Throughout Royal Mills, old cotton mill machinery even sees new life as furniture, structural railing components, and art installations.  Even the old 1861 dam and river rerouting have been reused, as designed, with a new one megawatt, hydro-powered turbine strong enough to power common areas of the campus.  

The Rhode Island cotton industry peaked in the late 19th century and declined precipitously after World War I when New England mills could no longer compete with southern states.  The textile worker strike of 1922, which began at Royal Mill, had a devastating effect on the New England textile industry at large.  Though area textile production saw a brief rebound during World War II, most mills had been abandoned or converted to other manufacturing and storage concerns by the 1960’s.

At the turn of the 20th century, water wheels were replace with 250 hp water turbines that transformed water power into electricity.  Turbine-generated electricity originally powered large motors on each floor that drove additional lineshafting.  Later, each textile machine was powered by an individual motor.

As of the 2004-2008 apartment renovation, a new hydroelectric turbine was installed to power all of the common areas around Royal Mills.  The turbine, though technologically brand new, is powered just like its cotton mill era predecessors using the original 1861 dam rerouting under the Royal Mill building.

Royal Mill produced both cotton thread, for resale, and cotton cloth.  B.B. & R. Knight Co. created the “Fruit of the Loom” cotton cloth brand in the mid 1850s.  Fruit of the Loom production moved to Royal Mill in 1921 where cotton weavers all manned multiple looms simultaneously.  Trimming, bleaching, and dyeing all took place at Royal Mill as well.

After B.B & R. Knight went bankrupt in 1935, Saybrooke Manufacturing Co. spun and wove woolen threads and cloths for about ten years.  Royal Mill was then sublet to numerous manufacturing concerns over the next 40 years before being abandoned and taken over by the town of West Warwick, Rhode Island in 1993.

At the hands of Struever Bros. Eccles & Rouse, what once was a bustling cotton mill now has been turned into some of Rhode Island’s nicest loft style apartments.  

Originally built in 1890, Royal Mills in West Warwick, Rhode Island operated as one of the world’s busiest hydro-powered cotton mills for over 30 years. Partially destroyed by fire in 1919, Royal Mills and its famous clock tower have endured 110 years of harsh weather, heavy industrial use, union strikes, political staging, misplaced cigarettes and dormant neglect.

After cotton production, the Royal Mill saw 40 years of high turnover by numerous manufacturing concerns until it was officially closed in 1993.  After sitting vacant and forgotten for over ten years, Struever Bros. Eccles & Rouse have recycled the 110 year old building into Rhode Island’s nicest one, two, and loft style bedroom apartments.