Hydro Hall of Fame: Honoring the Foundations of Hydropower

Three hydro plants were nominated in September 1996: Vulcan Street Hydroelectric Station, Columbia Canal Hydroelectric Plant, and Bridge Mill Power Station. Below is an excerpt of the Bridge Mill description.

#Bridge Mill Power Station: Linking the Industrial Revolution to Modern Technology

Pawtucket, Rhode Island, in the heart of the Blackstone River Valley, is considered the birthplace of the American Industrial Revolution. It was here that America’s first factory, Slater Mill, began spinning yarn from raw cotton in 1793. The force of the Blackstone River powered many mills and small industries throughout the 1800s, a time during which the river earned its nickname — the hardest working river in America.

In the 1890s, just 300 yards downstream from where Samuel Slater built his cotton mill a century earlier, industrialists Lyman and Darius Goff began construction of the Bridge Mill Power Station. The Goff brothers were continuing work begun by their father, who owned a large braid and plush mill.

The Goffs, however, were unable to obtain a charter to do business as an electric company due to opposition from the Pawtucket Gas Company. Rather than fight the competition, the brothers joined with the gas company to form the Pawtucket Electric Company. Bridge Mill became part of the electric system serving the city of Pawtucket.

Bridge Mill officially began operation on May 1, 1896, using water, steam, or a combination of both to generate electricity. Engineering publications of the time called it the “finest water-power electric station in New England,” citing both the combined utilization of water turbines and steam engines and the building’s architectural design.

The plant’s first customer was the Interstate Street Railway, and it soon became the main source of power to the city of Pawtucket. And, by 1915 it provided 75 percent of the power to nearby Woonsocket as well.

Bridge Mill’s five original generators had a total capacity of 750 kilowatts (kW). Water from the Pawtucket Falls traveled 130 feet through a 17.5-foot diameter, brick-lined, inlet waterway tunnel to the station.

During most of its life, Bridge Mill Power Station remained relatively unchanged. Direct current continued to be provided for many years to power several elevators in the city, and street lights were turned on and off manually from the station. A partial switch to alternating current was accomplished in 1910, and five new generators were installed in 1922, increasing capacity to 1,000 kW.

Ownership of Bridge Mill evolved over the years. The Pawtucket Electric Company merged in 1912 with the Pawtucket Gas Company and the electric and gas companies in Woonsocket to form Blackstone Valley Gas & Electric Company (BVG&E), serving seven communities. In 1964, the gas division was divested, leaving Blackstone Valley Electric Company as the owner of Bridge Mill. The leaders of BVG&E could be considered local folk heroes. David Daly served as the company president from 1924 to 1963. During his nearly 40-year reign, he was an ardent advocate of industrial expansion. His vice president, Captain William McGregor, worked for the company and its predecessors for 72 years, retiring in 1956 at age 92.

Bridge Mill was the hub of the electric company in the early and middle part of the 20th century. While electricity was generated in one part of the building, line crews were dispatched, appliances repaired, trucks fixed, and stock inventoried in other parts of the building.

Men who worked at the plant in the 1940s and 1950s recently shared several memorable tales: fishing in the forebay during coffee breaks; the days when the textile mills dumped dyes in the river, turning it green and blue and red; and the day that one of the 18-inch-wide leather belts broke, tearing a hole through the front door and landing in the parking lot.

But the most memorable stories of the “good old days” seem to revolve around the trash racks. Cleaning the steel grates that kept debris from reaching the turbines was considered the worst job in the company.

The upper racks, located at the falls where the water first entered the inlet tunnel, were accessed by an outside catwalk above the river. Between Bridge Mill and the upper racks was a theater and restaurant, where it was common practice for dishwashers to throw broken china out the window and into the river. On many occasions, Bridge Mill employees had dishes rain down on them as they maneuvered along the often-icy catwalk.

The lower racks are inside the station, so the smell of the river and the accumulated debris was overpowering. Workers cleaned the racks with a 20-foot-long rake. While trash and vegetation were the most common debris found, it was not unusual to remove animal remains — even a human one — from the racks.

Bridge Mill was deactivated in 1971 due to the high cost of maintaining the aging equipment. The station had supplied power continuously for 75 years.

As fuel costs escalated following the 1973 oil embargo, the utility renewed its interest in the plant. In 1980 Blackstone Valley Electric announced plans to rehabilitate Bridge Mill and started the work in 1983. The two-year rehabilitation project was completed in 1985. During the rehabilitation, the plant was cited by the National Register of Historic Places as “one of the earliest surviving electric power generating plants,” and “perhaps the finest 19th century example of this building type remaining in Rhode Island.” In 1986, the region — including the power plant and the historic Slater Mill — was designated by Congress as the Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor.

The rehabilitation project included the installation of two modern 850-kW generators. Operation of the plant is now automatic and can be controlled either from control panels in the station or at Blackstone Valley Electric’s Operations Center eight miles away in Lincoln. The dreaded cleaning of the trash racks has been automated, too.

Today the plant generates 7,200 megawatt-hours of electricity annually, displacing about 10,000 barrels of oil per year. The plant’s primary role is to provide power at peak hours of electrical demand while contributing to Blackstone Valley Electric’s efforts to diversify its fuel mix.

Bridge Mill Power Station’s 100th anniversary was celebrated on May 1, 1996, with the grand opening of the Bridge Mill Power Museum, located in the original generating room. Among the museum’s exhibits are the original generating equipment — some restored to working order by a local antique machinery expert — including governors, generators, turbines, and control panels.

Other exhibits include: photos and artifacts illustrating the early days of the electric utility industry in Rhode Island; an extensive collection of turn-of-the century meters; and a graphic history of “Three Centuries of Water Power on the Blackstone River.” Additional exhibits are planned.

The Bridge Mill Power Station and Museum is one more chapter in the lengthy industrial history of northern Rhode Island. It is an important link between the Industrial Revolution and the modern industrial age.

And at this rate, it may still be around to see the next revolution.

— By Todd B. McLeish, Public Information, Blackstone Valley Electric Company, 642 Washington Highway, Lincoln, RI 02865

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