Slatersville, Rhode Island
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Slatersville Historic District | |
|---|---|
| (U.S. Registered Historic District) | |
 |
|
| Location: | Slatersville, Rhode Island |
| Built/Founded: | 1805 |
| Architect: | Unknown |
| Architectural style(s): | Greek Revival |
| Added to NRHP: | April 24, 1973 |
| NRHP Reference#: | 73000002 |
| Governing body: | Local |
Slatersville is a village and historic district in North Smithfield, Rhode Island, United States on the Branch River. Slatersville was affiliated with and named after Samuel Slater and John Slater (industrialist).
Contents |
[edit] History
The region was originally settled in the 1600s by British colonists as a farming community. The village was founded in 1803 by entrepreneurs, Samuel Slater and John Slater (industrialist), in partnership with the Providence firm of Almy and Brown. The firm purchased the land and began construction of a textile mill. By 1807, the village included the Slatersville Mill, "the largest and most modern industrial building" of its day, two houses for workers, the owner's house and the company store. When the first mill building was destroyed by fire in 1826, it was replaced by the large stone mill which stands on the site today. Behind the 1826 mills stands a stone mill of similar design built in 1843. The mills were powered by water from the large Slatersville reservoir. Slatersville Green was laid out in 1838 in a traditional New England pattern. Many of the houses around the Green were built by the Slater company in 1810-20. They were substantially renovated earlier in the twentieth century to make Slatersville look more like a traditional New England Village. At the head of the Green stands the Slatersville Congregational Church, a steepled Greek revival building, which houses the oldest continuously operated Sunday School in America. The Slater family owned the village until 1900 when it was sold to T.R. Hoope who used the mills to bleach and dye cloth. In 1915, Hoope sold the Slatersville to Henry P. Kendall. Kendall took a personal interest in the village and initiated many of the improvements which give Slatersville its traditional New England character. Today, Slatersville is now owned by private individuals and in 1973 it became a National Historic District, bounded by Main, Green, Church, and School Sts. and Ridge Rd., with 3100 acres, 149 buildings.
 John Slater and Ruth Slater co-founders of Slatersville |
 Slatersville Grange |
 1921 photo of the Stone Arch Bridge over the Branch River and Slater mills in the distance |
 Slater Mill North Smithfield RI |
 Slatersville Common |
 Slatersville Common |
 Slatersville Common |
 Slatersville Mill |
[edit] Further reading
- History You Can See - Scenes of Change In Rhode Island 1790-1910 written by Hadassah Davis and Natalie Robinson and published by the League of Rhode Island Historical Societies, Providence, 1986.
- Working Water - A Guide to the Historic Landscape of the Blackstone River Valley published by the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management and the Rhode Island Parks Association, 1987.
- Walter Nebiker, The History of North Smithfield (Somersworth, NH: New England History Press, 1976).
[edit] External links
|
||||||||||||||||
- ^ National Register Information System. National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service (2007-01-23).
 |
This Rhode Island state location article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
[edit] See also
|
||||||||||
