Though much obscured by remodeling and/or subsequent enlargement, these two stone industrial buildings, with their clerestory monitor lighting in the roofs, are the oldest extant remaining Woonsocket mill buildings. Built by three Jenckes brothers, who had earlier invested in the Social Mills, these buildings formed the nucleus of the village of Jenckesville on Peter's River.
Located at what was the upper privilege of Peter's River and built originally to produce cotton cloth, No. 1 Mill (
WO5.1), with its random masonry walls, must have seemed, even before its near eclipse by the larger brick addition of 1901, much less imposing than the only slightly later No. 2 Mill (
WO5.2), built of nearrectangular granite blocks. (About 1901 Joseph Guerin, a Belgian who was among the French-speaking European entrepreneurs attracted to Woonsocket in the early twentieth century, established his Guerin Spinning Company in No. 2 Mill.) Although the Social Street side of the second building and three sides of its tower have been covered with vinyl siding, it is still possible to appreciate the quality of the rugged construction of this mill from the rear, where three-quarters of the old building pops from this sheathing. All windows and the narrow monitor on the gable ridge are blinded, but the walls and overall shape remain. The size and
The three-story brick double house at 837–839 Social Street was a Jenckes mansion. Beneath the tier of porches which marks its conversion to a triple-decker is a grand Federal house. Housing at 752 and 842 Social Street also remains from the original village.