Born on June 9, 1768, in Derbyshire, England, Samuel Slater got involved in the textile industry at the young age of 14. Slater was apprenticed in a factory that manufactured textile machines. By age 17, Slater had been promoted to supervisor of machinery and construction in the mill. By age 21, he knew all that there was to know about textile manufacturing. Slater secretly (leaving England if you were a skilled worker was strictly forbidden) immigrated to the United States in seek of wealth (1789), as he thought Europe had reached its peak of industrialization.
Others had gone to the United States before him, but Slater was the first with the knowledge and experience of how to build, as well as operate, textile machinery. Upon arriving in the US, Samuel found work with Army and Brown textile, in Providence, R. I. , where he redesigned their equipment to English specifications. He reproduced the designs of Richard Arkwright, who had invented the spinning frame. Slater did not dare to write down designs before leaving England, but instead carried all of the designs in his head.
In 1793, with the support of investors and skilled artisans, Slater build the first water powered textile mill in Pawtucket. The Rhode Island System, Blackstone River Valley, became the model for the industries’ organizational methods. Slater would enlist entire families to work in his mills, who would live in company owned housing near the mills, shop in company owned stores, attend company owned schools, and churches. Unlike Massachusetts, the Blackstone River’s numerous falls provided ideal conditions for the development of small mill communities.
The Essay on textile mills in the south
Why did the textile workers union in the southern United States spread so rapidly? The textile industry was, at one time, one of the largest industries in the south. Starting in the late 1800?s with small local looms and spreading to become corporations controlling the south and whose influence stretched internationally. One of the south?s first textile corporations originated in Gaston County, ...
Slatersville, located on the Branch River, in present day North Smithfield, Rhode Island, was built by Samuel Slater and his brother John in 1803. By 1807, the village included the Slatersville Mill, the largest and most modern industrial building of its day, two tenement houses for workers, the owner’s house and the company store. Traditional New England Charm was given to the community by Henry P. Kendall who took a personal interest in the village and initiated many improvement projects. Slater’s wife developed a way of making high-quality cotton thread. To manufacture it Slater founded Samuel Slater and Company in 1798.
He later joined other family members in starting a textile plant in Pawtucket, R. I. By 1812 he controlled 12 manufacturing plants in New England. He also gave freely of his time as a consultant to other industrialists. Slater remained active in the textile business until his death on April 21, 1835, in Webster, Mass. Samuel Slater was the father of American Industrial Revolution.
The United States was at a crucial point in time, where it needed the skilled workers and facilities to produce textiles in order to sever its ties effectively with England. Slater was instrumental in this process.
