All Pawtucket All The Time

Pawtucket Mayor Donald R. Grebien addresses overspill crowd at downtown Visitor Center in Pawtucket in support of National Historical Park designation for Blackstone Valley elements in National Park Service proposal at public hearing.

May I just extend a warm welcome to Pawtucket, where we have been making national history since the mill wheels began turning across the road at Slater Mill in 1793.

We are gratified by tonight’s turnout, which shows the high level of interest and support for designating the Old Slater Mill Site, as well as two villages in Rhode Island and two in Massachusetts, along with the Blackstone River and Blackstone Canal, for possible inclusion in a new National Historical Park.

In the 25 years since the John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor was created, the Valley’s wealth of economic, historic, recreational and cultural resources and potential has come into renewed focus.

Now the Blackstone Valley, by turning to the roots of its past, and with the help of local governments, preservationists and the public, has found its way to the threshold of a new future as a living historical treasure.

By virtually every standard, the Corridor has been a great success. It has served as an investment to bring visitor centers and museums, preserve and restore historic structures, and to create public access to long hidden vistas. It has revived our rich history for a new generation.

But as we all know, the Corridor’s federal funding is due to expire in October [2012], unless National Historical Park status can be achieved to succeed it.

The worthiness of each historic element in that plan is discussed in scholarly detail in the extensive National Park Service resource study assembled by experts in their fields.

I cannot add to their historical assessment except to say that any park is only as good as the enjoyment it brings to the people who use it. And by that important standard, the Valley’s historic jewels deserve the formal recognition of what all of us who love it already recognize they have become: Worthy of designation as a National Historical Park.

Thank you.