National Park Service - Rhode Island Historical Preservation ...

- ftBI8-y
8. Significance
Period Areas of Significance-check and justify below -
prehistoric archeology-prehistoric X_ community planning X landscape architecture_ religion
-- 1400-1499 archeology-historic conservation law - science
1500-1599 agriculture economics literature sculpture
- 1600-1699 & architecture education military 2_ social!
-- 1700-1799 X. art X engineering music humanitarian
_1 1800-1899 commerce exploration/settlement philosophy - theater
& 1900- communications -X- industry -- politicsigovernment transportation
invention - other specify
Specific datesc1790-1937 Bu,lderArch.tect multiple, see inventory -
Statement of Significance in one paragraph
Peace Dale deserves recognition as a major example of an -.
important New England phenomenon, the textile mill village.
Developed during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries,
Peace Dale retains a high level of integrity. It is significant
architecturally as an exemplar of its type containing
characteristic industrial, residential, civic, and religious
buildings, as well as a large number of noteworthy structures of
all these varieties designed by architect Frank Angell and/or by
mill owner and amateur architect Rowland Hazard II. It is also
notable architecturally for a collection of stone-built
structures illustrating the highly regarded craftsmanship of
local masons. In the area of art, Peace Dale is significant as
the site of a fine monument, "The Weaver", by Daniel Chester
Frerch. In the area of landscape architecture, this is the
setting for two handsome designs created by Charles Eliot, the
"Water Way" and the grounds of the Hazard Memorial library and
auditorium. In the field of community planning, Peace Dale’s
studied informality and the special efforts the mill-owning
Hazard family took to avoid the usual visual character of a
company town bear note. The village has significance in the area
of engineering due to its well preserved hydropower system and
five stone-arch nineteenth-century bridges, all designed by
Rowland Hazard II. -The industrial heritage of Peace Dale is
considered important on several bases: the fabric of its factory
complex is remarkably intact; the Peace Dale Manufacturing
Company was an early, innovative, prize-winning producer of
woolen goods; and- the mills and village were the creation of the
Hazard family, who experimented here with a number of enlightened
labor policies and attained prominence thereby in the annals of
American industry. Finally, Peace Dale possesses significance in
the "social/humanitarian" category, most particularly because its
history and physical development so beautifully reflect the
concept of benevolent paternalism which guided generations of
Hazard family members as owners, leaders, and benefactors of the
village. -
Peace Dale is at once typical and unique: typical in that
it is a rural industrial village, a common New England
phenomenon; unique in its state of preservation, historic
importance, and beauty. Peace Dale ranks with a handful of other
communities as a truly outstanding example of this regional type.
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