FIRST - Successful Cotton Mill in America
N 41° 52.664 W 071° 22.951
19T E 302301 N 4638945
The Old Slater Mill in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, USA, was the first successful cotton mill in America.
Waymark Code: WM690G
Location: Rhode Island, United States
Date Posted: 04/25/2009
Views: 10
A plaque on the mill reads as follows:
"In commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the founding of the First Successful Cotton Mill in America this tablet was presented to the Old Slater Mill Association, present owners of this historic building in honor of the textile pioneer whose name they perpetuate. Samuel Slater, father of the American factory system. From this little mill started by Slater in 1790, grew America’s great cotton manufacturing industry whose products are known around the world."
Another plaque on the mill provides the following information:
"The birthplace of the cotton manufacturing industry in America. Here in 1793 Samuel Slater, Moses Brown, and William Almy established the first successful cotton factory in the United States."
The following additional information about the Slater Mill Historic Site is from Wikipedia:
It is generally cited as the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution in America. It is modeled after a mill in England where Samuel Slater, the mill's founder, had been an employee. Moses Brown of Providence, Rhode Island, Brown family was one of the major owners of the Mill.
Slater Mill was built in 1793. It served as the first commercially viable cotton-spinning mill in the United States. It was used to convert raw cotton into cloth. Slater brought this new technology from England where he had learned it from Jedediah Strutt. Slater's design was based on Richard Arkwright's cotton spinning system which included carding, drawing, and spinning machines.
Slater Mill has the distinction of carrying the first, lowest reference number in the National Register of Historic Places reference number series, although many hundreds of other sites were listed on the NRHP before it. The site was further designated a National Historic Landmark on the same date in 1966.
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