Cannonball Safe at Riverside Park - Providence, Rhode Island - Preserved Machines on Public Display on Waymarking.com

This spherical steel safe was used in the Riverside offices of the American Woolen Company. Weighing in at 24,000 pounds, it dates from circa 1878 and is now on display at Riverside Park in the Olneyville neighborhood of Providence, Rhode Island. An adjacent sign reads:

The Cannonball Safe

This spherical steel safe was used in the Riverside offices of the American Woolen Company. It protected the money used as payroll for the mill workers as well as other funds used in the day-to-day operation of the business.

Spherical or cannonball safes were first introduced in the 1860s and were considered so safe that they were often prominently displayed in banks and other businesses. In 1878, William Corliss founded the Corliss Safe Company in Providence which specialized in the manufacture of spherical safes. Their signature design featured a concentrically rotating core and shell with no recognizable door. The safe offered no corners, edges, rivets, or welds that could be exploited by robbers. Time locks allowed the safe to be opened only during business hours, preventing robbers from forcing a bank employee to open the safe outside the set time.

You can watch a video about Corliss cannonball safes with this special "sneak peek" of the one in the basement of New England Wireless & Steam Museum.

Riverside Park today is the result of a two-decade transformation of the former Riverside Mills site where there was a factory with 11 buildings alongside the Woonasquatucket River. The business was in operation from 1863 to 1937. After fire destroyed the complex in 1989, the ruble became an open dumping ground. The clean-up began in 1998 and led to the park's opening in 2008. Its many amenities include a segment of the Woony Greenway bike and pedestrian trail, a grass and flower meadow, a community garden, playgrounds, outdoor community stage, lots of public artwork, a boat launch, bike shop, and the Atlantic Mills Fish Ladder.

Type of Machine: Corliss Cannonball Safe Year the machine was built: c. 1878 Year the machine was put on display: 2008 Is there online documentation for this machine: [Web Link]

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