Slatersville Finishing Company - Slatersville RI
Posted by: 
nomadwillie
N 42° 00.015 W 071° 34.649
19T E 286532 N 4653017
The complex is dominated by a four story stone mill, built in 1826 to replace one that was destroyed by fire and built in 1806.
Waymark Code: WMQV7R
Location: Rhode Island, United States
Date Posted: 03/30/2016
Views: 3
On one side is the Congregational Church, facing south and overlooking the buildings of the Finishing Company in a hollow to the left. (paragraph 30
The modern Slatersville Finishing Company buildings fill up the hollow in the center of the village(L), the Green. Heere also is the old wood building (1804) of the Slater enterprise, and the Stone Mill(1826) with a belfry. In the 19th century this bell was rung as curfew to warn youngsters off the streets at 9 P.M. (paragraph 8)
p 377, Rhode Island, A Guide to the Smallest State, 1937
Slatersville is now part of North Smithfield and set on the banks of the Branch River. It consists of 5 main roads, Main St, North Main, Green St, School St and Railroad Ave. The complex is dominated by a four story stone mill, built in 1826 to replace one that was destroyed by fire and built in 1806. In total there are 4 building / mills that make up the mill complex. Included in the district are residential properties as well as 2 churches, Town Hall and a few commercial buildings.
The first successful cotton mill in the US was established in Pawtucket by Samuel Slater. 15 years after the building and establishment of that mill, Samuel Slater built the first mill in Slatersville. Before Slater there were existing mills on the site known as Buffam's Mills which was a grist mill, saw mill and had a few shops. Upon building the first textile mill in 1807, Slatersville became the first textile mill village in Rhode Island and quite possibly the US.
In 1915 the mills were purchased by Henry Kendall, who tried to transform the community into a model of high principal and moral rectitude. The mill residential properties were bare bone living spaces, Kendall set out to individualize the properties by adding porticoes, porches, arbors, planting trees and painting the houses different colors.
In 1954 Slaterville ceased to be a company town with the mills being closed down and the residential properties owned by the mill were sold.
Book: Rhode Island
Page Number(s) of Excerpt: 377
Year Originally Published: 1937
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