Coventry Roots: Arkwright

The next village in our series is the village of Arkwright. The village is located in the northeastern corner of Coventry and also touches parts of Cranston and Scituate.

In the 1700s the village was known as Remington’s Run after the Remington family that owned a large parcel of land.

In the early nineteenth century the families of Jabez and James Burlingame operated a saw mill and grist mill on the site and the area became known by the name of the Burlingame Mills. In April 1809 the Burlingames, Elisha Arnold, and Nathan Potter sold the land to the consortium which had been formed between James DeWolf, Doctor Caleb Fiske, his son Philip, and Asher Robbins. They named the company the Arkwright Manufacturing Company after Richard Arkwright, an English inventor, millwright and the man who had trained Samuel Slater.  Slater later immigrated to America and started a cotton mill in Pawtucket.

The first Arkwright Mill was constructed of wood  in 1810 and it burned down in 1814. By 1817 James DeWolf had bought out all the partners and became the sole owner of the Arkwright Company. In 1822 James DeWolf rebuilt a mill constructed of wood and stone next the old mill’s foundation and they resumed the manufacturing of cotton thread.

In 1837 upon the death of DeWolf, his heirs rented the factories to Crawford Allen and Company.  In 1852 the heirs of James DeWolf sold the mill to William A. Howard.  In 1883 the company was sold and incorporated as the Arkwright – Interlaken Company. The company manufactured book cloth and until recently was the oldest of its kind in the United States.  The current stone mill was built toward the end of the 19th century and additions were added in the early part of the 20th century. The mill complex once consisted of a dye house, bleachery, bobbin shop, saw mill and a grist mill.

Besides the mill and mill houses still standing today the village once consisted of a company farm, company store, church and school. The modern village of Arkwright is distinct from the other villages of Coventry because the mill that was the life-blood of the village is still in operation today.  

So as you are driving along Route 115 image what village life must have been like when cotton was king.