Rumford Chemical Works and Mill House Historic District

Rumford Chemical Works and Mill House Historic District
Location East Providence, Rhode Island
Coordinates 41°50′22″N 71°21′16″W / 41.83944°N 71.35444°W / 41.83944; -71.35444Coordinates: 41°50′22″N 71°21′16″W / 41.83944°N 71.35444°W / 41.83944; -71.35444
Built 1857
Architect Unknown
Architectural style Queen Anne
MPS East Providence MRA
NRHP reference # 80000007 [1]
Added to NRHP November 28, 1980

The Rumford Chemical Works and Mill House Historic District is a historic district encompassing the remnants of a historical chemical plant in East Providence, Rhode Island. The Rumford Chemical Works established its presence in East Providence (moving from Providence) c. 1857, and eventually built an extensive complex of buildings centered on the junction of Newman and Greenwood Avenues with North Broadway. Its main section originally extended eastward from this junction to a pond which has since been filled in and built over with apartments.

The surviving parcel, roughly 8.5 acres (3.4 ha), includes a few wood-frame buildings which may date to the 1857 move and a large three-story brick warehouse built in 1895. A wood-frame office building stands across North Broadway from the main complex, and a series of duplexes built as worker housing line North Broadway.[2]

Rumford Chemical Works. Engraving published in 1886

The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.[1]

The Rumford Chemical Works are now home to several businesses including Avenue N American Kitchen, the Punch Kettlebell Gym and the Seven Stars Bakery as well as rental apartments and lofts.

History

Rumford Baking Powder

Rumford Chemical Works was founded by Eben Horsford, who was the Rumford Professor and Lecturer on the Application of Science to the Useful Arts at Harvard, and George F. Wilson in 1854 in Seekonk, Massachusetts part of which in 1862 became East Providence, Rhode Island. The Rumford Chemical Works was incorporated in Massachusetts in 1859. Their most successful product was Rumford baking powder. Hulman & Company acquired the Rumford Chemical Works in 1950 and still makes Rumford baking powder, now at its facility in Terre Haute, Indiana. [3]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 National Park Service (2007-01-23). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
  2. ↑ "Historic Resources of East Providence, Rhode Island (PDF pages 27-8)" (PDF). Rhode Island Preservation. Retrieved 2014-09-07.
  3. ↑ K.M.Reeves (2001). "Newscripts - Baking Powder Story". American Chemical Society - Chemical and Engineering News: 64. doi:10.1021/cen-v079n052.p064.
  • ACS Development of Baking Powder
  • Rensselaer Guides to Institute Records and Manuscript Collections - Rumford Chemical Works (1853-1951)
  • Rensselaer Guides to Institute Records and Manuscript Collection - Rumford Chemical Works records, 1861-1947


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.