Peace Dale (also spelled Peacedale) is a village in the town of

South Kingstown South Kingstown is a town in, and the county seat of, Washington County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 31,931 at the 2020 census. South Kingstown is the second largest town in Rhode Island by total geographic area, behind New ...

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...

. Together with the village of

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 99,251 in the 2011 census.https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/ks101ew Census 2011 table KS101EW Usual resident population, ...

, it is treated by the U.S. Census as a component of the

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counterparts of incorporated places, such ...

identified as

Wakefield-Peacedale, Rhode Island Wakefield-Peacedale (listed as "Wakefield-Peace Dale" by the United States Census Bureau) is a census-designated place (CDP) in the town of South Kingstown in Washington County, Rhode Island, United States that includes the villages of Peace Dale ...

. The Peace Dale Historic District 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 ...

as a

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from c ...

in 1987. The historic district is roughly bounded by Kersey Rd., Oakwoods Dr., Kingstown Rd., School, Church and Railroad Sts., and contains the historic core of the village.

History

Peace Dale was established as an official town in 1793 by South Kingstown industrialist Rowland Hazard who named the village in honor of his wife, Mary Peace Hazard. Around 1804, Hazard reputedly pioneered the use of

carding Carding is a mechanical process that disentangles, cleans and intermixes fibres to produce a continuous web or sliver (textiles), sliver suitable for subsequent processing. This is achieved by passing the fibres between differentially moving su ...

machines to process wool in Rhode Island. In 1814, Hazard was also one of the first American manufacturers to employ narrow-width

power loom A power loom is a mechanized loom, and was one of the key developments in the industrialization of weaving during the early Industrial Revolution. The first power loom was designed in 1786 by Edmund Cartwright and first built that same year. ...

s, and also was the first woolen manufacturer to combine all his manufacturing processes under one roof, from wool carding through spinning, weaving, and dyeing. In 1819 Rowland Hazard's sons Isaac P. Hazard and

Rowland G. Hazard Rowland Gibson Hazard (October 9, 1801 – June 24, 1888) was an American industrialist, politician, and social reformer. Early life Hazard was born on October 9, 1801 in South Kingstown in Washington County, Rhode Island. He was one of nine ...

assumed management responsibility for the Peace Dale Manufacturing Company.Rowland Gibson Hazard, Rhode Island Manufacturer, Politician, and Philosopher
University of Rhode Island Library, Special Collections and University Archives, 2007
Rhode Island Historical Society, Manuscripts Division A third brother, Joseph P. Hazard, joined them as a partner in 1828, and the business took the name "R.G. Hazard & Co." Around 1820 the senior Rowland Hazard renamed the nearby industrial village to Wakefield after the town and family of the same name in England, who were friends of his. Prior to this, the village had been called McCoon's Mill for the

snuff Snuff may refer to: Tobacco * Snuff (tobacco), fine-ground tobacco, sniffed into the nose ** Moist snuff or dipping tobacco ** Creamy snuff, an Indian tobacco paste Media and entertainment * Snuff film, a type of film that shows a murder Literat ...

mill that by the 1820s had been converted to manufacturing woolen textiles. After an 1845 fire destroyed one of the mill buildings, the brothers built new facilities, including expanded

hydropower Hydropower (from el, ὕδωρ, "water"), also known as water power, is the use of falling or fast-running water to Electricity generation, produce electricity or to power machines. This is achieved by energy transformation, converting the Pot ...

systems and a fireproof stone factory. In 1848 the partnership incorporated, becoming the Peace Dale Manufacturing Company, with Isaac P. Hazard as president and Rowland G. Hazard as secretary/treasurer.Rowland G. and Caroline (Newbold) Hazard Papers
Rhode Island Historical Society, Manuscripts Division In 1849 the business started a transition into making woolen shawls and other high-quality woolens instead of cheaper fabrics.
Peace Dale Neighborhood Revitalization, Inc., 2007 Later in the 19th century, the sons of Rowland G. Hazard, John N. and Rowland Hazard II (1829-1898), assumed responsibility for operating the Peace Dale Mills. In 1856 Rowland Hazard II, an amateur architect, designed several new buildings in Peace Dale, including a new stone weaving mill and a stone building located across from the mills that housed offices, a store, the village post office, and a public hall. Over the next several decades he influenced the construction and design of numerous additional buildings, accounting for more than half of the built environment of modern Peace Dale. Rowland Hazard II also was an initial investor in the

Solvay Process Company The Solvay Process Company was an American chemical manufacturer that specialized in the manufacture of soda ash. A major employer in Central New York, the company was key in the origin of the village of Solvay, New York, where it was headquarter ...

, with works at

Solvay, New York Solvay is a village located in the town of Geddes, Onondaga County, New York, United States, and a suburb of the city of Syracuse. According to the 2010 census, the village had a total population of 6,584. The village is named after the Solvay ...

, and served as the company's first president. Peace Dale's mills operated for woolen manufacturing until 1948, when the manufacturing machinery was removed.Historic and Architectural Resources of South Kingstown, Rhode Island: A Preliminary Report
Rhode Island Historical Preservation Commission, 1984 The Hazard family also owned and operated the

Narragansett Pier Railroad The Narragansett Pier Railroad was a railroad in southern Rhode Island, running from West Kingston to Narragansett Pier. It was built by the Hazard Family of Rhode Island to connect their textile mills in Peace Dale and Wakefield to the New Yo ...

which connected their textile mills in Peace Dale and Wakefield to the

New York, Providence and Boston Railroad The New York, Providence and Boston Railroad, normally called the Stonington Line, was a major part of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad between New London, Connecticut and Providence, Rhode Island. It is now part of Amtrak's high-sp ...

Kingston Station Kingston station may refer to: Australia * Kingston railway station, Brisbane * Kingston railway station, Victoria * Canberra railway station, Australian Capital Territory (locally known as Kingston station) Canada * Kingston station (Ontario) * ...

(Rhode Island) and to shipping at South Pier in the village of

Narragansett Pier Narragansett Pier is an unincorporated village and a census-designated place (CDP) in the town of Narragansett in Washington County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 3,409 at the 2010 census. Geography Narragansett Pier is locate ...

Contributing properties

Buildings in Peace Dale that are identified as

contributing properties In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distri ...

in the historic district include: * Peace Dale Congregational Church, a

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

church built in 1870-72 on Columbia St. * Peace Dale Manufacturing Company Barn, a secondary structure built in 1866, on Green St. * Peace Dale Grammar School, a

Colonial Revival The Colonial Revival architectural style seeks to revive elements of American colonial architecture. The beginnings of the Colonial Revival style are often attributed to the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, which reawakened Americans to the archi ...

school built in 1923, on Kersey Rd. * Former Peace Dale Grammar School, built in 1902 at 8 Kersey Rd., later used for storage. * Peace Dale Manufacturing Co. Water Power Sys., an energy facility built in the 1850s on Kingstown Rd. * Hazard Memorial/Peace Dale Library, a Romanesque former auditorium, built in 1890-91 on Kingstown Rd. * Peace Dale Office Building, built circa 1856 at 604 Kingstown Rd. * General Isaac Peace Rodman House at 1789 Kingstown Rd. * Peace Dale Woolen Mill, a

Greek Revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but ...

factory built in 1847 at Kingstown Rd. and Columbia St. * Peace Dale Railroad Station (former), built in 1875-76 on Railroad St. * Peace Dale Pump House, a former water mill that was a restaurant and is now occupied by Shady Lea Guitars, a guitar oriented shop, studio, and performance venue located on Kingstown Rd.

Gallery

File:Peace Dale Congregational Church.JPG, Peace Dale Congregational Church File:Hazard Memorial Peace Dale Library.JPG, Hazard Memorial Peace Dale Library File:Peace Dale Railroad Station (former).JPG, Peace Dale Railroad Station (former)

References

External links

Town of South Kingstown, Rhode Island

Peace Dale Presentation
*
Peace Dale Manufacturing Company Records at Baker Library Historical Collections, Harvard Business School
{{authority control Villages in Washington County, Rhode Island Villages in Rhode Island History of the textile industry South Kingstown, Rhode Island Historic districts in Washington County, Rhode Island Providence metropolitan area Populated places established in 1800 1800 establishments in Rhode Island Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Rhode Island

History

Contributing properties

Gallery

See also

References

Further reading

External links