Oakland Historic District - Burrillville RI - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com

John L. Ross (1819-1908), then employed at Whipple's Mill in nearby Mapleville, initiated the development of Oakland. He purchased seven acres for a mill privilege in 1848, and built a dam across Clear River the following year.
Though he was sued by the owners of the adjoining mill privileges at Plainville and Mapleville for altering the flow of the river, Ross constructed a three-story, 100- by 38-foot stone mill at the dam in 1850. He first leased the building to the Woonsocket Delaine Company as a worsted goods factory, then in 1853 took
over the facilities himself to manufacture cotton yarns and satinets. This enterprise must have been successful, for Ross built a 32- by 40-foot addition to the east end of the mill in 1856 and an ell on the main building four years later. In 1870 the 1856 addition was extended 54 feet, and a tower and mansard roof were added to the main building.

Once the mill was built, housing had to be supplied for the laborers and their families. Old maps document the early growth of a little village of ten or twelve buildings near Ross's mill. Most of the structures were ranged along the short street (now Mill Street) leading from the main road (today's Victory Highway)
down to the factory, while three or four buildings were sited along Victory Highway north of the Mill Street intersection. Some of the houses now standing on the street were probably built shortly after the construction of the mill in 1850, and later altered.

Between 1870 and 1895 more structures were built along Victory Highway between the two railroad stations. The village had two distinct subsections: the northern portion near Mill Street consisted of company-owned housing, while privately owned dwellings were concentrated at the southerly end toward the Providence & Springfield station. In 1876, the section of Whipple Avenue between Victory Highway and School Street was platted on the Cooper House property, then owned by N. W. Young. As Oakland expanded southward, so the neighboring mill village of Mapleville grew northward, until the two formed a continuous ribbon of development along Victory Highway. The two communities shared some institutions. The Mapleville Post Office, established in 1850, served both settlements until 1899, when it was moved to and renamed Oakland, a significant indication of the importance of the community in that era.

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Street address: Victory Hwy. Burrillville, RI County / Borough / Parish: Providence Year listed: 1987 Historic (Areas of) Significance: Person, Event, Architecture/Engineering Periods of significance: 1925-1949, 1900-1924, 1875-1899, 1850-1874 Historic function: Domestic,Industry/Processing/Extraction Current function: Domestic Privately owned?: yes Primary Web Site: [Web Link] Secondary Website 1: [Web Link] Season start / Season finish: Not listed Hours of operation: Not listed Secondary Website 2: Not listed National Historic Landmark Link: Not listed

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