Samuel Slater - Expansion

Expansion

In 1793, now partners with Almy and Brown, Slater constructed a new mill for the sole purpose of textile manufacture under the name Almy, Brown & Slater. It was a 72-spindle mill; the patenting of Eli Whitney's cotton gin in 1794 ensured ample supplies of cotton from the South. Slater also brought the Sunday School system from his native England to his textile factory at Pawtucket, and hence to America.

In 1798 Samuel Slater split from Almy and Brown and formed Samuel Slater & Company in partnership with his father-in-law Oziel Wilkinson to develop other mills in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire.

In 1799 he was joined by his brother, John Slater, from England, a wheelwright who had spent some time studying the latest English developments and might well have gained experience of the spinning mule. He put him in charge of his own larger mill which he called the White Mill.

By 1810 Slater held part ownership in three factories in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. In 1823, he bought a mill in Connecticut. He then built factories that made textile machinery used by many of the region's mills, and formed a partnership with his brother-in-law to produce iron for use in machinery construction. Slater spread himself too thin, and was unable to coordinate or integrate his many different, spread out business interests. He refused to go outside his family to hire managers and after 1829 he made his sons partners in the new umbrella firm of Samuel Slater and Sons. His son Horatio Nelson Slater completely reorganized the family business, introduced cost-cutting measures, and gave up old-fashioned procedures, thereby making the firm one of the leading manufacturing companies in the United States.

Slater also hired recruiters to search for families willing to work at the mill. He also used means of advertisement to get more families into his business.