Robert Rogerson

Rogerson, Robert, Born England circa 17XX? Died, Massachusetts, circa 18xx

Early life and career

Robert Rogerson was a native of England. He like Samuel Slater came from the UK with ideas to build textile mills. Robert Rogerson immigrated to America and came to Uxbridge. He acquired the Clapp Mill in 1817, which had been established on the Mumford River circa 1810. This was the oldest cotton mill built in Uxbridge. He was also a scholar, a musician and for many years, the president of Boston's Handel and Haydn Society. cite web|title="milltowns-Crown and Eagle"|publisher=conservationtech.com|url=http://conservationtech.com/RL's%20resume&%20pub's/RL-publications/Milltowns/1971-Globe-C&E-MILLS.htm|accessdate=2007-10-20] It appears that he was the husband of Ann Rogerson.

The Crown and Eagle Mills

Roger Rogerson then built two cotton mills at the Mumford River in Uxbridge, MA circa 1823-1827. The mills became known as the "Crown and Eagle Mills". The "Crown and Eagle Mills" have been written up as an architectural masterpiece of an early New England Mill Village.cite book|last=Langenbach|first=Randolph|authorlink=|title="The Crown and Eagle Mills, A remarkable Massachusetts Relic of the Industrial Revolution now in danger of destruction"
publisher=Boston Globe Sunday Magazine|location=Boston|date=1971-08-15] The Boston Globe published a summary of the Mill village in a 1971 edition.cite web|publisher=conservationtech.com|title="milltowns-Crown and Eagle"|accessdate=2007-10-20|] The Crown and Eagle Mills were burned around 1975. They have been restored to their former beauty and converted into Senior Housing. "Rogersons village", built by Robert Rogerson is now part of the Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor. [http://conservationtech.com/RL's%20resume&%20pub's/RL-publications/Milltowns/1971-Globe-C&E-MILLS.htm] The Crown Mill was named for Robert Rogerson's homeland, England, and the Eagle Mill for his adopted nation, the U.S.. The tasteful, aesthetic mill village, the dream of Robert Rogerson, spared no expense for the mill, mansion, company store and mill worker homes.cite web |title= Walking tours: Uxbridge |publisher= Blackstone Daily |url= http://www.blackstonedaily.com/Outdoors&Nature/WTuxbridge.htm |accessdate= 2007-09-23] . Uxbridge is in the Blackstone Valley, the earliest industrialized region in the U.S.

Afterwards

It is known that Rogerson's ownership of the Crown and Eagle ended around 1837. The business had failed, and was acquired by James Whitin, and the Whitin Family, who continued to operate the mill as the Uxbridge Cotton Mills. See also Whitinsville, Massachusetts for more history references of the "Whitin Machine Works".*cite book|last= Navin|first = Thomas|midde=R|authorlink= |coauthors=|title =The Whitin Machine Works since 1831: A textile machinery company in an industrial village; Harvard studies in business history| publisher=Russel and Russel|date=1969] Robert Rogerson's daughter, Elizabeth Slater Rogerson, died in Uxbridge, at age 18, on January 19, 1842. Robert Rogerson did not die in this community at least prior to 1850, but apparently resided here until at least the early 1840s. HIs wife may have been Ann Rogerson, who is listed in the Douglas Vital Records as wife of Robert Rogerson, having died in Douglas, Massachusetts. circa 1847. "Rogerson's Village Historic District" is on the National Register of Historic Places.

ee also

* List of Registered Historic Places in Uxbridge, Massachusetts
* Rogerson's Village Historic District
* North Uxbridge -- the main village nearby Rogerson's village
* Uxbridge, Massachusetts - center of the Blackstone Valley, New England's historic National Park area.

notes

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