Jenckes Spinning Company Pawtucket, Rhode Island-windows

The Jenckes Spinning Company is a historic textile factory complex in

Pawtucket, Rhode Island Pawtucket is a city in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 75,604 at the 2020 census, making the city the fourth-largest in the state. Pawtucket borders Providence and East Providence to the south, Central Falls ...

. Located on Conant and Weeden Streets, the complex was developed between 1883 and 1919, and was home to the city's largest employer in the 1910s, producing cotton fabric and fabric for use in automotive tires until 1933. The factory complex was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 2018.

Description and history

The Jenckes Spinning Company factory is located about west of downtown Pawtucket, on in the shape of a rectangle with one corner cut off. It is bounded by Conant, Pine, and Weeden Streets, and includes nine buildings, seven of which are historically significant. All are of brick construction typical of late 19th and early 20th century

textile mill Textile Manufacturing or Textile Engineering is a major industry. It is largely based on the conversion of fibre into yarn, then yarn into fabric. These are then dyed or printed, fabricated into cloth which is then converted into useful goods ...

s, and range in height from one to six stories. Notable architectural features include the sawtooth roof on the facility's former weaving sheds, which front on Weeden Street. In 1872, Edwin Jenckes, by then a successful supplier of equipment to textile manufacturers in

Walpole, Massachusetts Walpole is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Walpole Town, as the Census refers to it, is located about south of downtown Boston and north of Providence, Rhode Island. The population of Walpole was 26,383 at the 2020 censu ...

and Pawtucket, established a company with textile maker Nathaniel Hicks, as a vehicle for the manufacture of patented

ring traveller Ring spinning is a spindle-based method of spinning fibres, such as cotton, flax or wool, to make a yarn. The ring frame developed from the throstle frame, which in its turn was a descendant of Arkwright's water frame. Ring spinning is a contin ...

s. In 1883, the company took on the name "E. Jenckes Manufacturing Company", and acquired a portion of the land now making up the plant. The company's earliest buildings were built that year, but were demolished in 1915-16. The company was successful in manufacturing textile-making equipment, and soon expanded into textile production itself. In the 1910s, the company developed a heavy

cotton duck Cotton duck (from nl, doek, "linen canvas"), also simply duck, sometimes duck cloth or duck canvas, is a heavy, plain woven cotton fabric. Duck canvas is more tightly woven than plain canvas. There is also linen duck, which is less often use ...

fabric that could be dipped in rubber for use in automotive applications. The company was closed down in the 1930s after a series of acquisitions, and the property was purchased by the city and subdivided for other uses.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places Industrial buildings completed in 1883 Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Rhode Island Buildings and structures in Pawtucket, Rhode Island National Register of Historic Places in Pawtucket, Rhode Island 1883 establishments in Rhode Island

Description and history

See also

References