Clason Architectural Metal Works

About this Property

#Redevelopment

Eagle Tool occupied this industrial mill building since 1960 and was in business since 1946 — about 75 years.

A website at address [www.eagletool.com] explains that the business was a “Metal stampings and jewelry findings manufacturer” that made “Joints and catches, coil pins, quality tags, dog tags, 6 prong snap in settings, bails, bookmarks, blanks, bottle openers, discs, money clips, crimps, settings, chain tags, logo tags, bar pins, badge pins, swedged pins, charms, foldovers, end caps, crimp ends, golf divot repair tools, divot fixers, coins, coining, die struck lapel pins and advertising specialty & promotional products.“ They had acquired Beaucraft Jewelry, a large percentage of Kilmartin Industries, and the tooling from Kraemer Findings. The website copyright was dated 1999 and the contact page was updated in 2010.¹

The about page said:

Since 1946, Eagle Tool Inc. has supplied the Metal Stamping Industry, worldwide, with thousands of component findings. Our stamping capabilities range from industrial components to jewelry findings. Our goal is to supply Manufacturers & Manipulators with the best quality service and price for our findings. Our family experience covers three generations actively achieving our goals every day. Our company headquarters is comprised of 35,000 square feet in an industrial center called the Promenade Center. We have been at our present location for 46 years.²

In October of 2023, the building sold for $2,600,000.³

#Current Events

The building is being renovated into a 500-seat church called Grace Harbor.

#History

From the “Industrial Sites and Commercial Buildings Survey (ICBS)” by PPS and RIHPHC, 2001-2002

The two-story main building has a slightly-pitched end-gable roof, brick walls, and stone trim with a five-bay wide facade. There is a two-story, five bay addition on the rear, and a one-story concrete block addition on the side of the rear ell. The windows are paired, rectangular with replacement metal sash set within segmental arched openings with stone sills. The main entrance is offset on the façade, with paired doors set below the transom, and a projecting wooden hood. Additionally, the building features two exterior, brick chimneys, projecting piers between each bay, and star shaped tie rod ends.

The building dates to 1903 and was originally about 80 feet in length. It has been expanded three times, the rear brick extension utilizing square metal frame windows characteristic of early twentieth century industrial buildings. A modern, concrete block ell was added by the current owner.

Clason Architectural Metal Works was established in 1903 and operated out of 428-432 Allens Avenue. The company built a rectangular, brick, two-story building on 430 Kinsley Avenue for use as an office and works. Clason Architectural Metal Works manufactured artistic and ornamental copper and galvanized iron for roofing. Parts manufactured included gutters, conductors, metal skylights, metal ceilings, and the patented Clason snow guard for all kinds of roofs. A small wooden shed was built in the back for storage. This shed was later converted into an iron garage in 1918. Several other alterations were made to the site which included two wood additions to the garage between 1918 and 1926. One was directly attached to the shed while the other stood nearby.

The company changed its name from Clason Architectural Metal Works to Clason-Miller Company in 1925. The company merged with Miller Iron Co. ca. 1924 and became Clason Miller. Around 1927 Samuel Everett converted the building into a shoe manufacturing company named the Everett and Barron Company. In the mid-1950s, the building was occupied by a jewelry manufacturer. The building’s use was once again changed when the Eagle Tool Company purchased the site between 1960 and 1970. They are the current owners of the building. It neighbors Eagle Square, a site currently being redeveloped for commercial use.

Maps

+ 1920–1921 Sanborn Insurance Maps, Volume 1, Plate 16 (page 31) — Clason Architectural Metal Works appears as a two story building 24 feet wide along Kinsley Street and about 50 feet deep running north to south. Two one story unconnected outbuildings are to the south. + 1920–1951 Sanborn Insurance Maps, Volume 1, Plate 16 (page 33) — The building is now labelled simply Jewelry Manufacturing and maybe another 20 feet has been added to the southern side. One of the outbuildings has been demolished and removed from the map. + 1920–1955 Sanborn Insurance Maps, Volume 1, Plate 16 (page 22) — Same as the 1950 map.

#In the News

Factory on the Woonasquatucket Being Transformed into 500-Person Capacity Baptist Church

by Eric Halvarson
Providence Journal | April 1, 2026 (abridged)

A new cupola sits on top of a large brick building on Kinsley Avenue, and on the inside, the shape looks like a cross. The structure lets light shine down into the second floor, which will soon open up into a new mezzanine that looks down onto a pulpit. This will be the new worship space for one of the largest evangelical churches in the area, located in the middle of Providence.

Grace Harbor Church is investing over $7 million to make a former manufacturing building in Central Providence’s Valley District the new home for over 300 worshippers. The project aims to be completed by the end of 2026, and will join several other developments reshaping this corridor along the Woonasquatucket River from Olneyville to Downtown. The investments are taking legacy industrial buildings and renovating them for new ventures, but some manufacturers, local artists and tenants are worried the new developments will come at a steep price. […]

In 2012, Grace Harbor began leasing the church at 47 Fenner Street from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rhode Island, in the shadow of St. Peter and Paul Cathedral. In the Ocean State, 63% of adults are Christian, and more than a third of those Christians are Catholic. Only 12% of Christians reported they are evangelical. A third of Rhode Island does not affiliate with a religion, and Grace Harbor’s website claims “New England soil is among the most spiritually dry in the United States.” […]

Today, the church has over 200 members and hosts up to 350 people at Sunday worship services, reaching their building’s capacity. The pastors described the church as mostly young families and students from Johnson and Wales, Brown, RISD and Providence College. Grace Harbor also planted three new churches, including Mount Hope Church in Bristol and Grace Harbor New Bedford, as well as a now defunct church on Cape Cod. […]

“It was tough to compete because of imports,” said Bradley Bento, who worked at Eagle Tool for 23 years. Bento said he’s seen many buildings in the Valley area transform after landlords sold them to conglomerates. “It was tough to manufacture from beginning to end when a lot of those buildings around there, real estate conglomerates were turning them into high end lofts.” […]

The area has also been dubbed the Valley Arts District with several arts organizations located between Valley Street and Harris Avenue. Large buildings host artist studios like Make Do Studios and rented studios in the Ajay Land building, and the area is home to The Steel Yard and WaterFire Arts Center, both landmark art organizations in the Creative Capital. […]

Gary Wallace’s daughter Asya, who works at the printing shop, hoped Grace Harbor’s building would be used for artistic purposes as well.

“It would have been cool for a theater, or a performing art center, another place where people can go and express themselves,” said Asya Wallace. However, she is hopeful Grace Harbor’s large following will be looking to purchase banners, signs and posters from their print shop. “With the Baptist church comes many families, and those families have birthday parties, have weddings, have baptisms and communions.”

Pastors McKay and Rymer said they are looking forward to being connected to the neighborhood, even if people do not agree with their faith. In a largely LGBT-friendly city with an openly gay mayor, Grace Harbor’s faith statement says God makes all people male or female, and that marriage is between a biological male and a biological female. Rymer said they are “not trying to hide anything.”

“LGBT things are not our primary or even secondary goals of talking to anybody — Our goal is to help people come to know Jesus,” said Rymer, who said Mayor Brett Smiley visited the building about a year ago at the pastors’ invitation and bonded with them over Providence College basketball. “We’re gonna still try to be good neighbors,” said McKay.

— Halvarson, Eric. “Factory on the Woonasquatucket Being Transformed into 500-Person Capacity Baptist Church.” The Providence Eye, accessed June 20, 2026 from https://pvdeye.org/grace-harbor-church-new-location/