The Lippitt Mill is an historic mill at 825 Main 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 ...

History

The cotton

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 ...

was built in 1809, making it the third oldest in Rhode Island after John Slater's Mills in Slatersville, RI and Samuel Slater

Slater Mill The Slater Mill is a historic water-powered textile mill complex on the banks of the Blackstone River in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, modeled after cotton spinning mills first established in England. It is the first water-powered cotton spinning mil ...

. The Lippitt Manufacturing Company was founded by Revolutionary War officer, Col.

Christopher Lippitt Christopher Lippitt (October 28, 1744 – June 17, 1824) was a prominent Revolutionary War officer and founder one of the earliest textile mills in Rhode Island. Early life Lippitt was the fourth child of Christopher Lippitt (1712–1764) and Ca ...

, his brother Charles Lippitt, and Benjamin Aborn, George Jackson, Amasa Mason, and William Mason. During the Depression following of War of 1812 the Lippitt Manufacturing Company survived by supplying yarn to convict weavers in the Vermont prison. The company grew throughout the 19th century becoming a large profitable enterprise in which several generations of the Lippitt family were involved. In 1889 all of the Lippitt Company assets were sold to the firm of B.B. Knight & Robert Knight, founders of

Fruit of the Loom Fruit of the Loom is an American company that manufactures clothing, particularly casual wear and underwear. The company's world headquarters is in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Since 2002 it has been a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway. Products manu ...

. In 1925, B.B. Knight sold the Lippitt Mill property to Joseph Hayes, owner of the Riverpoint Lace Works. The building 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 v ...

in 1973. The Hayes family stopped manufacturing lace here in the early 1970s, but they retained ownership of the property until it went into receivership in 2008. The mill continued operation until 2010, when spring flooding on the Pawtuxet River and a bad economy forced the mill to close. A plan was announced in 2014 to convert the property to residences for people over 55. The mill is on the

, and is one of the earliest

s in Rhode Island.

John Slater (industrialist) John Slater (December 25, 1776 – May 27, 1843) was an early American industrialist, founder of Slatersville, Rhode Island and younger brother of Samuel Slater, father of the American Industrial Revolution, and a member of the well-known Slater ...

References

External links

Brief History
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NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES INVENTORY - NOMINATION FORM

Industrial buildings completed in 1809 Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Rhode Island Buildings and structures in West Warwick, Rhode Island Historic American Buildings Survey in Rhode Island Lippitt family Lace Cotton mills in the United States National Register of Historic Places in Kent County, Rhode Island {{KentCountyRI-NRHP-stub

History

See also

References

External links