c 1820 - 1934

c 1820 - 1934. . , pre-1800's , Prehistoric and historic Indian peoples, and English colonists, fished at Valley Falls leaving few traces., 1812 - 1820 , Twin brothers Abraham and Isaac Wilkinson bought land and water rights on both sides of the river here, and built the first timber dam c1813. They sold some land to the Harris brothers -- William, Samuel, and Daniel -- who built a wooden cotton mill and probably a stone picker house by 1820., 1820 - 1837 , The Wilkinsons built a second timber dam in 1828, higher than the first. The new dam flooded waterwheels of upriver mill owners, whose complaints force a lowering of the Valley Falls dam in 1835. Crawford Allen, from another prominent Rhode Island family of mill operators, bought the Harris property in 1833. He rebuilt the Harris mill in stone and probably replaced the picker house before going bankrupt in 1837., 1839 - 1868 , Oliver Chace, a Quaker industrialist, bought mill properties on both sides of the river in 1839 and leased them to his sons, Harvey and Samuel. They enlarged the mill in the 1840's, taking advantage of the 1847 construction of the Providence and Worcester Railroad. After Oliver Chace's death in 1853, his sons built the stone dam you see today., 1868 - 1912 , The Chace brothers divided their holdings in 1868. Samuel Chace took over the property here, and quickly added two brick mills and waterpower improvements on the Cumberland side. His firm built bleach and dye works on the Central Falls side of the river., 1912 - 1934 , Sayles Finishing Plants, one of America's largest textile finishing firms, bought the Valley Falls mills in 1912. During World War I, the mill made materials for explosives. After the war, many small textile firms rented space. Decline of the New England textile industry by the late 1920's led Sayles Finishing Plants to demolish the mill in 1934., Maps A and B summarize the historical development of the mill complex at this park, beginning with the construction of the first timber dam west of Broad Street c1813. Before the present stone dam was built in 1853, there were three mills, one or two picker houses used to store and begin processing cotton, and several smaller storage buildings., The stone dam required the Chaces to modify their raceway system, but allowed for an additional headrace and great expansion of the mill's waterpowered facilities. Aside from the boiler house, probably making steam for power and textile processing, and more storage buildings, the complex was largely complete by c 1870., The Allen Mill (1833) , Powered by a waterwheel, a mechanical system of shafts, gears, pulleys, and belts drove the textile machinery.