Centerpiece of the Rodman Empire

Centerpiece of the Rodman Empire. Lafayette. , Although Lafayette was most certainly the center of the Rodman Manufacturing world, it was only one of the villages that Robert Rodman held sway over during his lifetime. As its owner of the Shady Lea and Silver Spring Mills in North Kingstown during the same timeframe, he was an important man in those two hamlets as well., Rodman ran all three of these mills in concert, manufacturing different product lines at each mill as his various contracts across the years demanded. Occasionally, to speed up production he would use one mill as a location to set up warps for weaving in another mill or sometimes yarn spun in Lafayette would be woven in Silver Spring or Shady Lea and vice-versa. Typically, one of his sons - Albert, Charles, or Franklin - managed Lafayette and another Shady Lea and Silver Spring, but the big business decisions were always Robert's. For a time, Robert Rodman and also owned the Rocky Brook Mill located between the villages of Peacedale and Wakefield and ran it in a similar fashion in concert with his brother Daniel's other textiles mills based in South Kingstown. As such, Rodman Manufacturing impacted much of South County for more than a century, but nowhere more than in Lafayette., [Captions:] , Robert Rodman began operating the mill site at Lafayette in 1847 after purchasing the property from the Sanfords, his mother-in-law's family. He built his new mill some thirty years after the original purchase of the property., By 1895, the village of Lafayette had doubled in size, both in population and number of buildings, as evidenced by this map produced by Everts and Richards. This was a direct result of the construction of the new mill complex and the subsequent dramatic expansion of employment in the area., Robert Rodman had his mansion house constructed in 1863, along with a home for his daughter Hortense after her marriage to George O. Allen. The Hortense Allen House was greatly expanded in 1882 at the same time her brothers Franklin and later had their homes constructed. All of this work was done by Maxson and Company of Westerly R.I. All were located within sight of the mill on the north side of Ten Rod Road. All still remain in service to the village with the exception of Franklin Rodman house which was sadly demolished in 2016., This signed photograph of Robert Rodman is his most widely circulated image. He was born in 1818 in South Kingstown, six generations removed from the earliest Rodman in the New World, Barbados sugar cane plantation owner John Rodman. Although Robert was born on a South Kingstown farm, his family's connections through marriage to the Hazards insured a quick transition into textile manufacturing upon reaching adulthood., Located on the Mettatuxet River, the Silver Spring Mill was the site of Rodman's first large scale foray into the textile business when he long-term leased it from his father-in-law in 1841. His success here, making negro cloth, was the financial springboard that allowed him to purchase the Lafayette property. After leasing for several years, he purchased the mill in 1868. Unfortunately, the Silver Spring Mill was demolished in the mid-20th century., From this vantage point looking west towards Silver Spring Pond the scale of Rodman's Silver Spring Mill is apparent., In 1868, Rodman purchased the Shady Lea Mill property using accumulated profits from lucrative government contracts for Kersey uniform fabrics during the Civil War. Located a few miles south of Lafayette on the Mettatuxet River, Shady Lea Mill is now a thriving arts community.