the first factories were necessarily kept an unnecessary stock of machinery, etc. short because the cumbersome line shaft- which brings a heavy mortgage on the ing and pulley system was too inefficient concern, before they actually begin.“22 to permit otherwise.26 Is it possible for us to identify what As the industry developed, rules-of- caused dimensional and volumetric thumb emerged showing that building changes in the Rhode Island textile facto- dimensions were governed by mechanical ries? Obviously there is a relationship be- requirements. Replying to a request from tween the economic growth of the textile Charles Whitfield, Asa Arnold, a Rhode industry and its buildings. As the industry Island millwright and entrepreneur, wrote established itself, production demands in- on December 23, 1827, the following creased and this was directly reflected in recommendations for a cotton factory: larger structures.23 As for the dimensions of a building it Factory size is also related to power should be proportioned according to the available. Water was the principal source kind of machines that are to be placed in in the early years. Samuel Slater began ex- it: say for 2000 spindles in mules (for fine work) 80 feet by 36 feet in the clear, periments with steam at Providence in 3 stories high with a porch 12 by 14 feet 1827, but its use in the 1830s was in front for stairways this will be a con- confined to coastal locations where there venient size & will contain all the spin- was easy accessto coal supplies. It did not ning on one floor, all the weaving on another & all preparation on the other - become a practical or economical alterna- but if it is intended to make coarse goods tive for the New England region in & use throssles the building should be 72 general until later, when railroads could feet by 42’ in clear 3 stories with porch bring fuel to inland sites.*4 Thus textile &c this width and height will be proper mills, especially those built in the outlying for a factory of any extent only varying in length.*’ rural portions of the state, away from the larger rivers, were limited in size in the Confirming the practice of building early decades by the amount of water lower textile mills in this country than in power they could obtain. Great Britain, a Scottish observer, James However, we can be even more specific. Montgomery, wrote in 1840: “None that I One of the most important factors is am aware of exceed five stories in height, horizontal line shafting, which transmit- except for two at Dover, New Hampshire, ted power from the water wheel’s vertical which are six stories on one side and five main drive shaft to individual machines at on the other. The general height of the each floor. Shafts in American mills were Mills in this country is three or four sto- mounted at the ceiling, hung from the un- ries with an attic.“28 derside of beams, and on them were It is evident that the pre-Civil War mounted flat-rimmed cast-iron wheels Rhode Island textile factories’ quantita- connected by leather belts to individual tive changes were the result of technical machines. Initially, these shafts were and economic considerations. What about made of large pieces of heavy timber and their structures? they were square in cross-section (so that Structure the wheels mounted on them would lock The shift in textile mill construction tightly to the shaft).25 They were slow, can be characterized as a conservative about 50 rpm, and lost a great deal of change from the small-scale, wood-frame energy through friction. This meant that structure of Almy, Brown and Slater’s Old- Time New England

TABLE 2. Exterior Wall Construction (Data from 200 sites)

Decade Wood-Frame Wood-Frame Wood-Frame Stone Brick & Stone & Brick

1790- 1800 4 1801- 1810 9 4 I 4 1811-1820 9 1 16 I 1821- 1830 5 4 24 4 1831- 1840 10 5 23 5 1841- 1850 4 6 28 5 1851- 1860 7 I 17 3 - - - - - Totals: 48 21 I 112 18

1793 mill to slow-burning timber interiors tories is the 1849 White Rock Mill just supported usually by masonry walls, as, north of We.sterly.34Why brick was not for example, we find at the Woonsocket more popular in the state at this time is an company’s No. 1 mill of 1827.29The tran- interesting question. At Lowell and the sition from the one to the other is not as other major textile cities on the Mer- obvious as its narrow range might lead us rimack it was preferred from the outset. to believe. In part this is due to the My own view is that the choice had numerous alterations many factories have something to do with differences in busi- endured down to the present. ness organization between the two Although exterior stone bearing walls regions. Rhode lslanders retained the co- were preferred in Rhode Island as we see partnership form through most of the pre- in Table 2, 3owood-frame structures con- Civil War period. A major reason for this tinued to be built throughout the perkxL3t was that Rhode Island, in contrast to its The first stone factories in the state appear neighbors, held a very restrictive incor- in the early 18OOs,the earliest thus far poration policy until about mid-century. identified from written accounts being the Thus the different legislative climates long demolished Providence Mfg. Co.‘s tended to foster co-partnerships in Rhode “Stone Jug” Mill of 1807 at Crompton, Island and corporations elsewhere in New West Warwick.32 England during this period, particularly in A structural mutation, in the form of the large textile centers.j5 wood-frame and stone, occurs from the 1 believe this carries with it implications second decade onward, usually consisting about how business longevity is perceived of a high basement, or the two lower sto- in each case, and the kinds of architecture ries, of stone, topped by an upper floor compatible with these perceptions. A co- and attic of wood-frame construction.33 partnership is apt to see itself in terms of Rhode Islanders used brick, but it was the anticipated life-spans of the partners, less popular than either stone or wood- and to build solidly within these mortal frame construction up to the Civil War. limits, perhapsallowing a slight margin for One of the best remaining early brick fac- expansion. A corporation, however, is The TextileFactory in Pre-Civil War Rhode Island

FIG. 2. CROSS-SECTION,WOONSOCKET COMPANY ’S NO. 1 1827MILL, WOON- SOCKET, RHODE ISLAND. (Courtesyof the Historic American BuildingsSurvey, Washington,DC.)

more likely to see itself extending well interior, as fire-proof structural flooring, beyond the lifetimes of its founders, as the British had done with brick arches reaching far into the future. Specific long- and iron beams in several highly range changes are not predictable, but the capitalized textile factories as early as the concepptof change is implicit and the cor- 1790s. The British system was known to poration tends to seek the most flexible the New England manufacturers,36 but type of construction to accommodate it. they generally thought it too expensive Stone walls are not easily altered, brick and, of course there was plenty of good walls are. Bricks are modular, repetitive timber available. Even after 1860, this units, and brick walls may be simply method was generally confined to ceilings breached in most instances for additions. over boiler rooms in the mills.37 The use of masonry throughout New Fire was a very real threat to the early England was confined to the exterior load- mills. Cotton or wool fibres were thick in bearing walls. There is no evidence of any the air, and stuck to walls and ceilings. substantial effort to bring masonry to the Floors were oily. Machines could easily Old-Time New England

TABLE 3. Configuration (Data from 128 sites)

Decade Major Roof Types Cupola Tower Gable w/ Gable wl Gable wl Gable w/ Gable T.D. Mon. CI.Mon Dormers R. skylights C. E. C. E. X.

1790 - 1800 I 1 1 1801 - 1810 3 4 2 1 2 1 2 1811 - 1820 6 3 1 5 2 2 1 1 1 1821 - 1830 2 11 1 1 2 2 7 7 1 1831 - 1840 3 12 2 2 7 5 5 9 4 1 1841 - 1850 2 6 1 3 7 2 3 13 5 1851 - 1860 2 5 3 1 5 1 I 8 2 3 ------Totals: 19 41 9 6 27 13 16 39 21 6

run hot or throw sparks, and up to the in- ble floor above. The under floor consists troduction of gaslight in about 1850, of planks three inches thick; the upper artificial lighting came from either ex- floor of one inch board. Some have the planks dressedon the under side, others posed candles or oil lamps. Textile mills have them lathed and plastered: the frequently burned.38 lloor being in all four inches thick, is The answer which met the require- very strong and stiff.40 ments of both economy and adequate fire The earliest instance of slow-burning resistance on the interior, throughout the construction uncovered in Rhode Island textile industry, was slow-burning timber to date is the Woonsocket Company’s No. beams and wood-plank structural floors, 1 Mill of 182741 (Figure 2). The system usually supported by masonry exterior may have been used in the Merrimack walls. As the Factory Mutual Fire In- Company’s first mills at Lowell, Massa- surance Companies were formed and chusetts, in 1822, but surviving records became influential beginning in the are not clear.42 In any event, it does not 183Os, this type of construction quickly seem to have been an American innova- became standardized and was adopted in tion. For example, the H. Hicks & Sons all parts of New England and elsewhere.39 New Mill at Eastington, Gloucestershire James Montgomery, again, describes of 1816 uses what appears to be this the system as he saw it at Lowell in the method of interior construction.43 late 1830s: the Mills in this country . . are Conjiguration generally strong and durable. Instead of joists for supporting the floors, there are Basically, textile spinning and weaving large beams about 14 inches by 12, ex- mills were multi-tiered rectangular vol- tending acrossfrom side to side, having umes. What gave them their distinctive each end fastened to the side wall by a bolt and wall plate: these beams are configuration were the few elements that about five feet apart, and supported in served to modulate this fundamental rec- the centre by wooden pillars,with a dou- tangularity. These were roof, cupola and The Textile Factory in Pre-Civil War Rhode Island 21 tower. Available data are presented in Ta- The first important solution was the so- ble 3.44 called “trap-door” monitor47 (Figure 3). It Changes in roof design reveal a con- had the advantage of admitting light with- tinuing preoccupation with efficient plan out seriously complicating gable roof con- use of the upper story. Much of the ex- struction, being simply built on spacers perimentation is a search for means to set upon the rafters. However, it had the achieve good natural lighting in the in- disadvantageof being rather limited in the evitable triangular space created by the amount of light obtained. The trap-door gable roof. This was eventually resolved monitor continues down to 1860, as evi- in the 1850s as practical bituminous coat- dent in Table 3. It reached its peak in the ings became available, permitting very 1811-20 period. shallow, almost flat, weather-tight roofs The roof type that proved most suc- eliminating the attic entirely.4s But that cessful for Rhode lsland and the textile advance did not exert an influence on the industry as a whole was the clerestory Rhode Island mills until the very end of monitor48 (Figure 2). Structurally more the pre-Civil War period and its major im- complicated than any of the other catego- pact came later.46 ries, it nevertheless gave the maximum

FIG. 3. SOUTHWEST AND NORTHWEST ELEVATIONS OF THE HARRIS MILL, c.1832, HARRISVILLE, NEW HAMPSHIRE. (Courtesyof the Historic American BuildingsSurvey, Washington, D.C.) 22 Old-Time New England amountof light possibleand providedthe the stairs were placed in an abutting most practicalalternative for machinery tower. It is the Lippitt Mill at West War- layout in the attic, allowing spinning wick of 1810 (Figure4).5O mulesor jacks to be convenientlytucked under the window sills. What made it Decorative Style difficult to constructwas the linear con- Commentson decorativestyle in in- tinuity requiredto accommodatethe long dustrialarchitecture are rathersparse but strip of windowson each side.This cre- there have been several of interest. In ated a break in what would have beenan 1939, Henry Russell Hitchcock wrote: otherwiseuniform plane of roof rafters. “The earliest stone mills of the first Thus two roughly parallel roof planes quarter of the [19thl century remain were introduced, one rising from the almost as domesticas the first wooden eavesto the continuouswindow sill, the mills, and cognatein characterwith the other from the headof the clerestorywin- other architectureof the Early Republic, dowsto the roof ridge. exceptthat they aresimpler and solider . . . The second and third configurational Down throughthe sixtiesthe type did not elements- cupolaand tower - are inter- change very much . . .“51 He also ob- related. As towers became important, served:“Most of the millsof the Roman- cupolastended to disappear,because the tic period [meaningfrom about 1820 on1 cupola’s primary function as bell holder have some stylistic touches,Greek, or wasusually replaced by a belfry mounted Romanesque,or Italianate.” Vincent directlyon the toweritself.49 Scully finds in them a surface tension There weretwo typesof towercommon which he believesis part of their general to the textile factory:stair and toilet.Stair character:“So in that sense,[intellectual towerswere locatedon the main entrance rigor and visualorder1 the gray-graniteor sideof the mill and were the only means red-brick factories of New England’s of entranceor egressfrom the building. nineteenth century belong to the same They also provided vertical circulation righteous,hard-working family as the co- between floors for workers, machinery, lonial house; they are taller and high- raw materialsand finishedgoods. Toilet shouldered,but no less taut, with win- towers were usually placed on the op- dowstight on the surfaceand a tensebal- posite side of the factory from the ance between masonry piers and glass entrancetower, and if possible,over an panes.r’53 For Alan Gowansthe American adjacentriver or stream. factory of this period possessesa quality The important point about towers is he calls“Vestigal Classicism, embodying” that they provideone further indicationof “vaguely classical proportions and the textile manufacturersdesire’ to make simplifiedclassical forms. “54 the most efficient plan possible. By Each provides useful insight. As removingstairs and toiletsfrom the basic Hitchcockobserves, the factories’ funda- rectangle,they were ableto acquireunen- mentalstylistic character does not change cumbered interior floor space, allowing radicallyin the pre-1860s.55The tightly utmostfreedom for arrangingmachinery stretchedfacade perceivedby Scully is and productionflow. presentin many of thesebuildings56 as is The earliestextant RhodeIsland textile the suggestionof classicalproportions factory with a clerestorymonitor roof is Gowansrecognizes.s7 alsothe earliestsurviving instance where Following these guidelines,then, the The Textile Factoryin Pre-Civil War RhodeIsland 23

FIG. 4. LIPPITT MILL, 1810, WEST WARWICK, RHODE ISLAND. Photo by Theodore Anton Sande. 24 Old- Time New England

predominant style of the Rhode Island counterpart, William Price’s old North textile factory before the Civil War may Church in Boston of 1723 (Figure 6). be defined as utilitarian Adamesque- Their plain red-brick facades are drawn Federal. That is, it is basically a simplified forward and rise dramatically upward in interpretation of late Colonial and Early towers richly capped with white. Or we Republican architecture. It is this that I can compare the c.1843 Rodman Mill at have chosen to call Republican in Table Rocky Brook (whose tower originally ter- 4.5s minated in a splendid belfry) (Figure 7), But I disagree with both Hitchcock and and John Holden Greene’s 1810 St. Scully where they imply that the source John’s Cathedral in Providence (Figure residesin l&h-century domestic architec- 8). The relationship of these buildings ture. A close look at these buildings surely does not depend upon the tower place- reveals other, and more startling, connec- ment at the gable end. Equally impressive tions. The 19th-century textile factory’s is the c.1825 Crown Mill [See cover.] at essential stylistic conservatism derives North Uxbridge, Massachusetts,near the not from the 18th-century American Rhode Island border, which is typical of house, nor from pre-industrial utilitarian many of the Rhode Island mills of the structures of residential scale, such as time as well. A profound kinship exists grist and fulling mills. Instead, I submit, it between the older ecclesiasticalbuildings comes from institutional and, especially, and the newer factories. We have in their ecclesiasticalbuildings of the Colonial and juxtaposition a kind of mutation not Early Republican periods. From the recognized in the factory building before, beginning we find evidence of this equa- but one that has been studied extensively tion in the way in which the con- in other areas by Elting Morison.59 The figurational elements are treated. American textile factory in its formative There seems an almost conscious at- period represents, I believe, an architec- tempt to give the early textile factory a tural accommodation to technological splendid civic presence, as we can see in change in its transference of stylistic comparing Murdock’s 1844 woolen mill at motifs. This totally new building type Proctorsville, Vermont (Figure 5) and its possessesa tension within it that goes far

TABLE 4. DecorativeStyle (Data from 87 sites)

Decade Republican Greek Revival Italianate

1790-1800 2 1801-1810 5 1811- 1820 12 1821-1830 12 4 1831-1840 10 10 1841-1850 5 12 3 1851-1860 5 4 3

- - - Totals: 51 30 6 The TextileFactory in Pre-Civil War Rhode Island 25 deeper than Scullian surface linearity. It is industrialism. As John A. Kouwenhoven a tenseness resulting from the fundamen- tells us, the first 100 years saw the United tal contradiction between the factory’s Statesfirmly established as a technological stylistically retardataire exterior, clinging civilization, which he defines as: “a civili- for reassurance to the past; at the same zation founded on power-driven ma- time the new technology contained within chinery which indefinitely multiplies the is reaching out to future promise. One capacity for producing goods, and [is1 seems to find here in part a physical upheld and served by science in all its manifestation of R.H. Tawney’s observa- branches. At most this civilization is two tions on the Puritan movement and hundred years old, and there has never capitalism: “Among the numerous forces before been any order comparable to which had gone to form it, some not in- it,“61 considerable part may reasonably be ascribed to the emphasis on the life of business enterprise as the appropriate field for Christian endeavor, and on the qualities needed for success in it, which was characteristic of Puritanism. These qualities, and the admiration oJ ’ them, re- mained, when the religious prejtirence, and the restraints which it imposed, had weakened or disappeared. ” b” (Emphasis added.) These essential qualities remained and were woven into the fabric of American

FIG. 5. MURDOCK’S WOOLEN MILL, FIG. 6. OLD NORTH CHURCH, 1723, 1844, PROCTORSVILLE, VERMONT. Photo BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS. WILLIAM by Theodore Anton Sande. PRICE, ARCHITECT. (Courtesy of Sandak, Inc.) 26 Old- Time New England

FIG. 7. RODMAN MILL, c.1843, ROCKY FIG. 8. ST. JOHN’S CATHEDRAL, 1810, BROOK, RHODE ISLAND. (Courtesy of the PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND. JOHN Smithsonian Institution.) HOLDEN GREENE, ARCHITECT. (Courtesy of the Art Department, Williams College.)

Over and over again we find this miracles in the old arts;” he wrote, “It is confirmed in the comments of foreign its instinct to find beauty and holiness in visitors in the first half of the 19th centu- new and necessary facts, in the field and ry. Dickens,62 Chevalier 63 and especially roadside, in the shop and mill.“65 (Empha- Alexis de Tocqueville64 recognized how sis added.) deeply and quickly industrial roots dug The mill, then, takes on symbolic into the American soil, and how har- meaning, becoming more than just a place moniously industry blended into Ameri- where people work and things are made. can society before 1840. In its most pro- The owners’ and the workers’ personal found sense, industry’s potential was per- commitments demanded much more than ceived by Ralph Waldo Emerson, who that. A tacit transfer of allegiance from pled for the recognition of its vitality as a the old faith to the new was required. source of artistic inspiration: “It is vain For example, returning to the quotation that we look for genius to reiterate its with which we began, we can now see in it The Textile Factory in Pre-Civil War Rhode Island 27 more than Zachariah Allen’s weariness Tawney points out, the old faith contained from an eight-month building campaign. values contributive to capitalism, it could Allen looks back wistfully to the happier not fully prepare one for the shock of time when nothing competed with his transition to the next step, industrialism. childhood celebration of Christmas. Yet, So that in the Morisonian sense, Allen ap- at the same moment, he is irresistably pears to be struggling toward an accom- drawn forward into a new technological modation not unlike that which seems creed whose obligations he cannot ignore present in the factory’s decorative style. on the coming holiday: “I shall be com- The harsh meaning of this industrialism pelled to go out to my mill tomorrow.” was perhaps best identified by Andre Allen, who would later become an impor- Malraux: tant contributor to mechanization in the The factory, which is still only a kind American textile industry, here seems to of church of the catacombs, must want to retain something from his past become what the cathedral was, and men must see in it, instead of gods, faith, while simultaneously recognizing human power struggling against the his commitment to a new order. If, as Earth., .&

FIG. 9. CROWN AND EAGLE MILLS, UXBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS. c.1840 VIEW. (Courtesy of the Historic American BuildingsSurvey, Washington, DC.1 28 Old-Time New England

What I am suggesting, then, is that various ways - some impelling, some something close to what Malraux advo- restraining - contribute to the shaping of cated had already appeared in the United all architecture. States 150 years ago. The industrial For example, we saw that volume was cathedral was built in 19th-century New directly affected by mechanical and pro- England. The ecclesiasticalanalogy is pres- duction requirements and power avail- ent both in the stylistic transference ob- able. Structure was determined by con- served and the factory’s visual dominance siderations of economy and reducing the over the 19th~century town as the church risk of fire. Configurational elements had provided the focal point for the 18th- resulted from the search for maximum century village (Figure 91. The factory use of interior space for manufacturing displaced the church, becoming the place purposes. Decorative style seems not where the American worker celebrated merely a reduction of embellishment to his unique sectarianism, freely choosing simplest terms, but a conservative accom- to sacrifice himself to mechanized proc- modation to technological change. This esses in an effort to gain financial inde- accommodation appears to equate the pendence and improved social status. 19th-century textile factory with the 18th- century church, causing the former to Conclusion reach beyond utilitarian purpose and The Rhode Island textile factory of the geographic limitations to become a sig- pre-Civil War period offers an ideal case nificant and complex architectural state- study of the many strands of influence, ment of our transformation to a tech- technical, economic, and cultural, that in nological civilization.

NOTES

1 Zachariah Allen, “Diary, 1821-1825,” Provi- Dissertation, Yale University), New Haven, dence. Rhode Island. Rhode Island Historical 1949, pp. 49-50. Also see George S. White, Society Manuscript Collection, K-A432,, Memoir of Samuel Slarer, Philadelphia, 1836, December 24th, 1822. passim. z Ibid. lo Theodore Anton Sande, The Architecture oJ the Rhode Island Textile Industry, 1790-1860, 3 /bid., July Znd, 1821; May 10, 1822. (Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Pennsyl- 4 Jennifer Tann, The Development oJthe’ Factory, vania), Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1972,p. 174.Site London, 1970, p. 7. development as presented in Graph I, is not s Ibid. Also see Country LiJk 28 Nov., 1974, p. synonymous with either building construction 1675. or the total number of active textile firms at a 6 Ibid., p. 7-9. particular date. Individual sites frequently changed ownership, lost buildings due to fire ’ Andrew Ure, The Philosophy oJ ’ ManuJktures, and other causesor had new structures added, 1835, p. 13. during their industrial careers, In some in- * Caroline F. Ware, The Early New England Cot- stances textile manufacture was later discon- ton ManuJbcrure, Boston, 1931, Chapters I and tinued entirely, the site being either abandoned II. For a recent assessmentof Samuel Slater’s or converted to other use. role, see: Paul E. Rivard, Samuel Slater, Paw- A geographicapproach to New England in- tucket, 1974. dustry is R. G. LeBlanc, Location oJManuJacrur-’ 9 William H. Pierson, Jr., “Industrial Architec- ing in New England in rhe l9rh-Century (Hanover, ture in the Berkshires” (unpublished Ph.D. 1969). The Textile Factory in Pre-Civil War Rhode Island

For a general discussionof economic condi- 2o Ibid., p. 55: Providence Manufacturing Co. tions at the time, see D. C. North, TheEconomic Mill, Crompton, West Warwick, 1807; and p. Growth of the United States. 1790-1860 (New 137, Table 3. York, 19661.For the textile.industry and. eco- 2t See George S. White, op. cit., for Slater’s early nomic and geographicfactors see J. H. Burgy, years in England.Tann, op. cit., p. 135. The New England Cotton Textile Industry, 22 Jeremy, op. cit., p. 84. (Baltimore, 1932); P. 3. Coleman, The Transfor- 23 See Coleman, op. cit., Chapters Three and mation of Rhode Island, 1790-1860, (Providence, Four for an excellent discussionof the R.I. tex- 1969); and K. B. Mayer, Economic Development tile industry’s economic growth. and Population Growth in Rhode Island (Provi- dence, 19531. 24 White, op. cit., p. 302. Coleman, op. cit., pp. ‘t Not discussedin detail are: power mecha- 108-l 10. Ware, op. cit., p. 82. nisms (i.e.: water wheels and turbines or steam 25 Zachariah Allen, “The Transmission of engines), heating, lighting, sanitation or Power from the Motor to the Machine,” New mechanical fire prevention systems. In con- England Cotton Manufacturers ’ Association Pro- centrating on the spinning and weaving mills, ceedings, No. 10 (April 19, 18711,Boston, 1871, ancillary structures, such as picker houses, pp. 15-16. bleacheries, boiler houses and office buildings 26 Ibid., pp. 17-18. This issue of the New Eng- have been ignored. In each instance, the factor land Cotton Manufacturers ’ Association Proceed- or structure in question failed to exert a sig- ings and No. 11 (Oct., 18711,contain a series of nificant influence upon the purely architectural articleson power transmission.Zachariah Allen character of the factory building itself, in my made an important set of improvements begin- opinion. However, the reader is cautioned that ning in the late 1830s.His refined iron shaft and all are important for a full understandingof the puliky system proved considerably lighter and textile industry during its formative period. faster, about 200 rpm initially, was much more t2 Sande,op. cit., p. 176. Under Ratio: W/L, the efficient and allowed the same water wheel to columns headed Mean and Median refer to the distribute power over considerablygreater dis- category of figures used. Range gives the least tances. and greatest dimensions or number of stories 27 Asa Arnold, “Correspondence, 1820-1855,” observed within a decade. Reading vertically, Providence, Rhode Island, Rhode Island one can make comparisons between decades Historical Society Manuscript Collection, within columns. K-AR64, Letter to C. Whitfield, 23 Dec., 1827. t3 The ranges for all categoriesare significant, (Replying to Whitfield’s letter of Dec. 2, 1827.) suggesting the extent of experimentation in 28 J. Montgomery, A Pracrical Detail of the Cot- planning, and reflecting the effect of local site ton Manufacture of the United States of America conditions upon recommended standards in . . . (Glasgow, 18401,p. 15. This was severely mill design.The latter was clearly recognizedby criticized the following year in an anonymous George S. White, (op.cit.), who cautioned: “The work titled: Justitia, Strictures on Montgomery. situation of the ground, or space upon which (Newburyport, 18411. Montgomery’s major the mill is to be erected, must always be taken fault seems to have been a tendency to general- into consideration in laying down the plan or ize on the American textile industry from his fixing upon the particular form in which the limited experiences at Lowell and several other house is to be built; and in some casesthis plan sites. In this case he seems to have been close must just be made to suit the situation or place to the mark. Operations within a textile mill in which it must stand.” (pp. 305-306). varied from one location to another, but in l4 Rivard, op. cit., p. 26. general, after 1813, when all spinning and s‘ D. J. Jeremy, Henry Wansey and His American weaving processeswere combined under one Journal, 1794, Philadelphia, 1970. Regrettably, roof for the first time anywhere by the Boston Wansey bypassedRhode Island. Manufacturing Company at Waltham, Massa- chusetts.(See Ware. OII.cit., pp. 6Off.1,one finds t6 Ibid., p. 73. preparationon the lower floors, weaving on the I7 Ibid., pp. 82-83. main floor and spinning on the upper floors. In I8 Ibid., p. 78, (footnote 81). the early years a machine shop may also be I9 Sande,op. cit., p. 40: Yellow Mill, Pawtucket, found on the lowest floor, since there were few 1803; p. 137: Table 3 (Architectural Variables: independent textile machinery manufacturers 1801-1810). in the initial decades. Old-Time New England

2g For discussionof the development of factory Islanders could make bricks just as well as structural systems in Great Britain and the others in the northeast. After the Civil War, United Statesfor this period see W. H. Pierson, brick textile factories predominate.in much of Jr., op. cit. In particular, Chapters II, III and New England, including Rhode Island, and are VII. Also by the same author, and more accessi- correlative with the popular Lombard ble, is his article “Notes on the Early Industrial Romanesquestyle. (Pierson Industrial Architec- Architecture in England,” JournaloJ ’fhe Society ture, pp. 224227.1 of Architectural Historians, No. 8, 1949. A must I5 Coleman, op.rit., pp. 110-l 19. for any serious student of this subject is W. I6 Zachariah Allen, “Journal of European Trip, Fairbairn. Mills and Mill Work, (London, 1863). 1825,” Providence, Rhode .Island, Rhode Island An article of special interest is T. C. Bannister, Historical Society Manuscript Collection, “The First Iron-Framed Buildinss.” The K-A432x, April 22nd, 1825. Architectural Review, April, 1950, which deals I7 Proprietorsof Locks and CanalsCollection of with important technologicaldevelopments in Working Drawings, Lowell, Massachusetts, the British mill structures beginning in the Lowell TechnologicalInstitute, Shelf 106, #636 1790s.More recently, Tann, op.cif., Chapter 9. (c.1853 detail of built-up iron beams and lo Sande,op. cit., p. 190. masonry arch floor systems); Shelf 112, #2401 I1 /bid., pp. 62 and 159. For example, the still (Sketch of Proposed Fire Proof Floor over the extant 1858 Hookins Mill at Nooseneck. West Boilers at the Boott Cotton Mills, Dec. 7, 1882). Greenwich. . ‘* Sande, op. cit., pp. l-89, “Catalog of Known I2 See Footnote 20. The term stone is rather all Textile Mill Sites. 1790-1860.” records encompassing.Actually several types of stone numerous mill burnings. Pierson’ “Industrial wall were used. One that mainly occurs in the Architecture,” pp. 177-180. Woonasquatucket River area is rubble stone I9 The Factory Mutuals. 1835-1935, Providence: covered with white-washed mortar on the ex- Manufacturers’ Mutual Fire Insurance Com- terior and plaster on the interior. This method pany, 1935,passim. required lesscare in building and used cheaper 4o Montgomery, cit., pp. 22-23. stone than ashlar (that is finished quarry stone) op. masonry. Moreover, it provided a durable, 4t T. Sande, The New England Textile Mill easily maintained weather surface that, white- Surwy. Washington, D.C., 1971,pp. 160-167. washed periodically, retained an attractive ‘* Proprietorsof Locks and CanalsCollection of finish. More common was exposed rubble Working Drawings, Lowell, Mass., Lowell stone, occasionally with random ashlar trim. Technological Institute, Shelf 106, #581 and Rough-textured, quarry-faced ashlar in regular #582 (both titled: “Drawing of one of the Mer- coursing is also found in a number of mills. rimack Mills. Lowell, made by P. T. Jacksonat Fieldstone was used for rubble walls, granite for the time of their erection, about 1822”). These the more carefully tailored ashlar. stronglysuggest slow-burning construction,but I3 A handsome example is the Rockville attempts to confirm it in PL&C written ac- Manufacturing Company’s 1844 Upper Mill. counts at the Baker Library, Harvard, have to This seems to have been a practical solution to date been inconclusive. the problem of constructinggable ends for the 4J Tann, op. cit., p. 30. complicatedclerestory monitor roofs. By build- ing the upper floors in wood-frame rather than 44 Sande, Architecture, p. 212. Abbreviations in masonry, a considerable amount of difficult Table: T.D. Mon.=Trap door monitor; Cl. stone cutting was eliminated where masonry Mon.=Clerestory monitor; FI.=Flat; C.=center would have otherwise met the roofs irregular of roof; E.=gable end of roof; X.=eccentric (corner). gable end. I4 The White Rock Company built a textile mill 45Charles E. Peterson, “Preliminary Notes on in the same style a year earlier, in 1848, at California Brea Roofs,” Philadelphia, 1965. Stillmanville, Connecticut on the west bank of (Typescript, courtesy of the author.) the Pawcatuck River, closer to Westerly. It is 46 After the Civil War, New England textile still standing.Sande, op. cit., pp.87 and 155.The mills predominantly had shallow pitched roofs. choice does not seem to depend upon regional Frequently older factories were modified by availability of materials. Stone was plentiful removing the original roof, building up the ex- throughout New England and the Rhode terior walls to make a full top floor and then The TextileFactory in Pre-Civil War Rhode Island covering this with a virtually flat roof. For in- European prototypes they may have been in- stance, see Sande. New England. DD. 47-55. tended to be, were usuallythin screens around Union Mills, Fall River, Ma& . . ’ interior spaces, light and impermanent . . .” 47The name comes from its appearance,which (Modem Architecture, N.Y., 1961, p. 171. Also looks like a hinged section of the main roof, see his: “The PrecisionistStrain in American raised so that a row of windows could be in- Architecture,” Art in America, No. 3, 1960, pp. serted at its lower edge. 46-53. 48 Here also the name is derived from external s7 The classicism Gowans refers to is that appearance, but is misleading, since the con- derived from English 18th century sources as tinuous strips of window do not admit light to a translatedin Colonial Renaissanceand Baroque lower level within the building as they would, provincial architecture and not the Greek for example, in a medieval church. Revival style popular in the first halfof the 19th 49 The bell called workers to the mill in the century. A rare exception, a pure Greek morning, signalledthe noon hour, and rang the Revival textile mill is the WoonsocketCo. ‘s No. end of the working day in the evening. 2 Mill of 1833. (See Sande, New England, pp. 168-174.) 5o Sande, New England, pp. 147-152.This build- ing bears a close resemblance to Arkwright’s 5a Sande,Architecture, p. 220. 1777 Lower Mill at Cromford, Derbyshire. 59 Elting E. Morison, Men, Machines and Whether the relation is more than coincidental Modern Times, Cambridge, Mass., 1966. is uncertain. As far as I know, no records have 6a R. H. Tawney, Religion and the Rise of yet come to light that would confirm a link be- Capitalism, New York, 1926,p. 273. tween the two. However, we do have what 6t John A. Kouwenhaven, The Arts in Modern seems to be a precedent in the apparent American Civilization, New York, 1948,p. 4. And clerestory monitor roof of Arkwright’s factory. he is echoed by SiegfriedGiedion in Mechaniza- Although the Lippitt Mill is the earliest sur- tion Takes Command. N.Y.. 1948. v.: “The vro- viving example of both the separatestair tower cess leading up to the present role of and clerestory monitor roof, it is not the earliest mechanizationcan nowhere be observed better known instance of the former and may not be than in the United States, where the new of the latter. Papers on another Rhode Island methods of production were first applied, and factory on which I am currently doing research where mechanizationis inextricably woven into confirm the use of stair and toilet towers at a the pattern of thought and customs.” considerably earlier date and other evidence 62 Charles Dickens, American Notes, 1842. strongly suggests the use of the clerestory monitor in this earlier building as well. 63 M. Chevalier, Society, manners and politics in the U.S.; being a seriesof letters on North America, 5t Henry-Russell Hitchcock, Rhode Island 1839. Architecture, Providence, 1939,p. 42. 64 Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, 52 Ibid. 1835, 1840. Indeed, de Tocqueville could say 53 Vincent Scully, American Architecture and Ur- with full assurance that: “no people in the banism, New York, 1969,p. 56. world have made such rapid progressin trade 54 Alan Gowans, Images of American Living, and manufactures as the Americans” and the Philadelphia. 1964, p. 2 18. reason for this: “In the United States the 55 Interestingly, J.M. Richards also found this greatest undertakingsand speculationsare ex- true for similar British structures:“In many in- ecuted without dilliiulty, because the whole stances the buildings’ simple functional population are engaged in productive industry, character is partly overlaid, but not disguised, and because the poorest as well as the most by embellishments . .” (7Ie Functional Tradi- opulent members of the commonwealth are tion in Early Industrial Buildings, London, 1958, ready to combine their efforts for these pur- p. 19.) poses.” Richard D. Heffner, (ed.), Lkmocracy in America, N.Y., 1956, pp.215216. s6 Scully has identified surface tension as one of the principal characteristicsof early American 65 R. W. Emerson, Essays, “Art” (1841) First architecture. Take, for example: “the most Series, N.Y., n.d., p. 363. characteristically American buildings of the 66 Andre Malraux, Mans’ Fate, 1934, (Vintage colonial period, however closely imitative of edition, 1960, pp. 330-331.