A key site within Blackstone River Valley National Historical Park, Slater Mill is the first industrial building in America and a visitor contact station for the National Park. The grounds are open 24 hours/day.
When did the Slater Mill Close?
1895
Slater Mill was expanded six times in the 1800s. The building remained a cotton spinning mill until 1895. The evolution of Slater Mill. The top images are artist renditions of the mill from 1793 and 1850.
What was Slater Mill used for?
Slater Mill, built in 1793, was America’s first water-powered cotton mill. Here Samuel Slater used the waters of the Blackstone River to run machines to process raw cotton into thread.
What did the Slater Mill produce?
By 1791, a waterwheel drove the machinery that carded and spun cotton into thread. Slater employed families, including children, to live and work at the mill site. He quickly attracted workers. In 1803, Slater and his brother built a mill village they called Slatersville, also in Rhode Island.
When was Slater mill built?
1793
Old Slater Mill National Historic Landmark/Years built
How did the Slater mill Work?
Slater hired entire families, from able-bodied men and women right down to children, to work in his mill. In order to make it possible for these families to work long hours on little pay, Slater built a town around the mill where workers could live alongside one another and shop at the company store.
Where are the Slater Mills?
Pawtucket, Rhode Island
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.
Who invented the Slater Mill?
Samuel Slater
Samuel Slater introduced the first water-powered cotton mill to the United States. This invention revolutionized the textile industry and was important for the Industrial Revolution. Born in Derbyshire, England, to a prosperous farmer, Slater apprenticed at a mill at age 14.
Why is Slater Mill important?
Slater established his first mill in 1790 on the Blackstone River in Rhode Island. It was one of the first factories in the United States. Three years later, in Pawtucket, he built Slater Mill, the first American factory to successfully produce cotton yarn with water-powered machines.
How many textile mills did Samuel Slater own?
thirteen spinning mills
He eventually owned thirteen spinning mills and had developed tenant farms and company towns around his textile mills, such as Slatersville, Rhode Island.
What did Samuel Slater invent?
cotton mill
Where are the Slater mills?
