Slater Mill Historic Site

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Old Slater Mill
Pawtucket slater mill.jpg
Location Roosevelt Avenue, Pawtucket, Rhode Island
Coordinates Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Area 4.23 acres (1.71 ha)[1]
Built 1793
NRHP Reference # 66000001
Significant dates
Added to NRHP November 13, 1966[2]
Designated NHL November 13, 1966[3]

The Slater Mill is a historic textile mill complex on the banks of the Blackstone River in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Modeled after cotton spinning mills first established in England, the Slater Mill is the first water-powered cotton spinning mill in North America to utilize the Arkwright system of cotton spinning as developed by Richard Arkwright.

Samuel Slater, the mill's founder, apprenticed as a young man in Belper, England with industrialist Jedediah Strutt. Shortly after immigrating to the United States, Slater was hired by Moses Brown of Providence, Rhode Island to produce a working set of machines necessary to spin cotton yarn using water-power. Construction of the machines, as well as a dam, waterway, waterwheel and mill was completed in 1793. Manufacturing was based on Richard Arkwright'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". It was later eclipsed by Francis Cabot Lowell's Waltham System.

Slater Mill was added to the National Register of Historic Places and designated a National Historic Landmark on November 13, 1966.[1][3] In 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. During the 19th and early 20th century several additions were made beginning in 1801 and a second 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 uses until 1923. Although the building had suffered numerous fires in the past, two fires occurred in 1912 which precipitated awareness of the building and the need for its preservation.

From mill to museum

In 1921 a non-profit organization, the 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 (built 1810-1811) was completed in 1978 as part of the Slater Mill site.[4]

The Slater Mill site now serves as a living history museum, educational center and community center. 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).

See also

Gallery

  • Slater Mill

  • Wilkinson Mill

  • Sylvanus Brown House

  • View from Main Street Bridge

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Blanche Higgins Schroer (September 15, 1975) National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Old Slater Mill / Old Slater Mill; Slater Mill Historic Site, National Park Service and Accompanying 6 images, including print from ca. 1812, drawing from 1907, and photos from 1973 and 1974 and undated
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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