Slater Company Records

Jewett City is a small borough located in the eastern Connecticut town of Griswold, where the Pachaug River empties into the Quinebaug River. The first settler in 1771, Eleazer Jewett, set up a grist mill and, later, a saw mill, near the mouth of the Pachaug River. By the first decade of the nineteenth century, Jewett City also included a fulling mill and a carding mill.

In 1809, two Rhode Islanders, John W. Tibbits and Lafayette Tibbits came to Jewett City and purchased a mill privilege on the Pachaug. The following year, the Tibbits and seven other persons, mostly local businessmen, adopted the name, “The Jewett City Cotton Manufacturing Company,” (JCCMC), purchased two additional privileges, and built a small frame spinning mill. The mill's products were cotton yarn for warp and filling, and dyed and finished thread for weaving. The company built seven double tenements for its workers. The mill yard included a factory, dye house, grist mill, trip-hammer shop, and coal house. In 1815, the property of the JCCMC was declared to be worth $21,888.

Like many small eastern Connecticut cotton manufacturers, the JCCMC was never more than marginally successful. After enjoying several good years during the War of 1812, the company reorganized in 1815, and incorporated on 20 September 1816, with a board of directors consisting of John Wilson (a long-time Jewett City manufacturer), Charles Fanning (owner of a nearby cotton mill), and James Treat (owner of a cotton mill in Voluntown). The agent was Christopher Lippit, who had joined the partnership in 1813. Although power looms were installed at the mill, the company continued to struggle and finally was sold to Samuel and John Slater in 1823 for $17,100.

The importance of Samuel Slater to the development of the cotton textile industry in the United States is well known. Arriving from England in 1789 with the plans for early textile machinery in his head and with the financial support of Almy and Obadiah Brown of Providence, Rhode Island, Slater built and operated America's first cotton mill at Pawtucket, Rhode Island. This venture proved so successful that many others attempted to follow Slater's example. To stay ahead of the competition, Samuel invited his brother, John Slater, who had studied the latest advancements in English machinery, to join him in America. When John arrived in Pawtucket in 1803, he supervised the building of the new, advanced cotton spinning machines, known as Crompton's Mules.

Even though business continued to prosper, Samuel and John Slater were determined to expand their operations. In 1805, as a partner in the new firm of Almy, Brown and Slater, John supervised the purchase of 122 acres in Smithfield, Rhode Island, and the building of the new mills and a village, which was named Slatersville. John resided there until his death in 1843. In 1816, Samuel Slater moved to Oxford, Massachusetts, where he built a number of mills.

The 1820s saw further expansion and brought the brothers to Jewett City. Hearing about the financial problems of the JCCMC, John and Samuel Slater moved quickly in 1823 to complete their purchase of the JCCMC's land, buildings, and water rights. They bought this property outside their other partnerships and ran it under the name S. & J. Slater. John Slater managed the Jewett City mill from Slatersville, allowing Samuel to concentrate on his work at Oxford and his other interests.

At Jewett City, John Slater immediately began to make improvements, including building a new dam and stone mill and installing modern equipment. For about seven years, John Slater supervised the mill through an agent, William F. Clarke, who was also in charge of the company's store. In 1831, however, John Slater purchased Samuel's share in the Jewett City property and thereafter sent his son, John Fox Slater, to assist in the mill's management, and to oversee operations at a small mill at Hopeville, about three miles away, that John Slater had purchased in 1825.

On the death of John Slater in 1843, his two sons, John Fox and William S. Slater, inherited his business properties. In 1849, the brothers purchased the interests of Samuel Slater's heirs in Slatersville, and, in 1853, decided that William S. Slater should have charge of the Slatersville mills and that John Fox Slater should continue managing the Jewett City and Hopeville mills. They operated these properties under the name J. & W. Slater until 1872 when the partnership was dissolved, each brother gaining ownership of those mills in his charge.

John Fox Slater made many improvements to his Jewett City mills, and his activities had a considerable impact on the community. In 1846, the old wooden mill of the JCCMC was replaced by a new and much larger brick mill, the initial step in a process which saw the number of looms at the Jewett City plant increase from 90 to 449 over the next forty years. Around the mill, in an area of Jewett City known as Factory Hill, many tenements were constructed.

John F. Slater was succeeded by his son William A. Slater in 1884. Two years later, the Great Freshet of 1886 destroyed most of the dams along the Pachaug. The Slater mills were inundated, production was lost for many months, and more than $150,000 was spent for repairs. This crisis was surmounted and by 1896, the company's most prosperous period, 700 looms and 19,000 spindles were operating, providing employment for 500 people. The major products were stripes, plaids, flannels, shirtings, dress goods, and fancy colored goods.