Slater Mill

Old Slater Mill
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark
Location	Roosevelt Avenue, Pawtucket, Rhode Island
Coordinates	41°52′39″N 71°22′57″W / 41.87750°N 71.38250°W / 41.87750; -71.38250
Area	4.23 acres (1.71 ha)[1]
Built	1793
NRHP reference No.	66000001
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	November 13, 1966[2]
Designated NHL	November 13, 1966[3]

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

The mill's founder, British immigrant Samuel Slater - having apprenticed as a young man with industrialist Jedediah Strutt in Belper, England - arrived in Rhode Island with the desire to use English mill plans to build like mills in America. Slater - with capital provided by Moses Brown of Providence, Rhode Island - first produced a working set of machines necessary to spin cotton yarn using water power, with construction of the machines completed in 1793, with a working mill, dam, waterway and waterwheel. Manufacturing was based on the Arkwright cotton spinning system, which included carding, drawing, and spinning machines.

While celebrated as bringing upon the Industrial Revolution with the establishment of the first successful textile mill in the nation, Slater’s initial employment of young children ages 7-13 also brought the mill notoriety. Renowned photographer Lewis Hines documented the extremely harsh working conditions for the children, and publication of the images helped lead to the establishment of new laws created to help protect children.

Slater’s hiring practices involving children and families established a pattern that was replicated throughout the Blackstone Valley known as the "Rhode Island System".

The Rhode Island System was later eclipsed by Francis Cabot Lowell's Waltham System. 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.^[4]

Slater Mill was added to the National Register of Historic Places and designated a National Historic Landmark on November 13, 1966, the first property to be listed on the register.^[1][3] In December 2014, the mill was added to the newly formed Blackstone River Valley National Historical Park.