Atlantic Rayon Corporation/Thurston Manufacturing Company, 2000

Atlantic Rayon Corporation/Thurston Manufacturing Company is historically significant as a small manufacturing establishment associated with Providence's nineteenth- and twentieth-century specialized textile and metalworking industries, two of the city's most prominent industries, during the height of the city's expansion. The complex housed one of a handful ofknitted hosiery firms in Providence at the tum of the century and in the 1920s was occupied by. an experimental synthetic yam dyeing company formed by Franklin Process Company, a major New England dyeing and dyeing machinery firm, In addition, the complex has early associations with the ventures of industrial entrepreneur Royal Little and the subsequent creation of Textron, Inc., the nation's first large diversified conglomerate. In the metalworking area, the oldest building in the complex was built to house an eyelet manufacturing company, and since about 1930, the complex has been the home of a notable manufacturer of fine saws and cutting tools. Architecturally, the buildings which form the complex are valuable as representative examples of industrial construction from about 1870 to about 1930. The complex was determined individually eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places under criteria A and C by the Keeper of the National Register on February 22, 1993.