National Park Service unit in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, United States
Blackstone River Valley National Historical Park is a National Park Service unit in the states of Rhode Island and Massachusetts. The park was created for the purpose of preserving, protecting, and interpreting the industrial heritage of the Blackstone River Valley and the urban, rural, and agricultural landscape of that region. The Blackstone River Valley was the site of some of the earliest successful textile mills in the United States, and these mills contributed significantly to the earliest American Industrial Revolution. The subsequent construction of the Blackstone Canal, a few years after the successful completion of the Erie Canal, helped to sustain the region's industrial strength.
The park's establishment was included as part of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015, which was signed into law by President Barack Obama on December 19, 2014.
It is closely related to the Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor, which is not a unit of the National Park System, but the National Historical Park contains only a subset of the sites associated with that National Heritage Area. The Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor continues to exist independently of the National Historical Park.
Background.
Samuel Slater, an English industrialist, constructed his first textile mill in Pawtucket, in 1793, along the Blackstone River. In addition to utilizing advanced new technology he had learned about in England, which had previously never been used in an American mill, Slater implemented an innovative management style that helped his factory find significant success. He went on to establish other factories, including the company towns like the village of Slatersville in North Smithfield, Rhode Island. The textile industry continued to expand in the Blackstone region, spawning numerous mill towns. By the late 1820s, the industry was thriving to such an extent that more efficient transportation methods were needed, which led to the construction of the Blackstone Canal connecting Worcester, Massachusetts to the sea port at Providence, Rhode Island. The region's advances were an important component in American industrial history.
This history was deemed nationally significant by Congress in 1986 when it created the Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor, a collaboration between the National Park Service, state and local governments, and non-profit entities to encourage preservation and tourism in the region. In looking for ways to enhance achieving those goals, Congress requested that the National Park Service conduct a special resource study to determine if certain sites in the region should be included as a formal unit of the National Park System. This study was completed in 2011, and recommended the creation of a National Historical Park, which was then established in 2014.
Park sites.
Based on its establishment legislation, the park encompasses the following sites:
References.
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