Close to the shores of the Blackstone River in Pawtucket, Rhode Island lies the Old Slater Mill; the birthplace of the American Industrial Revolution. A ring bell inside the mill marks the start of a new working day for laborers in a factory filled with textiles machines from the late 1700’s. This is the first cotton spinning mill in America which uses a water-power or water frame technique to operate which is known as the Arkwright system, and therefore playing a prominent role in American Industrial History.
Samuel Slater was an apprentice of the textile mill industry who learned the nuts and bolts of mill’s processes, design and machinery in England. He brought this knowledge to America and in partnership with William Almy and Smith Brown successfully built the mill in 1793 earning him the title of “Father of the American Industrial Revolution.” Meanwhile in England, he was dubbed as “Slater the Traitor” because he shared his skills in the New Continent! Slater developed the “Rhode Island System” a management style where an entire family including children of 7 to 12 years old is hired to work in the factory. Mills throughout the Blackstone Valley followed suit.
The Old Slater mill, now a museum, has preserved a colonial style with its original beams and wood frames, and a bell tower. It houses 24 textile machines dated from 1775 to 1922. Visitors are transported back in time as a tourist guide vividly demonstrates the use of the machinery whose sound echoes an industrial era. Visitors can easily picture a typical work-day in the factory. The mill is a National Registered Historic Place, a National Historic Landmark and belongs the Blackstone River Valley National Historic Park.
The mill is located in the “Slater Mill Historic Site” along with two more historic buildings: The Wilkinson Mill and the Sylvanus Brown House.
The 1758 Sylvanus Brown House features a collection of textile artifacts such as a loom, a spinning wheel and other tools used to weave and make cloth by hand. Later on, this manual process was replicated in the Slater Mill but with machinery instead; making this house a predecessor of the Slater mill. It is also believed that Samuel Slater spent his first night in Pawtucket in this house.
The 1810 Wilkinson Mill is the last piece of the puzzle. The Wilkinson family owned a machinery shop where they built and fixed all the machinery used in the region. They built this mill to manufacture textile. David Wilkinson, notably, invented a lathe for cutting screw threads which became a linchpin tool in the development of the water-power textile industry and the machinery system as a whole. David is also known as “The Leader of the Machine Tool Industry.” In 1791, Hanna Wilkinson, David’s sister, married Samuel Slater fostering a solid business relationship between the two families. As a result, the Wilkinson became business partners.
Today, visitors can tour the Wilkinson mill, a registered historic site, which exhibits the lathe, and the machinery used in those days. To visitor’s delight, the tourist guide ignites some of them recreating a working environment in the factory! The mill still retains its original structure; a brick tower, a belfry, stone walls and the splendid 16,000-pounds waterwheel which still supplies water-power to the old machinery currently displayed. The mill clearly exemplifies the effort done in the industrial times.
As an added benefit, paranormal activity has been reported in all three historic buildings. Some visitors have heard children voices, particularly a boy voice and the staff have found items misplaced or found in a different location specially in the Sylvanus Brown House.
Important Information
Entrance fee is $12 dollar for adults
Photography and video are allowed inside the museums
Visitors can only tour the museums with a guided tour
Open from 10 to 4 p.m
Open from March to November
Photo Gallery : Old Slater Mill
Photo Gallery: Sylvanus Brown House
Photo Gallery: Wilkinson Mill
