1919 Map of Blackstone

About this map

The Blackstone River valley serves as the industrial and transit spine of this 1919 military survey, documenting a landscape where rail lines and river power shaped the growth of numerous mill towns. Several corridors including the Boston and Albany RR and the Providence and Worcester RR converge here, connecting settlements like Whitinsville, Uxbridge, and Millville. The terrain is defined by a series of prominent elevations such as Brigham Hill and Miscoe Hill, punctuated by the distinctive geological formation at Purgatory Chasm. This sheet, corrected by the Corps of Engineers, U.S. Army just after the Great War, captures the region's complex water management system, from the Mumford River to the reservoirs around Hopkinton and Woodville. It provides a clear record of early 20th-century Massachusetts and Rhode Island borderlands before modern highway expansion altered the valley.