Newport Historic Industrial Tour

Welcome to industrial Newport. Wait! Did you say industrial Newport?

Okay, so Newport is not known as an industrial center. Its prominence as a maritime powerhouse and entrepôt in the 17th and 18th centuries is well-known, as is its later incarnation as a leisure destination catering to the wealthy and its current identity as a dynamo of regional tourism. 

However, industrial activity did occur in the 19th and 20th centuries, much of it centered on or near the waterfront. Some fragments of this activity survive to document this largely forgotten story, and we invite you to sample some of them.

(1) Naval Torpedo Factory - Goat Island (last surviving building @ 3 Marina Plaza)

Established 1869 • Torpedo R&D and manufacture; now condominium/hotel/marina uses.

Until the end of WWII, Goat Island was the center of research, development, and production of U.S. naval mines and torpedoes. In time, nearby Rose and Gould Islands were also used for torpedo-related activity. The Goat Island complex, which once employed up to 12,000 workers, was razed in the 1950s, and the island was sold to private owners. The sole surviving navy structure now houses the Marina Cafe & Pub.

Source:  https://destroyerhistory.org/early/torpedostation  • 9/21/2024

(2) Long Wharf - Long Wharf

Built mid-17th Century • Maritime trade, shipbuilding, fishing, railroad/industrial; now residential, retail, commercial fishing and yachting uses.

First constructed in the 1600s, Long Wharf was an early center of maritime activity, including foreign and coastal trade, shipbuilding and repair, and fishing. Over the centuries, the wharf was extended into deeper water, and much of the surrounding shallows were filled in for commercial, residential, and industrial purposes. Prominent among the latter was the Old Colony Railroad complex of rail yard, workshops, engine facilities, and a busy steamboat landing and repair facility. Today, the wharf area includes the state pier facility.

Source:  https://a4arch.com/a4-architecture-spotlight-the-history-and-urban-importance-of-long-wharf/  - 10/30/2024

(3) Bowen's Wharf Warehouse and Chandlery - Bowen's Wharf

Built mid-17th century • Maritime trade, slave trade; now primarily mixed use development.

One of Newport’s better-known waterfront sites, what is known as Bowen’s Wharf dates back to the mid-17th century when it was owned by colonial governor Benedict Arnold (great-grandfather of the “other” Benedict Arnold).

The wharf was expanded over time, reaching further into the harbor and hosting a variety of maritime trades. Ownership passed through various hands, including the Stevens and Cowley families, before coal dealer George Bowen acquired it in the 19th century.

The history of the wharf is inextricably tied to Newport’s maritime past, including its role in the trafficking of enslaved Africans. Among the few remaining vestiges of Newport’s West Indies trade (other than residences built by wealthy merchants and shipowners) are a ca. 1760 warehouse and ca. 1800 ship chandlery (think nautical general store) on the wharf. Both buildings currently house retail shops.

Source:  https://bowenswharf.com/  10/30/2024

(4) Perry Mill - 337 Thames Street

Built 1835 • Textiles, machinery, electric generation, and ice making; now mixed-use retail and hospitality.

As maritime activity waned in the 19th century Newport looked to manufacturing as an alternative. Interest in textile production prompted construction of several mills on or near the waterfront. Prominent among these was the 1835 granite Perry Mill, the work of noted Scottish stonemason Alexander McGregor.

For nearly a half century cloth was woven in this mill, but by the late 1880s the structure lay idle. Later uses include housing an early electric power plant, machine shop, and ice making plant.

 Source:  https://lostnewengland.com/2019/05/perry-mill-newport-rhode-island/ 

(5) Cottrell Shipyard Site - 365-389 Thames Street

Vessel construction and repair; now primarily mixed use development

Ship- and boatbuilding date back to Newport’s 17th century settlement and continued well into the 20th century. Among the major facilities was the Cottrell yard, located near the foot of Brewer Street.

Silas Cottrell of Westerly established the business in 1834 and proceeded to construct coasting and whaling vessels. The early addition of a marine railway enabled the yard to haul out and repair vessels, including whale ships, coasters, naval vessels, and yachts.

While nothing remains of this yard, it was a center of marine activity during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Today, the site includes one surviving wooden structure immediately south of The Sailing Museum and National Sailing Hall of Fame, housing a retail outlet.

Source:  https://digitalcommons.salve.edu/fac_staff_pub/31/ 

(6) Spermacetti Works Site - 12-16 Dennison Street

Established mid-18th century • Residences and spermaceti oil works; now Newport Restoration Foundation properties

While not a major whaling port, Newport nonetheless fielded a small fleet of whale ships from the mid-18th to mid-19th centuries.

Among the whaling products brought back to the town’s wharves was spermaceti, a waxy substance found in the head of the sperm whale. This viscous liquid was refined for use in candles prized for their superior illumination and smokeless quality compared to tallow or beeswax.

This site, possibly including one or both of these dwellings, housed a spermaceti works where the liquid was boiled, then chilled and pressed to extract the wax for candle making.

Source:  https://www.newportrestoration.org/ 

(7) Rum Distillery and Tannery Site - 428-432 Thames Street

Established mid-18th century • Distilling and tanning; now Newport Restoration Foundation property

When the Whitehorne family purchased this impressive ca. 1750 dwelling in the 1790s the property included a rum distillery and tannery. Rum distilling was made possible by Newport’s extensive and profitable trade with the West Indies, and two generations of Whitehornes continued this lucrative business. The property was later subdivided and now only the house, a Newport Restoration Foundation property, remains.

Source:  https://www.newportrestoration.org/ 

The following three sites were located on what is now the campus of the  International Yacht Restoration School . The two surviving buildings have been repurposed by IYRS.

(8) Newport Steam Mill (later Aquidneck Mill) - 449 Thames Street

Built ca. 1831 • Textiles, electric power plant, storehouse; now IYRS’s School of Technology & Trades

This granite structure was constructed in 1831 as a steam-powered textile mill, one of several built in Newport in the 1830s in an attempt to offset the loss of maritime trade. The building was enlarged with a four-story brick addition in 1865.

Cotton cloth was woven here into the 1880s, followed by the manufacture of elastic webbing.  By the early 1890s the mill housed the Newport Illuminating Co. electrical power plant. Well into the 20th century, the building was used for storage until being acquired by the International Yacht Restoration School in the 1990s.

Source:  https://www.iyrs.edu/ 

(9) Newport Shot & Lead Company Site - Spring Wharf

Est. 1857 • Lead shot. Now site of IYRS's Restoration Hall

From 1857 to 1870 this firm produced all types of lead shot for hunting and military uses. Notable was the 160-foot-tall brick shot tower critical to the production of these projectiles. The site was used for an electric generating plant built ca. 1902.

Source:  https://digitalcommons.salve.edu/fac_staff_pub/31/ 

(10) Newport & Fall River Street Railway Power Plant - Spring Wharf

Built 1902 • Electric generation; now IYRS’s Restoration Hall

Occupying the former site of the Newport Shot & Lead Co., this ca. 1902 brick building housed the new generating plant for the Newport & Fall River Street Railway Company, which supplied power for the expanding trolley system. Inside, the plant boasted a pioneering Curtis vertical steam turbine while on the exterior its 175-foot-tall smokestack (now gone) towered over the waterfront through much of the 20th century.

In 1993 the new International Yacht Restoration School converted the plant into its “Restoration Hall” facility.

Source:  https://www.iyrs.edu/ 

(11) Newport Gas Light Co. Site - 561 Thames Street

Developed ca. 1883 • Gas generation facility; now mixed use

Introduction of gas in Newport dated to the mid-1850s and over the decades the Newport Gas Light Co. increased its complex of gas lines to serve most of the city. In the mid-1880s the firm acquired this waterfront site.

Gas generation was arguably the dirtiest type of local industry at the time, requiring vast quantities of bituminous coal delivered by schooner or barge to the company’s waterfront site. Burning the coal at high temperatures produced the natural or “coal gas” that, once purified and stored in the large gasometer structures (a familiar sight in most urbanized areas) was piped to customers.

The plant continued in operation until 1975. Today, the site is occupied by a resort hotel and various office, restaurant, and retail operations.