Regenerating the cradle of the American Industrial Revolution
Blackstone River Valley
National Heritage Corridor
Massachusetts and Rhode Island

Preserving the Heritage

The Com­mission has joined with local partners to help save a wide range of structures and sites that express the story of the industrial river. Key pres­ervation projects include historic mills, factories, churches, mansions, farmhouses, meeting houses, rail­road depots, stores, and theaters.

Recently, the Commission led the way in saving the historically significant and en­vironmentally sensitive Grafton Com­mon farm district -- 124 acres of hay­fields, pas­ture, wetland and woodland. The Com­mission didn’t buy the land -- the town did -- but hired a real estate special­ist and put up $4,000 of front money to convince the local council the deal was feasible. The $1.5 million acquisition will be offset by a compact 17-unit residential development.

Other preservation projects in the works include an effort to save the Stanley Woolen Mill. The Commission has put up $20,000 for a feasibility study and is work­ing with the state development au­thority, local council and industrial devel­opment agency, the Blackstone Valley Chamber of Commerce and a private de­veloper to produce a redevelopment plan. A similar approach is being taken to res­cuing the Bell Tower Mill in Slatersville, Rhode Island.

(back to the top)

Planning for Preservation and Growth

The Commission has also taken a role in helping the communities of the valley use planning to “balance conservation and growth.” With the Black­stone Valley’s main limited access highway, Rte. 146, now con­nected to the Interstate High­way system from Providence to the Massachusetts Turn­pike, additional pressures for sprawl de­velopment are ex­pected.

The Commission’s 1990 management plan laid the groundwork for a response to sprawl, providing an inventory of historical resources, design guidelines and standards, an interpretive plan, a land use management plan, and an economic assessment. The Com­mission also provides “strategic design and plan­ning” assistance on an ongoing basis to communities through­out the corridor.

Last year, the Commission created the Blackstone Valley Institute as forum for regionwide education, discussion, and cooperative action. The institute hosted a program entitled “A Watershed Approach to Local Land Use Decisions.” In March 2000 they held a confer­ence on “The Black­stone Valley in an Emerg­ing Econ­omy.”

Brittain says such work has produced “a heightened level of aware­ness,” in the economic development agencies and cham­bers of commerce, “that good plan­ning can mean good develop­ment.”

The National Heritage Area law re­quires federal dollars be matched by partner dollars on a one-to-one basis. The Black­stone commission has decided a min­imum two-to-one leverage is more appro­priate. Over the coming ten years they intend to draw at least $10 million in part­ner invest­ments with their own $5 million authorization.

The Commission was renewed by Con­gress in 1996 for an additional ten years. In 1997 three towns in Rhode Island, one in Massachusetts, and a large part of the City of Worcester were added to the corri­dor — at their own behest.

“There’s a big learning curve,” Brittain said. “The first ten years this Commis­sion was in existence we were there sole­ly to raise people’s awareness of the his­torical significance of this area.”

But the incremental, practical approach seems to have paid off. She says the secret is in making small successes and building on them, to get things done that allow people to feel good about themselves and the region: “We struck when the irons were hot. We went where there was fire and energy.”

With the organizational infrastructure now in place — not just the Commission and the Institute but a regional visitors bureau and tourism council — the role of the Commission is expected to expand with increasing emphasis on heritage tour­ism development and marketing.

(back to the top)