River Spinning Company Records

Business records, 1891-1927

Size: 29 ft.

Catalog number: MSS 6 sg 27

Processed by: Harold E. Kemble, Jr., September 1977

©Rhode Island Historical Society

Manuscripts Division

The May 1889 session of the Rhode Island General Assembly granted a charter to the Fairmount Manufacturing Company, incorporated by Seth S. Getchell, James F. Evans, Andrew Donahue, George W. Miller and Presbury S. Luce. This act was amended in January 1890 by Frank Harris, William F. Sayles, James Worrall and Thomas A. Jenckes who changed the corporate style to the "Hamlet Mills." Still another amendment of the charter was made in January 1891. This third company, styled as the "River Spinning Company," was incorporated by Sayles, Harris and Worrall, with Frederic C. Sayles. The firm of W.F. & F.C. Sayles was a major shareholder. By the end of 1896 the combined shares of William and Frederic Sayles belonged to Frank A. Sayles, who in 1916, owned 2496 of the 2500 shares issued.

Like many other manufacturing firms the River Spinning Company experienced a "boom" in World War I. It was probably in 1915 that the company acquired another mill, designated Plant B, at Valley Falls. This may have been part of the Samoset Mills purchased in 1912 by Frank A. Sayles. Another part of the Samoset property had been set up as the Glenlyon Dye Works Plant D at about the same time. Also c.1915 the company acquired what they designated as Plant C at Phillipsdale. With the mill at Phillipsdale was a boarding house whose tenants included workers and their families. The Phillipsdale Boarding House offered facilities for both "colored" and "white" patrons. The records show furniture and equipment sold off in late 1918, seemingly in preparation for closing.

The records do not show when River Spinning Company acquired mill properties in Pennsylvania. However in May 1916 they received virtually identical offers to sell plants at Bristol and Philadelphia. The terms of sale were the same - in exchange for "plant and business" the Apex Manufacturing Company and the Bristol Fibre Company issued controlling numbers of shares in the name of Kenneth F. Wood, a Sayles employee since 1894 and later the Vice President of the River Spinning Company.

Although each of the above mentioned concerns was run as a separate business, the River Spinning Company established a combined system of accounts to maintain overall control. This bookkeeping operation, the "ABC Accounts," was run from offices in the Slater Trust Company in Slatersville.

The death of Frank A. Sayles in June 1920, was the death of the River Spinning Company. Heavy taxes were levied upon his estate by the state and federal governments and this property with others had to be liquidated to meet the need for ready cash. The outstanding assets of the company were thereafter administered by TARSCO Corporation.

Rhode Island Historical Society Library, Manuscript Collections. Inventories of MSS 6, records of

The records of the River Spinning Company, manufacturers of cotton and woolen products, are arranged in seven series:

Series A. ABC Accounts. Combined business records, 1891-1927, of the River Spinning

Series B. Plant A Accounts. Business records 1893-1921 of the original River Spinning

Series C. Plant B Accounts. Business records 1915-1920 of the River Spinning Company

Series D. Plant C Accounts. Business records 1915-1920 of the River Spinning Company

Series E. Plant D Accounts. Business records 1915-1920 of the River Spinning Company

Series F. Plant E Accounts. Business records 1915-1917 of the River Spinning Company

Series G. Boarding House Accounts. Business records 1916-1918 of the boarding house