The Valley Queen Mill is an historic mill at 200 Providence Street in

West Warwick, Rhode Island West Warwick is a town in Kent County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 31,012 at the 2020 census. West Warwick was incorporated in 1913, making it the youngest town in the state. Prior to 1913, the town, situated on the wester ...

. It is a five-story L-shaped stone building built in 1834 by the Greene Company. The mill is the oldest of the three mill buildings in the area. It originally operated as a cotton factory, producing coarse cotton cloths under the Greene Company name. In 1888, B.B.& R. Knight Company, the textile giant that made Fruit of the Loom products, purchased the Valley Queen Mill, and enlarged the plant. B.B &.R. Knight was a complete textile operation with combing, spinning and

weaving Weaving is a method of textile production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. Other methods are knitting, crocheting, felting, and braiding or plaiting. The longitudinal ...

facilities. On January 23, 1922, the workers at the Valley Queen Mill struck, following the lead of their neighboring workers at the Royal Mill, who walked out in response to an attempted 20% wage cut. Soon the entire Pawtuxet River Valley was shut down, the strike spread and became the

1922 New England Textile Strike The New England Textile Strike was a strike action, strike led by members of the United Textile Workers of America (UTW) principally in the U.S. states of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. Throughout the duration of the strike, an est ...

. In 1931, the McIver Family, which owned The Original Bradford Soap Works, bought the Valley Queen Mill after B.B. & R Knight Company went bankrupt. In the 1960s, the Howland Family took over the business. Under the leadership of the Howland family, toda
Bradford Soap Works
manufactures high quality bar soaps and soap bases in the Valley Queen Mill building. The mill 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 ...

in 1984.

References

Industrial buildings completed in 1834 Buildings and structures in West Warwick, Rhode Island Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Rhode Island National Register of Historic Places in Kent County, Rhode Island {{KentCountyRI-NRHP-stub

See also

References