CENTRAL FALLS – A rare example of a supply house for cotton, textile and silk mills of Rhode Island has joined the National Register of Historic Places.
The American Supply Co. building, which dates to 1875, is a rare, surviving example of a wooden mill that manufactured equipment and machine parts for the textile industry of the late 19th century.
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Sarah Zurier, special projects coordinator for the Rhode Island Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission, said the two-and-a-half-story building sits on a fieldstone foundation on the south bank of the Blackstone River in Central Falls.
The gable roof has continuous shed dormers on its north and south slopes, according to the state description. The interior has original materials and floor plan, with exposed timber framing, wooden floors and original exterior sash, now covered in siding.
The building originally held the operations of Myron Fish & Co., a loom harness maker in Worcester, Mass., who had relocated his business to supply goods and loom harnesses for the Valley Falls Co. In 1875, Fish built his own site and expanded the services to include leather belting for driving machinery.
He employed 26 people by 1880. Three years later, the company merged with a competitor and became American Supply Co. By 1891, the company had 100 employees.
Factors including the Great Depression and competition from mills in the South eventually resulted in the closure of the company, in 1961. For 20 years, the building was occupied by a braid and rug company. By 1991, the only tenant was an ice cream shop at street level, the Scoop at the Falls. Its rusted sign is visible today.
The site, now owned by the city of Central Falls, has been targeted for redevelopment for many years, according to the state. The Blackstone Valley Tourism Council uses the site as a launch for its river tours.
Mary MacDonald is a PBN staff writer. Email her at MacDonald@PBN.com, or you can follow her on Twitter @MaryF_MacDonald.
