Blackstone River Valley

Timeline of The Blackstone Valley’s Role In American History & Culture

1000
Agriculture begins among Woodland Indians, creating the first farmlands in what is now the Blackstone Valley.  The Nipmuc, Narragansett, and Wampanoag people would be among the first to be affected by the arrival of Europeans several centuries later.

1635
William Blackstone settles in the area known today as Lonsdale in Lincoln, RI.  Blackstone is cited by some scholars as the first settler of what is now Boston.  He left the area after a disagreement with newly arrived Pilgrims about religious matters.

1636
Roger Williams establishes the Providence Plantations.  Williams argued that religion should not be a qualification for voting, in essence, creating the first colony based on religious liberty and a de facto separation of church and state.

1660
Gregory Dexter begins mining lime in what is now the Limerock area of Lincoln, RI.  Lime was an essential building material, making larger and sturdier buildings possible throughout the 17th and 18th century.  Lime has been mined there continuously since that time.

1675
King Phillip’s War begins.  Also known as Metacomet’s War, it is considered by scholars to be among the bloodiest wars in this continent’s history.  This war devastated both European and Indian populations, and resulted in the end of Native American rule in Southern New England.

1766
Simon Willard opens a clock shop in Grafton, MA.  Willard is famous for his tall case clocks.  He is also credited with inventing the style of clock we know today as a banjo clock.   A Simon Willard clock which stood in the room where the Boston Tea Party was planned sold at auction in 1988 for $400,000.

1776
Blackstone Valley residents join local militias; a large number ending up supporting Comte de Rochembeau at Yorktowne.

1790
Samuel Slater joins Moses Brown at Pawtucket, RI to produce the first water-powered textile factory, resulting in the American Industrial Revolution.

1795
Colonel Seth Read of Uxbridge, MA uses his influence to get the phrase “E Pluribus Unum” printed on coins produced by the newly formed US Mint.  The phrase is Latin for “From Many, One.”

1828
Businessmen in the Blackstone Valley, inspired by the Erie Canal, oversee the opening of the Blackstone Canal connecting Worcester and Providence. This is one of the earliest canals opened during the time known by historians as the American Canal Era.

1841
Ebenezer Draper opens the “Little Red Shop” to make parts for looms and other products.  Led by Ebenezer’s brother, George, the business grows into the Draper Loom Corporation, the largest manufacturer of textile looms in the world.

1850
The first National Women's Rights Convention is held in Worcester, MA.  Building on the success of the 1848 Seneca Falls convention, this meeting is designed to attract a national audience.  Over 1,000 women attend.  Speakers include Blackstone Valley residents Paulina Wright Davis and Abby Kelly Foster, as well as other noted supporters of women’s rights including Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, Lucy Stone, and Sojourner Truth. The convention is held annually for the next 10 years.

1861
Blackstone Valley mills and factories gear up to produce war materials, including cloth for uniforms, blankets, and bayonets.

1893
B. B. & R. Knight, operators of mills in Rhode Island and in the Manchaug section of Sutton, MA, update their Fruit of the Loom logo for the Chicago World’s Fair.  The arrangement, containing an apple, grapes, berries, and leaves, remains unchanged to this date. 

1905
Cleveland’s American League baseball team renames themselves the Cleveland Naps after Woonsocket born Napoleon “Nap” Lajoie, their popular player-manager.  Lajoie, a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame, is perhaps best known for his famous rivalry with Ty Cobb for the batting title of 1910.

1918
Valley Falls Mill in Cumberland, RI produces large amounts of bleached cotton pulp to be used for wartime explosives manufacturing.  Other Valley plants also gear up to make materials for the war. 

1920
A major financial decline in the textile industry slows production at Valley mills and foreshadows the national Depression to come.

1934
Members of the Independent Textile Union (ITU) in Woonsocket, RI vote to strike in support of a national strike called by the United Textile Workers of America.  When the Woonsocket Rayon Company does not shut down, a crowd of 2,000 people gathers outside the mill.  A riot ensues, leaving 2 dead and many injured.  The National Guard is called in to resume order.  After the riot, workers begin to put their faith in the union and the ITU becomes a significant force in textile labor relations.

1936
Alice Bridges, a swimmer training at the Whitinsville Community Center in Whitinsville, MA, gains a last minute berth on the US Olympic team when team-mate Eleanor Holm Jarrett is removed from the team (for drinking while on the ship to Germany).   Blackstone Valley residents raise the funds for Bridges' last-minute trip to Munich, where she wins bronze.  On her return, mills in the area simultaneously ring their factory bells in her honor. 

1945
Blackstone Valley mills are re-tooled for the war effort.  Woonsocket Rubber produces barrage balloons and rubber assault vehicles, Whitin Machine Works produces engines for Liberty ships, and textile mills throughout the valley make woolen cloth for army and navy uniforms. 

1948
The Tupperware party is born when Brownie Wise, a home consultant with Stanley Home Products, convinces Earl Tupper that there is a better way to market the plasticware he is producing at his plant in South Grafton, MA. 

1952
The Mr. Potato Head toy is introduced by Hassenfeld Brothers of Pawtucket, RI.  The original Mr. Potato Head kit contains eyes, ears, lips, feet, hats, and other parts designed to be stuck into an actual potato.  The company, which shortens its name to Hasbro in 1968, later produces such famous toys as GI Joe and My Little Pony. 

1956
The Cold War comes to the Blackstone Valley in the form of a Nike missile radar control facility at North Smithfield, RI.  In 1960, this site is converted to a launch site for Nike Hercules missiles as part of the Providence Missile Defense System. 

1960
Suburbanization in the Valley reflects a growing national trend and changes the look and feel of the valley significantly. 

1972      
ZAP the Blackstone, the first Blackstone River cleanup campaign, is held.  The passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972 has brought new awareness of water quality to Valley residents and they respond postively by supprting onoging measures to clean up the Blackstone River. 

1986
The Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor is formed.  Only the second National Heritage Corridor in the nation, the Corridor becomes a model for future heritage areas. 

1995
Albert Sacco, a professor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, is a member of the space shuttle crew aboard the Columbia.  Worcester companies also produce the landing gear for the shuttle, as well as the launch and re-entry suits worn by astronauts.  This is just the most recent connection to space dating back to the 1926 launch in Auburn, MA of a liquid fuel rocket by Robert Goddard of Worcester, MA.  Goddard is frequently referred to as the “Father of Modern Rocketry.”

2001
The Blackstone Valley mourns four of its residents who are among the victims of the 9/11 attacks. They are flight attendants Amy Jarret of North Smithfield and Kathryn LaBorie of Providence, and passengers Shawn Nassaney of Pawtucket and Tara Creamer of Worcester.  All four were on planes that hit the World Trade Center.

2007
Lincoln, RI is named one of Money Magazine’s top 100 places to live.  A photo of the Blackstone River Bikeway accompanies the article. 

2010
RiverzEdge Arts Project receives the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award from First Lady Michelle Obama at a ceremony in Washington, DC.    RiverzEdge Arts Project is a social enterprise that provides talented underserved teens hands-on work experience in graphic design, digital photography, screen-printing and visual arts.

2011
The National Park Service releases a Special Resource Study recommending a permanent National Park for the Blackstone Valley. 

2012
Legislation introduced into Congress to create the John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor.  See our National Park page to learn more.