The first American cotton mill began operation on December 20, 1790. The mill in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, had water-powered machinery for carding and spinning cotton. A machine cards cotton by combing and untangling fibers while removing short undesirable fibers.

Textile production was the first great industry created. The textile industry in America began in New England during the late 18th century. By 1820, mills had spread south into Virginia and Kentucky and the first mill town was established in Massachusetts.

Moses Brown

Samuel Slater introduced the first water-powered cotton mill to the United States. This invention revolutionized the textile industry and was important for the Industrial Revolution. The Slater mill was the first American factory to successfully produce cotton yarn with water-powered machines.

Samuel Slater

In 1790, Samuel Slater built the first factory in America, based on the secrets of textile manufacturing he brought from England. He built a cotton-spinning mill in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, soon run by water-power.

• Because it was easy to transport materials in and finished goods out of the factory using barges or ships.
• Flowing water could be turned into mechanical power for tools.
• Water could be used for the boilers for steam power again for tools.

The first U.S. factories were built around the turn of the nineteenth century. Most were located in the northeastern states, and they were usually established by a group of local businessmen who remained involved in their day-to-day operation at some level.

power, mills were often built near rivers to harness the driving force of rushing water.

Why were early factories built near rivers? They were built near rivers because water wheels powered the movement of the machines.

Why did Karl Marx despise capitalism? Marx despised capitalism because he believed it created prosperity for only a few (rich people), and poverty for all. Adam Smith thought poverty could be cured by using a free market exchange.

A factory, manufacturing plant or a production plant is an industrial site, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another.

Centralized workplace – Rather than have individual workers spread out in their homes and workshops, the factory was a large central place where many workers came together to make products. Factories were necessary because the machinery was expensive, large, needed power, and was operated by many workers.

The factory system was a new way of organizing labor made necessary by the development of machines, which were too large to house in a worker’s cottage and much too expensive to be owned by the worker. Factories brought workers together within one building to work on machinery that they did not own.

Air pollution Factories contaminate the air by blowing chemical vapors and smoke out through vents and smokestacks, and by burning waste in open dumps or incinerators. Exhaust from generators, diesel trucks, and buses also fill the air with dangerous gases.

In 2019, direct industrial greenhouse gas emissions accounted for 23 percent of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, making it the third largest contributor to U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, after the Transportation and Electricity sectors.