Map of Proposed RR Routes from Boston to Blackstone River Valley, 1847
date: label: date made
content: 1847
notes: label: Description
content: This map depicts proposed railroad routes stretching from Boston, Massachusetts, into the “Valley of Blackstone,” or Blackstone River Valley, a region in the northern part of Rhode Island. As detailed in the description on the bottom right corner, this map was created after the railroad lines depicted in this map were advocated for before the Massachusetts State Legislature committee on railroads.
label: Description
content: This map displays the expansion of railways across the New England region, specifically into Blackstone Valley of Rhode Island, an area that encompasses communities like Pawtucket and East Providence. This region is known as the "Birthplace of the American Industrial Revolution” according to the Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Center. In 1793, the first American textile mill was built in Pawtucket by Samuel Slater, spurring American industrialization in the region and across the burgeoning nation. Following industrialization was the need for faster, cheaper, and more reliable connectivity between centers of industry. The Blackstone Canal was completed in 1828, providing a quicker and less expensive route for commercial activity and travel. The advent of railways became vital alongside the growth of industry, with the railway proposed in this map stretching into Blackstone River Valley and thus into a what was a center of industry, both historically and at that present moment. This map provided a visual representation of what became a railway stretching from Providence to Boston after the completion of the Providence to Worcester line in 1847. The products grown and manufactured in the Blackstone River Valley thus found an avenue to expand into markets across the New England region and the American Northeast more generally, contributing to the industrial and commercial boom of the nineteenth century.
label: Description
content: This map was donated by Howard F. Greene (1903-1983), former president of the Railway and Locomotive Historical Society of Harvard Business School. He was a life-long collector of railroadiana (materials related to railroads and railroad history), a majority of which related to the East Coast and New England more specifically.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Civil Engineering
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Howard F. Greene
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1981.0748.05
label: accession number
content: 1981.0748
label: catalog number
content: 1981.0748.05
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Map
label: Other Terms
content: Map; Lithograph
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 16 5/8 in x 21 1/2 in; 42.2275 cm x 54.61 cm