The Slater Mill is a historic water-powered

textile mill Textile Manufacturing or Textile Engineering is a major industry. It is largely based on the conversion of fibre into yarn, then yarn into fabric. These are then dyed or printed, fabricated into cloth which is then converted into useful go ...

complex on the banks of the

Blackstone River The Blackstone River is a river in the U.S. states of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. It flows approximately 48 mi (80 km) and drains a watershed of approximately 540 sq. mi (1,400 km2). Its long history of industrial use has lef ...

Pawtucket, Rhode Island Pawtucket is a city in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 75,604 at the 2020 census, making the city the fourth-largest in the state. Pawtucket borders Providence and East Providence to the south, Central Fa ...

, modeled after cotton spinning mills first established in England. It is the first water-powered cotton spinning mill in North America to utilize the Arkwright system of cotton spinning as developed by

Richard Arkwright Sir Richard Arkwright (23 December 1732 – 3 August 1792) was an English inventor and a leading entrepreneur during the early Industrial Revolution. He is credited as the driving force behind the development of the spinning frame, known as ...

. Samuel Slater, the mill's founder, apprenticed as a young man in

Belper Belper is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Non-metropolitan district, local government district of Amber Valley in Derbyshire, England, located about north of Derby on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent. As w ...

, England, with industrialist Jedediah Strutt. Shortly after immigrating to the United States, Slater was hired by Moses Brown of

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay ...

, to produce a working set of machines necessary to spin cotton yarn using water power. Construction of the machines was completed in 1793, as well as a dam, waterway, waterwheel, and mill. Manufacturing was based on

's cotton spinning system, which included carding, drawing, and spinning machines. Slater initially hired children and families to work in his mill, establishing a pattern that was replicated throughout the Blackstone Valley and known as the "

Rhode Island System The Waltham-Lowell system was a labor and production model employed during the rise of the textile industry in the United States, particularly in New England, amid the larger backdrop of rapid expansion of the Industrial Revolution in the early 1 ...

". It was later eclipsed by Francis Cabot Lowell's

Waltham System The Waltham-Lowell system was a labor and production model employed during the rise of the textile industry in the United States, particularly in New England, amid the larger backdrop of rapid expansion of the Industrial Revolution in the earl ...

. The mill and surrounding area were the site of early labor resistance, including the first factory strike in the United States, which was led by young women workers in 1824. Slater Mill was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artist ...

and designated a National Historic Landmark on November 13, 1966, the first property to be listed on the register.Blanche Higgins Schroer (September 15, 1975) , National Park Service and In December 2014, the mill was added to the newly formed Blackstone River Valley National Historical Park.

Architectural history

The original portion of the Slater Mill built in 1793 was six bays long and two stories tall. Several additions were made beginning in 1801, and a second added in 1835. Between 1869 and 1872, a large addition was made to the north end of the mill. Cotton spinning continued until 1895, after which the mill was used for various industrial purposes until 1923. The building had suffered numerous fires in the past, and two fires occurred in 1912 which precipitated awareness of the building and the need for its preservation.

From mill to museum

In 1921, the non-profit Old Slater Mill Association was founded with the purpose of saving the historic Mill. Efforts to restore the mill began in 1923; modern additions to the structure were removed, restoring the mill to its 1835 appearance. In 1955, it opened as a museum. Restoration of the nearby

Wilkinson Mill David Wilkinson (January 5, 1771 – February 3, 1852) was a U.S. mechanical engineer who invented a lathe for cutting screw threads, which was extremely important in the development of the machine tool industry in the early 19th century. Early ...

(built 1810–1811) was completed in 1978 as part of the Slater Mill site. The Slater Mill site now serves as a museum, educational center, and music venue, which "celebrates innovation and the entrepreneurial spirit by engaging audiences in relevant cultural, historic, and artistic endeavors". It includes five acres of land on both sides of the Blackstone River, a dam on the river, two historic mills (the Slater Mill and Wilkinson Mill), and the Sylvanus Brown House (a house built in 1758 but moved to the site in the 1960s). The Slater Mill and other key buildings that are part of the

Old Slater Mill Historic District Old or OLD may refer to: Places *Old, Baranya, Hungary *Old, Northamptonshire, England * Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD) *OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, Ma ...

were acquired by the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government within the United States Department of the Interior, U.S. Department of ...

in 2021. File:Slater Mill, Pawtucket, Rhode Island.jpg, Slater Mill (1793) File:Slater Mill - a Spinning Mule.jpg, A

spinning mule The spinning mule is a machine used to spin cotton and other fibres. They were used extensively from the late 18th to the early 20th century in the mills of Lancashire and elsewhere. Mules were worked in pairs by a minder, with the help of tw ...

in Slater Mill File:Wilkinson Mill, Pawtucket, Rhode Island.jpg, Wilkinson Mill (1810–11) File:Sylv Brown House Pawt.jpg, Sylvanus Brown House File:Slater Mill Historic Site, Pawtucket, Rhode Island.jpg, View of the site File:Slater Mill - Wilkinson Machine Shop.jpg, The Wilkinson Machine Shop

References

External links

* * *
''Providence Journal'' video of Slater Mill Historic Site''Providence Journal'' video of the Blackstone RiverPawtucket Arts Festival
{{Authority control 1793 establishments in Rhode Island Buildings and structures in Pawtucket, Rhode Island Cotton mills in the United States Historic American Buildings Survey in Rhode Island Historic American Engineering Record in Rhode Island History of the textile industry Industrial archaeological sites in the United States Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Rhode Island Industrial buildings completed in 1793 Industrial Revolution Industry museums in Rhode Island Mill museums in the United States Museums established in 1955 Museums in Providence County, Rhode Island National Historic Landmarks in Rhode Island National Register of Historic Places in Pawtucket, Rhode Island Textile machinery manufacturers Textile museums in Rhode Island Tourist attractions in Pawtucket, Rhode Island 1955 establishments in Rhode Island Blackstone River Valley National Historical Park

Architectural history

From mill to museum

See also

References

External links