Ironstone, Massachusetts

The original Mill, built in 1814 by William Arnold, later burned and was rebuilt by David and Seth Southwick in the 1850s.

[1] William Arnold built this mill in 1814 to make yarn from raw cotton which was then woven into fabric by area families operating as cottage industries.

[1] In the 1850s this mill under management by Seth and Daniel Southwick, made denim fabric for Kentucky Blue Jeans.

[1] In the 1870s, David Southwick created Conestoga wagon wheels in his blacksmith shop in nearby south Uxbridge and Ironstone, which were used by pioneers traveling west.

[1] The Boston, Hartford and Erie Railroad served the Ironstone area in the 1860s for shipping goods to the markets west and east.

[1] Captain James Buxton (1745–1817),[2] served in the 11th Massachusetts Regiment (American Revolution) at Valley Forge and Saratoga, lived in the border area in the 18th century, in what is North Smithfield, Rhode Island at the Uxbridge line.

[3] Buxton's commission as Captain was signed by John Hancock, and he was given 300 acres (120 ha) of land in Worcester County, Massachusetts, in Uxbridge for service in the American Revolution.

She and fellow local Quaker Effingham Capron, another national anti-slavery leader, worked with the Underground Railroad at Ironstone, and in the Blackstone Valley and liberated many slaves.

With the relocation of Route 146 in 1984, a unique historic find emerged from a local cemetery in the Ironstone area near the state border.

An almshouse cemetery nearby was relocated with the Route 146 construction between 1981–1984 and resulted in historic archeology findings published by Boston University researchers.