O'Bannon Mill (also known as O'Bannon Corporation Leather Division, or Collins & Aikman Mill) is an historical mill at 90 Bay Spring Avenue in
Barrington, Rhode Island
Barrington is a suburban, residential town in Bristol County, Rhode Island located approximately southeast of Providence. It was founded by Congregationalist separatists from Swansea, Massachusetts and incorporated in 1717.
Barrington was ced ...
. It was one of the first places where
artificial leather
Artificial leather, also called synthetic leather, is a material intended to substitute for leather in upholstery, clothing, footwear, and other uses where a leather-like finish is desired but the actual material is cost
prohibitive or unsuitab ...
(using
pyroxylin
Nitrocellulose (also known as cellulose nitrate, flash paper, flash cotton, guncotton, pyroxylin and flash string, depending on form) is a highly flammable compound formed by nitrating cellulose through exposure to a mixture of nitric acid and ...
) was manufactured on a large scale.
History
In 1905, George B. Frost founded the Frost Finishing Company and built the original 1905 structure which is part of the current O'Bannon building.
[ Mr. O'Bannon, the treasurer, bought Frost's shares and the mill became the largest manufacturer of imitation leather in the world. O'Bannon went on to acquire other mills arounds Rhode Island and New Jersey. Mr. O'Bannon became incompetent in 1921, died in 1923 and the company went bankrupt in 1926. Cranston Worsted Mills and then ]Collins & Aikman
Collins & Aikman Corporation was an automotive manufacturer of cockpit modules and automotive floor and acoustic systems and a supplier of instrument panels, automotive fabric, plastic based trim and convertible top systems. The Company's operat ...
and finally American Tourister
American Tourister is a brand of luggage owned by Samsonite. Brothers Sol and Irving Koffler founded American Luggage Works in Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. On ...
and Piling Chain owned the company until the 1970s. The mill building was converted into elderly apartment housing in the early 1990s, known as the "Barrington Cove Apartments". It was added to 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 ...
in 1996.
See also
*
Notes
External links
Barrington Cove Apartments official site
Industrial buildings completed in 1905
Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Rhode Island
Buildings and structures in Barrington, Rhode Island
National Register of Historic Places in Bristol County, Rhode Island
Artificial leather
1905 establishments in Rhode Island
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