The Blackstone River Valley is unique. It played a ‘seminal role in
transforming New England, and America, from a colonial landscape of
farmlands and forests to one of riverside mills and urban
factories.' It’s the Birthplace of America’s Industrial Revolution.
According to the US National Park Service, the Blackstone Valley is
‘one of the Nation’s richest and best preserved repositories of
landscapes, structures and sites that recall a neglected era of the
American past: the age of industry. The Blackstone
Valley is situated in New England, 300 km north of New York City, 60
km south of Boston, Massachusetts, and 16 km north of Providence,
Rhode Island. The Valley encompasses two states, 24 communities, and
150,000 ha of land. It is home to 450,000 people.
The Blackstone Valley takes its name
from the Reverend William Blackstone, the first European settler to
make his home on the banks of the river in 1635. The 60 km long
Blackstone River flows from Worcester, Massachusetts, to the top of
Narragansett Bay in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, dropping approximately
140 m along the way.
Following William Blackstone came
farmers, and metalworking artisans, mostly immigrants from England.
The Valley rose to national prominence in 1790, when English
immigrant Samuel Slater built the first successful water-powered
cotton-spinning mill in America. More than any other single event
this … can be said to mark the birth of the American Industrial
Revolution and the complete transformation of American life, and character. He
was barely an adult when his work in America served to sever the
economic tie between America and England, thus making America truly
economically and politically free.
The Blackstone River drops 2 m
per kilometer over its run from Massachusetts to sea level in Rhode
Island. This unusually steep drop provided Slater and his successors
with the ability to harness the Blackstone for water power, to the
extent that it became known as the ‘the hardest working river' in
America. Because of his unique understanding
of manufacturing and business, Slater went on to become known as the
Father of American Manufactures. He and his partners established
several manufactories throughout southern New England.
The Blackstone Valley communities and their creative people had
the technology, knowledge and ingenuity to capitalize on the energy
of the river, and this drove the US economy. Hundreds of mills were
built throughout the Blackstone Valley after Slater’s success. These
enterprising textile mills provided the underpinning for the USA to
become a world economic leader. Immigrants flocked to the
Blackstone’s textile industry from all over the world. They came to
create a new life in America, and to secure their version of the
American dream. They first settled along riverfront villages, in
what are today the cities of Pawtucket, Cumberland, Central Falls,
and Woonsocket. |
