A Millworker's Life

A Millworker's Life. Lafayette. , Getting a job with a place like Rodman Manufacturing was, for most of its employees, a dream come true. Southern Rhode Island during the middle and latter portions of the 19th century, was, like most of the nation, in the midst of a period of change so drastic that no one prior could have ever envisioned it., For more than two centuries, this had been a place with an economy largely focused upon agriculture and maritime related interests. Now driven at a breakneck pace by changes wrought by the Industrial Revolution, everything was different. People whose lives had played out on the farm or at sea were now faced with a paradigm shift and weren't sure where they fit in to the new world order. Farmers' and sailors' sons and daughters had to find a new way forward as nationwide rail and canal transportation networks opened the eastern seaboard markets to larger, more profitable farm concerns in the rapidly-expanding western regions of our nation. Small-scale New England farms were no longer competitive, nor was shipping goods by sea; in those economic theaters, railroads and large-scale agriculture ruled the day. New England had to change, and that change came in form of manufacturing. In southern Rhode Island, manufacturing meant textiles., Being an employee in a textile plant like the Lafayette mill was hard work. Six, ten-hour days made up a typical work week and much of the work could be dangerous as whirring leather belts driving countless machines were everywhere. But, the sense of "family" created by the way the Rodmans ran their enterprises was a comfort to workers brought up in an atmosphere of fathers and sons and mothers and daughters working side by side for generations. The stability of the job once you got it added to that sense of comfort and was the motivation behind the often-expressed sentiment that usually went something like this, "I'm proud to work for Rodman Manufacturing just like my father before me; with the grace of God my sons and grandsons will work here too.", [Captions:] , A small gathering of spinning room workers. These workers were responsible for replacing bobbins and moving quickly up and down a row of machines to repair breaks and snags., These men worked in the dyehouse and dyed the woven fabric. The dyehouse was located behind the mill near the pond to take advantage of the water needed for the dying process., A row of inspection room workers hard at work. They inspected the fabric for any imperfections., This group shot, taken in 1913, includes all of the workers in the weavers section available to leave their workstations at the time it was taken., Although little is known about this group of Lafayette school children, one thing that is certain is that many of them eventually would work in the mill alongside their parents. Girls outnumber boys here two-to-one because many of the older boys were already working., These millhands worked in the finishing room; trimming, cutting, and rolling up the cloth as it came off the looms, directing some cloth to the dye house and then handling that upon its return. Additionally, they prepared the cloth for shipment and directed it to either the stock house or the warehouse., Pattern Room workers - These skilled workers essentially "programed" mill machines responsible for weaving plaid and patterned fabrics.