| By: | Ron Chouinard |
| Dates: | 7/25/2007 - 4/9/2011 |
| Album Info: | At milepost 7, along the Providence and Worcester Railroad, you'll find the village of Lonsdale. Lonsdale, is a village located in 2 towns in Rhode Island. The Lincoln section being the largest. On the other side of the Blackstone River is the smaller Cumberland section. Lonsdale, so named for the large, sprawling Lonsdale Mill complex in Lincoln. With its adjacent village, streets flanked by wooden and brick apartment buildings used for housing its workers. Lonsdale typical of the old textile mills and villages around in the area. Each village had its own school, fire protection, company stores, even a farm and tended to your spiritual needs with 2 Episcopal churches - Ashton for the common workers, and Lonsdale for the more affluent workers. Mill housing was arranged in the same manner. Lonsdale was a spinner, weaver and finisher of cloth. North at milepost 9 in the Cumberland section, is another large Lonsdale Company mill and village - Berkeley Mills. Adjacent to Berkeley, a mile north at milepost 10 was another a Lonsdale Company mill and village - Ashton Mills, as was the Ann and Hope Mills in the Lonsdale section of Cumberland. Connected with the Providence and Worcester Railroad over at Mendon Road, Lonsdale had a electric box cab for locomotive power in the Lonsdale yard. Built by the Wason Manufacturing in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1904, the box cab was originally built for the Quincy and Boston Street Railway as a plow and converted to box cab configuration by the Quincy and Boston Street Railway. Purchased and used by Lonsdale, until retired around 1949? The Providence and Worcester had a passenger and a freight station in Lonsdale. Lonsdale passenger station is long gone, while Lonsdale freight, vandalized and gutted by fire years ago, survived until May 7th, 2007 when it was ordered demolished by its current owner, Ann and Hope. Check out my Berkeley/Ashton album which is a combination of Berkeley and Ashton for a look at those villages. |
