User:Mbenoit/blackstone

Like other National Heritage Corridors, the Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor was created by Congress to preserve the history of the area. In particular, the Blackstone River Valley is the birthplace of the American Industrial Revolution.

The corridor itself is comprised of the following cities and towns:
 * Leicester, Massachusetts
 * Worcester, Massachusetts
 * Millbury, Massachusetts
 * Grafton, Massachusetts
 * Upton, Massachusetts
 * Hopedale, Massachusetts
 * Sutton, Massachusetts
 * Northbridge, Massachusetts
 * Douglas, Massachusetts
 * Uxbridge, Massachusetts
 * Uxbridge, Massachusetts
 * Hopedale, Massachusetts
 * Millville, Massachusetts
 * Blackstone, Massachusetts
 * Mendon, Massachusetts
 * Burrillville, Rhode Island
 * Glocester, Rhode Island
 * Smithfield, Rhode Island
 * North Smithfield, Rhode Island
 * Woonsocket, Rhode Island
 * Cumberland, Rhode Island
 * Lincoln, Rhode Island
 * Central Falls, Rhode Island
 * Pawtucket, Rhode Island

History of the Area
Moses Brown, a prominent Providence merchant, unsuccessfully attempted to build a water-powered cotton mill in Pawtucket, Rhode Island in 1789. Lacking success, in December 1789 he hired recent English immigrant Samuel Slater, who learned trade secrets as an apprentice to Jedidiah Strutt, a partner of Richard Arkwright. Arkwright built the world's first cotton mill in 1771 at Cromford, Derbyshire, England. Slater successfully modified Brown's Mill to use water power by December 1790.

Investors built more mills throughout the Blackstone Valley and then throught New England. Villages were built around the mills, including homes, churches, schools, and shops. The original workers were the Yankee farmers who had worked the lands throughout New England. Though Irish immigrants were working in mills by the 1820s,