VALLEY QUEEN MILL
Valley Queen Mill
The Valley Queen Mill Complex
The Valley Queen Mill complex consists of one large sprawling building,
the results of numerous additions to an 1834 mill, several free
standing structures; and a dam and headrace. The façade of the principal building, with a tall stair tower near the center, is 280 feet long; ells at the north and south sides extend about 135 feet to the rear (East Side). Most of the main section, about 170 by 45 feet, was constructed in 1834-35 of locally quarried granite ashlar blocks by Providence masons Stephen Norton and Thomas Peck. The original building was three stories high, 22 bays wide, and had a clerestory monitor roof. In 1888-89, several years after the firm of B.B. & R. Knight purchased the property, the mill underwent extensive alterations and enlargements under the direction of D. M. Thompson, a mill engineer who reconstructed several other Knight properties, including the Natick Mill (in 1882) and the nearby Royal Mills (in 1890). Additions were made to both sides of the original mill and the main block was raised to five stories and covered with an almost flat roof with overhanging eaves. Granite used in the new work was quarried from a ledge across the river, the additions matching the old work.
Nine bays lengthened the south end of the building, but because
of the slope of the land here, this side is only four stories high.
To the rear of this section was added a 90 foot, three-story ell.
To the rear of the north side of the main building, near the river,
rambling, one story ell was added to house engines, pumps and boilers.
Along the front of the building, the original stair tower,
which was in the center of the original façade, was made taller and
"Victorianized" by the addition of elaborate, bracketed wood cornices
and a steep, slate covered hip roof with an ornate finial. The present mill office, built into a slope along Providence Street, was also probably erected in 1888 or 1889. A rectangular, one and 3-story structure with a flat roof and a wooden cornice with a double row of dentils and paired brackets, its granite ashlar walls resemble those of the mill. The office is connected to the mill by a long cast-iron pedestrian bridge at the level of the third floor of the office. Several free-standing buildings at the rear include a one story cement block structure, a 10,000 square foot, two-story cement block addition at the east end of the south ell, and a metal warehouse at the east end of the site. Along and near the river is a well-preserved, 120 foot long headrace constructed in 1834, leading from the dam to a one-story wheel house at the northeast corner of the mill. The water emptied directly into the river from the wheelhouse.
In 1931, the Valley Queen Mill was acquired by the Original
Bradford Soap Works, a company that was established in Providence
in 1876 for the manufacturing of soaps used for the textile industry.
The company still manufactures soaps and chemicals for the textile,
paper and pharmaceutical industries; it is one of the largest
manufacturers of fine, private label soaps in the United States.
Taken from Historic and Architectural Resources of West Warwick, Rhode Island: A Preliminary Report. By the RI Historical Preservation Commission. Page 103-106 copyright 1987
PRESENTATION OF PLAQUE:
Back to Plaque Pages
Back to Opening page
Home Page
PVHistory@yahoo.com