Riverpoint
By: Anthony, Abner, Erin, and Jillian
I. Location
Riverpoint is an area in the town of West Warwick. Riverpoint is located
along the Pawtuxet River where two main rivers meet. There are two textile
mills in Riverpoint. The Vally Queen Mill and the Royal
Mill are located in Riverpoint. Riverpoint is in the middle of Natick
and Arctic.
II. Place
The mill houses that are on Main St. and Providence St. were all built
by the textile mill owners.
Riverpoint was once called Greenville, then Frozen Point and now the name
it is called today, Riverpoint. Pawtuxet means River of Little falls. The
Pawtuxet River is one of the largest rivers in R.I. There are a lot of hills
in Riverpoint, like Wakefeild St. hill. They come down into Riverpoint.
Riverpoint is where the two branches join or come to a point. The two names
of the branches are the North and South branch. The South branch is also
known as Flat River. The two rivers meet behind the Valley
Queen Mill. Riverpoint is in the middle of two large land forms. "A
mansion was on the land before John
F. Horgan was built. In the field where the students play there use
to be an apple orchard,"said Mrs.Rose who was brought up in Riverpoint.
III. Human Interaction
In the textile mills you had to use the power of the river to run the
machines. The Valley Queen Mill is one of the world's largest private label
soap factories. Riverpoint was owned by the Green family, which was called
at that time Greenville. In 1813 the cotton industry moved into Riverpoint.
The Royal Mill workers
made sweaters, jeans, and stockings. The Royal
Mill looks like an abandoned castle from centuries ago. The towers have
spaces where the gaurds use to stand to gaurd the workers who went on strike.
The granite walls are stained white. Granite rock is not just gray. These
are the rustic colors: orange, brick red, and greenish brown. The windows
of the towers
have ghostly cobwebs hanging from the tops. The windows have bird nests
in the cracks. Some of the windows lost their window panes. The chimmneys
are stained black from the black smoke pouring out of the chimmneys, when
it was still running. The Royal Mill is shutdown but is still standing.
The Royal Mill made the first Fruit
of the Loom products. The Royal Mill is also known as Riverpoint
and Green Mill. After the mill made cotton into clothing they exported the
clothing to other countries. Children that were under 14 didn't work in
a mill. "If you were from Europe and you had a family of 10 or more,
you would get a mill house immediately,"said Mrs. Rose.
IV. Movement
Providence St. is a main road in Riverpoint. There is one school in Riverpoint.
The name of the school is John
F. Horgan which use to be a Junior High School. Within the last 20 years,
one of the mills in Riverpoint was still using the train tracks.The railroad
crossing is near Jerry's Super Market.
V. Region
These are the borders of Riverpoint: Lippitt, Westcott, Arctic. The Riverpoint
Congregational Church is Lutheran. The church has its own day care center.
The other church in Riverpoint is named St. Anthony's. It is across the
street from the Champlin library.
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