The Richmond Mill Bell and Bell Tower - Scituate, Rhode Island - Exact Replicas on Waymarking.com

This bell tower is within a historical section of North Scituate, Rhode Island. It is set back 100 feet from West Greenville Road near Smithville Cemetery (also known as Rhode Island Historical Cemetery Scituate #24) on flat ground and beneath a large shade tree. The original bell is presented within a replica of the top part of its former bell tower at the Richmond Mill.

The recreated structure sits on a square foundation of concrete. The tower is painted white and covered by a pyramid roof with weathered wood shingles. The roof is topped by a metal spire and weather vane. The bell, its frame and wheel are housed among four square columns and rest on a polished granite base.

The bell's inscription band reads:
F. FULLER 1877 PROVIDENCE

A cast bronze plaque is mounted on top of a concrete plinth immediately north of the reproduction and reads:

THE RICHMOND MILL BELL

THIS STRUCTURE IS A REPLICA OF THE UPPER PORTION OF THE ORIGINAL RICHMOND
MILL BELL TOWER. THE BELL - DONATED TO THE TOWN BY THE JOSLIN FAMILY -
HUNG IN THE ORIGINAL BELL TOWER IN THE VILLAGE OF RICHMOND, RHODE ISLAND.
BETWEEN 1917 AND 1921, THE VILLAGE AND ITS MILL, ALONG WITH THE VILLAGES OF
ROCKLAND, SOUTH SCITUATE, ASHLAND AND KENT, WERE SACRIFICED TO CREATE THE
SCITUATE RESERVIOR.

IN THE DAYS BEFORE ELECTRICITY AND ALARM CLOCKS, THE BELL WAS USED TO LET
THE WORKERS KNOW WHEN WORK BEGAN AND ENDED.

CREATION OF THE RESERVOIR EFFECTIVELY ENDED THE AVAILABILITY OF WATER
POWER IN SCITUATE, WHICH ESSENTIALLY BROUGHT TO AN END THE TOWN'S INDUS-
TRIAL AGE.

THE ORIGINAL RICHMOND MILL, OWNED BY THE JOSLIN FAMILY, WAS LOCATED ABOUT
ONE HALF MILE EAST OF THE PRESENT INTERSECTION OF TRUNK HILL AND FIELD HILL
ROADS.

FUNDS FOR CONSTRUCTION OF THE BELL TOWER REPLICA WERE PROVIDED BY
THE SCITUATE PRESERVATION SOCIETY, SUMMER, 1996

ARCHITECTURAL RECONSTRUCTION DRAWINGS WERE PROVIDED BY GEORGE H. MYRICK, AIA

CONSTRUCTION WAS PROVIDED BY NORTH SCITUATE RESTORATION, INC.

William E. Joslin started manufacturing shoe and corset laces in 1865 at Rockland Mill in Scituate, Rhode Island. He purchased several other mills in Scutuate and Providence, then incorporated as the Joslin Manufacturing Company in May 1892. The Richmond Mill took care of dyeing the product. The company employed 650 and owned 2,800 braiders in 1901. By 1905, the business was calling itself "the largest and most complete shoe-lace manufactory in the world." Before the company was broken up in 1925, Mr. Joslin invested in and was president of four additional companies including one which manufactured cotton yarn and braids, another that made flexible glass tubing, and a power company which sold excess electricity produced by the turbines at Clayville Mill to the Rhode Island towns of Scituate, Foster, Glocester and Burrillville.

SOURCES:
History of the State of Rhode Island with Illustrations, Albert J. Wright, Printer; No. 79 Mille Street, corner of Federal, Boston; Hong, Wade & Co., Philadelphia 1878.
Joslin Manufacturing Company Records; Rhode Island Historical Society Manuscripts Division