Reed pushes Blackstone Valley as national park

A U.S. senator is pushing to make parts of the Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor, recognized as the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, a national historic park.

Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., wants to include portions of the Blackstone River and Canal, the Old Slater Mill in Pawtucket and four mill villages - two in Rhode Island and two in Massachusetts - in the newly designated area. He called the land a "national treasure" and said designating it a national historic park would have important economic, historical and environmental benefits.

While Rhode Island has the Roger Williams National Memorial in Providence, a nod to the city's founder, this would be the state's first national historic park. The designation could help the state in its efforts to boost its flagging economy through tourism, identified by the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation as a pillar of its job creation plans.

A report on the future of the corridor, which stretches from Providence to Worcester, Mass., and includes 24 cities and towns, is due to Congress by July 18. The corridor was set to be cut off from federal funding in October, but Reed secured language in an appropriations bill for the current fiscal year that extends its eligibility a year beyond that while Congress decides its fate.

Reed is chairman of an appropriations subcommittee on the interior and environment, which oversees National Park Service funding.

The report to be considered by Congress outlines three options for the corridor, said Jan Reitsma, executive director of the Heritage Corridor Commission.

The first is to make just Slater Mill and the surrounding historic districts a national historic park. The second is to include the mill and the four villages - Slatersville in North Smithfield, Ashton in Cumberland and Whitinsville and Hopedale in Massachusetts. The third is to take no action.

Reitsma said Wednesday that designating parts of the corridor as a national historic park would provide stability in terms of federal funding for preservation of the culturally and historically significant area.

"When you are a heritage area ... you're never sure from year to year whether you're going to have funding and how much," he said. "It would basically provide assurance that the Park Service is here to stay and will play a role in the continuing preservation and the resources of the valley."

The Blackstone River powered the Slater Mill, America's first successful textile mill, beginning the nation's transformation from farms to factories, the National Park Service's website says.

Robert Billington, president of the Blackstone Valley Tourism Council, said the valley's designation as a national heritage corridor - and the potential designation of parts of it as a national historic park - would serve as a kind of "Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval," attracting investment and creating a destination for would-be visitors.

"National parks have a tendency to bring great things to communities," said Billington, who serves on the corridor commission and is its former chairman.

If Slater Mill and other villages become a national historic park, he said, there will be a ripple effect that benefits surrounding communities.

"We need to put the word 'park' somewhere in our bag of what Rhode Island is famous for," Billington said. "You come to New England, this is a place you've got to come to. You come to the United States, you want to see where things began."