From the 1981 RIHPHC Industrial Sites Report:
Established in 1842 by N.A. Fenner, the New England Butt Company manufactured cast-iron butt hinges. By 1880, however, the introduction of cheaper, stamped-metal butts rendered cast-iron butts obsolete, and the company turned to the manufacture of braiding machinery.
The oldest building in this complex is the much altered 2-story, monitor roofed, frame building in the center of the block on Perkins Street, built between 1849 and 1857. The main building, constructed in in 1865 from plans by Spencer R. Read, is a handsome, gable roofed, brick structure with corbeled brick cornices, brick window caps, and arched door surrounds. This building, fronting on Pearl Street, was originally used for machining and assembling. A long, brick two-story wing built at the same time behind the main building was later raised to three stories. Although this building has window caps identical to the main building, it may incorporate an older structure. In 1951 a large, flat one-story glass and brick structure replaced the foundry on Perkins and Rice Streets.
By 1901 the New England Butt Company employed 200 skilled workers in the manufacture of braiding machines for silk, worsted, and cotton braid as well as telephone, electric light and crinoline wire. The Wanskuck Corporation bought the New England Butt Company in 1955. (As of 1981,) the factory continues to produce braiding machinery and cabling machinery at this site as well as the works of the former Providence Steam Engine Company at 521 South Main Street.
“Frank and Lillian Gilbreth Bring Order to Providence: The
Introduction of Scientific Management at the New England
Butt Company, 1912-13,”
by Jane Lancaster
RIHS’s RI History, 1997
VOL.55
Added to the national register of historic places on January 7, 1980
Link to the Providence Preservation Society Industrial Sites and Commercial Buildings Survey 2001-2002
