After Robert Rodman returned from the eye-opening 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition, he moved quickly to pursue his goal of competing with larger broadcloth mills to the north by building his new Lafayette Mill. Materials and machinery for the project passed through the nearby Wickford Junction railyard, including the great Corliss steam engine built in Providence. Finished a little more than a year later, the complex included a three-story factory 316 feet long and 55 feet wide, with two towers 51 and 70 feet high and a 92-foot brick chimney, as well as a powerhouse for the steam engine, a large brick barn for draft animals, a brick warehouse on Ten Rod Road, and a small brick office. A previously built dyehouse by the mill pond and a circa 1800 wooden mill building were also used in production. Rodman's new product lines centered on two fabrics: Humboldt Doeskin Jean, an upgraded form of the negro goods fabric he had made before the Civil War for working men's clothing, and Merino Cassimere, a better-quality cotton-wool blended worsted fabric. Over time, as demand and conditions changed, Rodman Manufacturing shifted away from the denim product and concentrated on woolen and wool-blend fabrics.