John Waterman and Christopher Olney established RI’s first paper factory across the river in 1764, and the building came to be known as the Rising Sun Mill. Over 100 years later, English immigrant Charles Fletcher left his job as superintendent of production at the nearby Valley Worsted Mills and rented this site to produce yarn for his new Providence Worsted business. The original mill building burned down within a few years, but Fletcher was already busy expanding his business. The first dam at this location was a wooden structure, built in 1867 just upstream of the current dam. Several new buildings were developed for his separate National Worsted Mill, until the two factories were eventually consolidated. The National and Providence Worsted Mills were once the largest single consumer of wool in the United States, and they employed 750 workers and produced 900,000 yards of worsted goods yearly at their height in 1893. In 1899, Fletcher created the new American Woolen Company with a partner from Lawrence, MA, at which point the National and Providence Worsted Mills were consolidated with several other mills in Providence and Massachusetts. The current concrete dam was built by the American Woolen Company in 1905, which continued to produce yarn here until the 1950s. In 1955, a vast mill pond that was previously located behind the buildings was filled in to produce the parking lots across the river.
The Rising Sun Mills was one of the first redevelopment projects in the early 2000s, just after the Eagle Square redevelopment and concurrent to the Monohasset Mill rehabilitation. It features modern residential lofts as well as mixed-use commercial and office space. In 2007, the Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council completed the first fish ladder along the river. Anadromous fish like the Blueback Herring spend their lives in the open ocean, but return in the spring to spawn in the freshwater rivers and ponds where they were born. Dams prevent these migratory fish from traveling further upstream, but fish ladders allow them to bypass the dam and return to their native spawning grounds. The fish ladder is on the other side of the river and can be viewed from the Rising Sun Mills parking lot, along with some historic relics of the industrial era. This bridge and short off-road segment of the Woonasquatucket River Greenway were completed in 2014.
Please remember to be aware of muggles, use stealth, and replace CC as found!
Greenway Hours: Sunrise - Sunset
Park Hours: 7am - 9pm
Parking: There is public parking on Valley St. DO NOT leave your car unattended in the Rising Sun Mills lots!