USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > Pawtucket > The lower Blackstone river valley; the story of Pawtucket, Central Falls, Lincoln, and Cumberland, Rhode Island; an historical narrative > Part 8
USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > Central Falls > The lower Blackstone river valley; the story of Pawtucket, Central Falls, Lincoln, and Cumberland, Rhode Island; an historical narrative > Part 8
USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > Lincoln > The lower Blackstone river valley; the story of Pawtucket, Central Falls, Lincoln, and Cumberland, Rhode Island; an historical narrative > Part 8
USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > Cumberland > The lower Blackstone river valley; the story of Pawtucket, Central Falls, Lincoln, and Cumberland, Rhode Island; an historical narrative > Part 8
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the knoll which he referred to as "Study Hill." The exact spot is near the present Lonsdale station, on the Providence and Worcester railroad line, about three miles from Pawtucket and a mile and a half above Valley Falls. A monument marking the final resting place of the first white man to settle in what is now Rhode Island stands near the highway on property owned by the Lonsdale Company not far from the famous "Catholic Oak." According to tradition Blackstone held Church of England services under this great oak tree, and for genera- tions it was the Church of the neighborhood.
THE INDIAN WAR
During King Philip's War, Blackstone's home was burned and not far away, occurred one of the most tragic episodes in the bloody struggle of two races. The best authenticated story relates that, following the disastrous engagement of Captain Pierce and the Indians in what is now Central Falls, nine white men fell into the hands of the natives. They were carried away by their captors to a swamp in what is now Cumberland and there were put to death. The mutilated bodies of the unfortunate men were dis- covered a few days later, buried in a common grave, and stones were piled up to mark the spot. Some historians believe that the site marked the battle ground of nine soldiers in combat with a much larger force of Indians, the conflict ending with the complete annihilation of the white; while other authorities agree that "Nine Men's Misery," so-called, was the place where an advance patrol of Pierce's main contingent was surprised and overpowered. However, the generally accepted theory is that the nine men were a part of Captain Pierce's forces, and that they were captured by the Indians, and were set apart for execution. The monks of the Cistercian Monastery, located near the site of
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Mills at Valley Falls, sometime in the 1880's
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Town Hall and Falls at Valley Falls in 1934, showing start of the razing of the Mills
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this tragedy have, in recent years, erected a cairn to mark the spot, and a tablet was placed there by the Rhode Island Historical Society on November 11, 1928.
THE RETURN OF PEACE
After the Indian war the surviving members of the Blackstone family, and other families, the Wilkinsons, Whipples, and Ballous among them, settled in present Cumberland, then known as "Attleborough Gore," and claimed by Massachusetts as a portion of that Colony. This area continued to be called by that name until 1746-47, when it became a part of Rhode Island and then was incor- porated as a part of Providence County and the name changed to Cumberland in honor of the Duke of Cumber- land, because of its resemblance to Cumberland, England, a place noted for the richness of its minerals and unusual geological features. How the land area now bounded on the north and east by Massachusetts, on the west by Woon- socket and the Blackstone River, and on the south by the same river, ceased to be "Attleborough Gore" in Massa- chusetts and became Cumberland, in Rhode Island, is an important point in this portion of the narrative, and is therefore covered briefly as follows.
BOUNDARY SETTLEMENT
One of the earliest milestones in the political career of Rhode Island was the granting, in 1663, of a charter by authority of King Charles II. This charter gave to the Colony, among many other important rights, titles and privileges, land extending "three English miles to the east and northeast of the most eastern and northeastern parts of Narragansett Bay." Plymouth claimed all land extend- ing west as far as the shores of Narragansett Bay, but when Plymouth became absorbed in the Massachusetts charter in
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1691, land disputes were thereafter between Rhode Island and Massachusetts. The two colonies agreed upon a northern boundary line for Rhode Island in 1719, but the location of an eastern boundary line continued to be the cause of controversy until 1733 when Rhode Island, having attempted in vain to assert her right to the territory, finally resolved to petition the King for a settlement. Rhode Island claimed two strips of land, first the triangular area called "Attleboro Gore," virtually corresponding with the present town of Cumberland, and second, a strip of land on the eastern shores of the Bay according to the three mile clause in the Charter of 1663.
ATTLEBORO GORE
After considerable wrangling a commission of royal appointees from New York, New Jersey and Nova Scotia met in Providence and on June 30, 1741, decided that the Rhode Island eastern line should run from the Massa- chusetts southern boundary by a meridian line to Pawtucket Falls, then southerly along the Seekonk and Providence Rivers to Bullock's Neck, then following a line three miles away from the shores of Narragansett Bay and the Sakonnet River until it reached the sea. This decision did not put an end to all disputes between Massachusetts and Rhode Island, nor did it determine upon the final permanent boundary line that exists today, but when the commission- ers' award was confirmed by the Privy Council in 1746, so-called "Attleboro Gore, " and later known as Cumberland, together with the towns of Warren, Bristol, Tiverton and Little Compton became parts of Rhode Island. Cumber- land was annexed to the County of Providence on February 17, 1746-47.
The freemen of the town then assembled in town meeting for the purpose of electing officers, deputies to the General
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Assembly, and to transact business necessary in the organi- zation of town government. According to records, Job Bartlett, Israel Whipple and Samuel Peck were elected deputies to represent the town in General Assembly. Job Bartlett was chosen moderator and town clerk. Job Bartlett, Joseph Brown, David Whipple, Jacob Bartlett, Jr., Nathaniel Ballou and William Walcott were chosen council- men; Samuel Bartlett, treasurer. The meeting was held at the house of Joseph Brown on Cumberland Hill. The first business pertained to the laying out of a highway; next was the granting of licenses to two individuals desirous of operating taverns or inns. A law was soon passed prohibiting the running at large of sheep and rams in certain seasons of the year, and a dog law was found necessary in consequence of the great damage dogs often caused by killing sheep.
In the early days of Cumberland town meetings were held at private houses. The practice was the cause of considerable jealousy among many of the citizens who greatly desired to have their households honored with such distinguished officers of public trust. In order to allay any further bitterness of feeling, it was finally agreed to put up the meeting at public auction. The honor went to the highest bidder, and thereby put an end to the continual disputes.
EARLY SETTLERS
The Ballous settled in the northern portion of the town not far from lands first occupied by the Cooks. Around Diamond Hill, the Whipples first laid out their farms and below them the Rogers settled. To the east lived the Tingleys, and the Metcalfs took up a tract of land lying south of the village of East Cumberland, now Arnold's Mills. The Wilkinsons and Pecks were also among the first settlers.
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In the extreme northwestern part of the town stands Beacon Pole Hill, its name derived from the fact that, during Revolutionary times, a beacon pole was erected on the summit. The pole was very high, to the top of which was hoisted a kettle of tar for firing when danger threatened, as a warning to all patriots to prepare for an emergency. Practically every man in Cumberland capable of bearing arms served in some capacity during the struggle for independence.
AMERICA'S SECOND COTTON MILL
Among the early sites of manufacturing in Cumberland was what is called Robin Hollow, on the Abbott Run River. This stream was named for William Blackstone's only companion and servant, whose name was Abbott. The first manufacturing carried on at Robin Hollow was in the neighborhood of 1663 when a royal license was obtained to manufacture tar. In those days dense forests of pine trees extended in all directions furnishing great quantities of pitch for the making of this product. In 1797, Benjamin Walcott erected a mill there for the sawing of marble, and, in 1806, Elisha and Richard Waterman built a mill upon the site of the marble works and commenced the spinning of cotton yarn. This was the second cotton mill in America, thereby entitling the Lower Blackstone Valley to the claim that both the first and second cotton mill were located in this cradle of industry and ingenuity.
One of the most interesting landmarks in Cumberland is the Ballou Meeting House located near the Woonsocket line at the north base of Iron Mountain. This ancient house of worship was erected about 1740 and it stands today changed but little from its original appearance. The straight-back pews, gallery and high pulpit provide a picturesque setting for the occasional gatherings of members
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of the Ballou family who meet in this structure to revere their ancestors and to perpetuate the traditions of the past. The religious organization of Baptists was started in this section of Cumberland in 1732 and this meeting house was constructed largely through the efforts and contributions of the Ballou family.
THE ABBOTT RUN STREAM
The history of the Abbott Run stream, previously alluded to, would make a very interesting story if space would permit a detailed account of same. Originally used as the source of water power for the various saw mills, grist mills and factories of different sorts along its winding course from the northern areas of Cumberland and adjacent sections of Massachusetts to its junction with the Blackstone River at the southerly end of Cumberland, it is now for all practical purposes merely an open conduit for the water of the two reservoirs at Diamond Hill and Arnolds Mills respectively to descend by gravity through the Robin Hollow and Happy Hollow ponds to the pumping stations of the Pawtucket Water Works at Valley Falls and Pawtucket. Thus it is that in a little more than fifty years, its character as an industrial stream has been so entirely altered by its acquisition in the late 1870's and early 1880's by the Paw- tucket Water Works and the building of the Diamond Hill Reservoirs, that now, although Arnolds Mills and Abbott Run still retain their names and identities, Rawson's, Hawkin's, Robin Hollow, Happy Hollow and other local hamlets along its course are largely matters of memory only.
CEMETERIES
Cumberland has a number of very old cemeteries, in- cluding the Peck and Quaker Cemeteries at Arnolds Mills, the Ballou Cemetery, adjacent to the old Ballou Meeting
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House and near Iron Mountain (so called), the Diamond Hill Cemetery (also known as the Whipple Cemetery), and the Cumberland Cemetery (also called Robin Hollow Cemetery) where in the language of Gray's Elegy,
"Each in his narrow cell forever laid, The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep."
In later years, and yet many years ago, there were estab- lished the St. Patrick's Cemetery on High Street at Valley Falls, and the Berkeley Cemetery on the Mendon Road at Berkeley.
MINERALS
As previously stated, Cumberland was noted for the variety of its mineral resources, which are very much unknown to its present day citizens. At the time of this writing the Iron Mountain, previously mentioned, near which the old Ballou Meeting House is located, is almost a thing of the past, as in recent years this imposing eminence has been very largely removed and its material used for trap-rock purposes. Persons who knew it in the past would not recognize it at the present time and in a few years if its depletion continues, the famous Iron Mountain will be a mere memory. In addition to limestone, soapstone and granite, which together with quartz and iron pyrites are to be found at Diamond Hill and vicinity, deposits of copper have been found, giving rise to the name of Copper Mine Hill in a section where several shafts were excavated for the mining of copper ore. Reference is also made to traces of other minerals, including gold, in this town but final attention should be paid at this time to what was in years gone by a considerable industry in the lower part of the town. It is reported that in 1807, Timothy Dexter, while digging a well (in the vicinity of Dexter Street) came upon a black rock which proved to be a low grade of coal. Later, in 1838, a
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company was formed which operated the Dexter Coal Mine until the project proved to be unprofitable and was aban- doned. Upon another occasion, about 1848, a bed of coal was discovered at Valley Falls and was successfully operated for many years, the product being ground fine and shipped to every part of the United States for use as foundry facing. In the late 1870's as many as a hundred barrels of facing a week were produced, the grade being finer than bolted flour. At the present time, both of these mines, long since dormant and filled in, are mere memories of the past, although within the memory of persons now living there have been places where the earth has caved in.
RAILROADS
As related in other sections of this book, the Providence & Worcester Railroad was completed in 1847, and opened up the territory in Cumberland through which it passed to more intensive industrial development than took place in other parts of the town. In 1877, the Rhode Island and Massachusetts Railroad was built, extending from Valley Falls through the Diamond Hill section to Franklin. At present it is a part of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad system and while it formerly furnished an exten- sive passenger as well as freight service, now, doubtless due to the automobile and other forms of transportation, it is used only for freight, one train a day both ways, excepting that at times, when serious trouble develops on the main line from Providence to Boston, passenger trains are sent over the rails of this line by a devious route to and from Boston and Providence.
In the present day of the trackless trolley and automobile busses, it should be related that Cumberland had its own horse cars from Valley Falls to Cumberland Hill long before the electric car and automobile era. The Cumberland
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Street Railway Company, incorporated about 1878, ran from the lower part of High Street in Valley Falls up High Street to Blackstone Street to Mendon Road and thence to Cumberland Hill. This system was abandoned about 1898. The development of the Pawtucket Street Railway system in the 1890's, at first to Lonsdale and later to Cumberland Hill, by the Rhode Island Company, and at present by the United Electric Railway Company, is of comparatively recent date.
SCHOOLS
Whereas in former years the town had been divided into school districts, Cumberland, subsequent to the passage by the State Legislature in 1894 of an act authorizing towns to abolish school districts and establish town systems, made use of the provisions of this enactment and established the present town system of education. The schools have greatly prospered under this system. The Cumberland High School, erected in 1889, on the westerly side of Broad Street in the northerly portion of Valley Falls, has in recent years been enlarged by extensive additions and is now on a par with the leading High Schools of the State. On the grounds of this school is a monument, dedicated on May 30, 1924, as a memorial to the soldiers of the various wars in which the United States has been engaged, from the American Revolution down to the World War of 1917 and 1918. In the rear of and adjacent to the High School grounds is Memorial Park presented to the Town by the Lonsdale Company by deed recorded July 7, 1924, and used for recreational and athletic purposes.
FIRE DISTRICTS
Whereas there originally seemed to be no organized system of fire protection, in course of time Fire Districts were organized as follows:
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Town Hall and Falls at Valley Falls, December, 1936, after the Mills had been razed
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Mill and Pond at Old Village, Lonsdale, 1898
Valley Falls Fire District, incorporated 1877. Berkeley Fire District, incorporated 1904. Cumberland Hill Fire District, incorporated 1931. North Cumberland Fire District, incorporated 1925.
It may be said in passing that the results in the collection of taxes in Fire Districts are not at all satisfactory, although the method and right to collect such taxes is clear, and it would seem that some town system must eventually be established.
CHURCHES
Besides the old Ballou Meeting House already alluded to, there were at very early dates a number of other churches in the northern part of Cumberland, among them being the Friend's Meeting House erected in 1808, and the Methodist Church erected in 1828 and later enlarged, both at Arnolds Mills, the former being now occupied as a summer home. The Baptist Church at Valley Falls was organized in 1832. St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church at Valley Falls was built in 1860 and dedicated in July, 1861, constituting the first parish set-off from St. Mary's Roman Catholic parish in Pawtucket. Later in 1871, St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church was built midway between Ashton and Berkeley on the easterly side of the Mendon Road. St. John's Episcopal Church at Ashton was erected in 1868. There are also a number of other churches in different parts of the town, including the Universalist Sabbath School Society at Valley Falls organized in 1866, Cumberland Universalist Church at Chapel Four Corners, erected in 1873, Primitive Methodist Church at Lonsdale, and Presbyterian Church at Lonsdale.
The Cistercian Monastery (Trappist), called "The Monastery of Our Lady of the Valley," is located on the Diamond Hill Road about two miles or so north of Valley
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Falls. It comprises about five hundred acres of land with buildings of granite quarried on the premises. Established in 1900 by seven members of the Order who came from Nova Scotia, the community now consists of sixty-five or more members. The story of this institution is told more in detail in the Appendix of this book in the recital of "Places and Objects of Historic Interest in the Lower Blackstone Valley District."
WOONSOCKET
On January 31, 1867, the extreme northwesterly section of Cumberland was set off and incorporated as the Town of Woonsocket to which, when the "old" Town of Smithfield was divided in 1871, a portion of Smithfield was added, the Blackstone River being the original dividing line between Smithfield and Cumberland. (Thus it is that the present City of Woonsocket is composed of what were formerly parts of Cumberland and Smithfield.) The original records of Woonsocket therefore prior to 1867 and 1871, respectively, are to be found at Cumberland and Central Falls in the Town Clerk's Office and City Clerk's Office, respectively, of those places.
VALLEY FALLS
At the present time the principal localities in Cumberland, beginning at the Central Falls line, are Valley Falls, Lons- dale (new village), Berkeley, Ashton, Manville, Cumberland Hill, Diamond Hill, Arnold's Mills, and Abbott Run.
The present village of Valley Falls is the Cumberland portion of the original village of Valley Falls, which formerly included the adjacent portion of what is now the City of Central Falls and extended southerly from the Broad Street Bridge to about where Blackstone Street in Central Falls is now located. Originally not the most important part
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of the town, nor even in the early days rivalling some of the other localities, it gradually became the most prosperous and populous, and the seat of the town government, the Cumberland Town Hall, built in 1894, at the northeasterly corner of Broad and Mill Streets, containing the offices of the Town Clerk and other town officers. To go back to its beginning, it is said that in the early 1800's there were only two houses in Valley Falls, one belonging to Joseph Jenks, grandson of Governor Jenks, and the other belonging to Ephraim Jenks, son of Joseph. "At that time the water power had not been utilized, the river was in its natural condition and here was one of the fords or wading places." In 1812 three of the famous Wilkinson family purchased from Joseph Jenks sixteen acres of land and the water privilege and at about 1812 Isaac Wilkinson "built the Valley Falls Turnpike, now Broad Street, from Pawtucket to the cross-roads at the Catholic Oak, Lonsdale." The first factory was erected in 1818 by Crawford Titus at Happy Hollow, near Valley Falls, and later others were built and operated in the vicinity until finally after various financial failures of different owners, Oliver Chace, "a pioneer cotton manufacturer" in Fall River, in 1839 pur- chased the mill property at Valley Falls in Cumberland and leased the same to his sons Harvey and Samuel B. Chace, who successfully operated it until 1852 when, upon the death of their father, they organized the Valley Falls Company and also acquired the mills on the Smithfield (now Central Falls) side of the river. There followed long periods of prosperity during which the Chace family engaged in enterprises elsewhere in the Blackstone Valley, as related in the history of Lincoln in this book, until ultimately a number of years ago, an exchange was made between the two branches of the Chace family whereby the mill property at Valley Falls was transferred to the Albion Company and
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the mill property at Albion in Lincoln was transferred to the Valley Falls Company.
With the passage of time, however, still other changes were to take place, for in 1934 the machinery at this plant was scrapped or shipped away and most of the buildings demolished, so that now it is a sad sight indeed, standing on the Broad Street Bridge and looking down stream, to view the desolate remains of what was once one of the most prosperous manufacturing enterprises in the State. But this is not the only enterprise that has flourished in Valley Falls and finally disappeared or removed elsewhere. The Rhode Island Horse Shoe Company commenced business here in 1867 under the name of Union Horse Shoe Company and conducted a successful business for years until in about 1914 it discontinued business at this place. In the days when the Providence & Worcester Railroad was in its prime, and later under the control of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company, the "Repair Shop" so-called, was located at Valley Falls, west of Broad Street, a spur track still existing from the main line, crossing Broad Street a short distance below the St. Patrick's Church and the building of the Catholic Institute to the former location of the Repair Shop. Both of these indus- tries have now been gone for approximately twenty years, and as they employed a considerable number of persons, their loss has been more or less felt, although a few new industries have located at Valley Falls during this period.
LONSDALE (NEW VILLAGE)
The so-called new village of Lonsdale is a result of the expansion of the Lonsdale Company's plant in Lincoln to adjacent territory across the Blackstone River in Cumber- land, the name Lonsdale following as a matter of course. This village was formerly a thriving locality, the large mill
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known as Ann & Hope Mill, built in 1886, being the largest of its kind in New England. Another mill called "No. 4 Mill" was also on the Cumberland side of the river but has recently been torn down. The Ann & Hope is still in existence but all of its machinery has been removed and it is now not in operation. Only a few short years ago, much could be said of the products of the Lonsdale Mills, its muslins, percales, sheetings, shirtings and the like, but now, as far as the new village of Lonsdale is concerned, manufacturing activities here seem to have ceased with no immediate signs of reviving.
BERKELEY
Next above Lonsdale, along the course of the Blackstone River and making use of its water power, the village of Berkeley came into being, the large mill there being erected in 1872 and still in operation under the control of the Lonsdale Company. The name of the place is said to have been given to it in honor of Bishop Berkeley, who lived for a time at what is now Middletown, Rhode Island. The Providence and Worcester Branch of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad system, closely paralleling the Blackstone River, furnishes Berkeley and the other valley villages through which it passes with ample railroad service, while in recent years excellent State roads provide adequate highway facilities for travel by automobiles, busses and other forms of conveyance.
ASHTON
The village of Ashton is located about a half mile above Berkeley, the large mill at this location having been built in 1867 by the Lonsdale Company, which purchased land there in 1863. Ashton, as well as Berkeley, Lonsdale and Valley Falls, is supplied with water for domestic and other
uses, from the Pawtucket Water Works. The State is now planning to build a large highway bridge across the Black- stone River here so as to allow the newly constructed George Washington Highway to pass over the river into Lincoln and continue on to other points in the westerly and southerly sections of Rhode Island and elsewhere, and also thus providing a route from Boston to New York without passing through the more thickly populated cities and towns of the State.
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