Slater Mill Museum

Slater Mill Museum Review

Concord and Lexington may lay legitimate claim to what Ralph Waldo Emerson called "the shot heard round the world" in 1776, but Pawtucket's Slater Mill would provide the necessary economic shot in the arm through its own industrial revolution and secure America's sovereign independence in the decades that followed. Built in 1793, this National Historic Landmark was the first successful water-powered spinning mill in America and spawned the textile manufacturing industry. The museum complex explores America's second revolution, with expert interpretive guides dressed in period clothing who demonstrate the fiber to yarn, and the yarn to fabric processes, and discuss how industrialization forever changed this nation. On-site are collections of hand-operated and powered machinery, a 120-seat theater, two gift shops, a gallery, and a recreational park.