(rain falling) - [Narrator] In 1993, an artist was hired to create a painting that would tell the story of the first mill village in America.

(thunder rolling) - [Mays] Good morning to you all.

- [Audience] Good morning.

- [Mays] On a typical New England morning.

(string music) - Maxwell Mays was probably the most famous artist of the 20th century in Rhode Island, the most popular artist.

(whimsical music) He chose to paint in the folk style because he loved his paintings to tell stories.

And because of his interest in history, if he could marry the two, that would be even better.

He particularly knew a lot about almost every village in Rhode Island and its history, but he particularly knew a lot about mill Villages.

He loved mill Villages and did many paintings of them.

People feel, and I've seen it so many times, when people see his paintings, they feel so connected to them.

They tell a story.

He wants to get people to engage in preserving those stories, preserving the things that happened, so that they could pass them on.

That's what Max did.

He illustrated American life.

For well over a half century, Max was a dominant force in the Providence Art Club.

He was a bigger than life person and a generous person and he loved this club more than anything.

(whimsical music intensifies) This was considered, in the Providence Art Club, Max's table.

Max would sit here.

I usually sat here.

Every time he was at this table, it was the loudest table in this entire cafe area.

(crowd chattering) And frequently, those guests would be people coming to ask for a favor of a painting to be donated to raise money for a cause.

And in the case of Slatersville, Max was already familiar with the history of it being the first mill village, but then we said, "Let's take a ride."

And we took a ride to Slatersville.

When Max was going to do a painting, he liked to drive around the area to get a feeling of, you know, what it had been.

He could see the changes, but he wanted to get a sense of the space.

I think it was kind of sad to see the condition of some of the buildings at the time.

This was 1993.

He really enjoyed seeing so much of the village that existed and could picture the daily life that went on.

There was some really beautiful early homes along this stretch that I know made the painting.

(ominous music) The painting of any village wouldn't be complete without the most elegant house in the village being depicted.

It must have been really elegant.

I don't know what happened to it, but it's long gone, I guess.

All the talks got off into tangents about the need for more historic preservation.

I think that sort of struck us both.

You know, "What if?

"What if this could have a new life?"

But he thought this project would be a great way to bring attention to it and bringing back an image of what Slatersville had been.

- [Narrator] After researching the village's history, Maxwell Mays chose to depict an era in which all of its known buildings were present and fully functioning.

He would call it "Slatersville 1895."

- If you look at that beautiful Slatersville painting with the church and then all of the houses, and then removed from it by a path, is the factory.

The factory wasn't foremost.

It was to the kids, but where did the fathers work?

In that painting, you see the fields behind.

They're farmers.

(somber music) - [Narrator] But it was those who plowed these fields and their loved ones who labored in the mills who would grow increasingly resentful of management and the mill owners themselves, and by the end of the 1890s, they would reach their breaking point.

Today, Maxwell Mays' painting of Slatersville is shown proudly in countless homes and public buildings throughout North Smithfield, including this original print in the local bank, on which Mays himself left his mark.

(dramatic music) - [Voiceover] "The men who understood the power source "were every bit as important as the ones who understood "the spinning and weaving machinery.

"It was an age of invention and opportunity.

"Every whirring spindle, every clicking loom, "was making somebody rich."

(orchestral music) (orchestral music continues) (orchestral music continues) (orchestral music continues) (orchestral music continues) (orchestral music continues) (orchestral music continues) (orchestral music continues) (orchestral music continues) (orchestral music continues) (orchestral music continues) (orchestral music continues) (orchestral music continues) (orchestral music continues) (orchestral music continues) (orchestral music continues) (birds chirping) - [Narrator] In 1880, a 28 year old man was on the verge of being handed the reigns of owning and managing the nation's first mill village.

He would represent a family in its third generation, whose English-born roots had immigrated to America, created an empire of mills and achieved world-renowned success in the manufacturing of cotton.

John Whipple Slater had the world at his fingertips.

In Slatersville, he was known as Mr. Slater, but at his sister Elizabeth's home in Warwick, he had a different name.

- My Mother always referred to John Whipple Slater as Uncle Johnny, because he was her great uncle.

And my Mother really adored Uncle Johnny.

However, she had many stories to tell about Uncle Johnny.

(Anne chuckling) (dramatic music) - [Narrator] Born in 1852, John Whipple Slater became the only living son of William Smith Slater to grow into adulthood.

After his mother, Harriet Whipple, died in childbirth when he was just three years old, John was the youngest child raised by his three older sisters, Harriet, Elizabeth and Helen.

A graduate of Brown University in 1874, he went on, at the age of 27, to marry the wealthiest woman in all of Rhode Island, who also happened to be his first cousin on his mother's side.

Her name was Elizabeth Hope Gammell.

(bell ringing) It did not go well.

(whimsical music) - [Narrator] As reported in the "New York Times," July 3rd, 1882, "Two years ago last May, Mr. John W. Slater, "son of the late William S. Slater, "one of Rhode Island's leading manufacturers "and owner of the manufacturing village of Slatersville, "a few miles from Providence, "was married with great pomp and circumstance "to Miss E.H.

Gammell."

- She married John Whipple Slater.

I'm not sure why.

- Hope Gammell came from a family of an estimated wealth of some $20 million.

Her father was the famed professor from Brown University, William Gammell.

We believe that it was a marriage of convenience.

- And I don't think it worked from day one.

(whimsical music continues) - [Narrator] "At the end of a year, however, "the marriage, "which had been distasteful from the beginning "to the Gammells, "became irksome to the young Slater and his wedded wife.

"This spring, the disagreement culminated, "it is said in his filing papers, "with one of the justices of the Supreme Court "for a divorce from his wife on the ground that "she refused to perform her marriage duties "and live with him as his wife.

"In answer to this, she filed counter charges "alleging against him numerous infidelities "and claiming she could not, under these circumstances, "live with him.

"All this time, "appearances were maintained by living together, "and as usual, "in the spring they went for a few weeks "to the Slater homestead at Slatersville.

"While there, William S. Slater, his father, sickened."

(whimsical music continues) - [Voiceover] "I, William Smith Slater of North Smithfield "in the county of Providence and state of Rhode Island, "do hereby and make and publish my last will and testament."

- In most of the wills that we've read, 85, 87% of all the monies went to the boys, not to any of the girls.

- If you look at the English system, the firstborn son inherits the estate, the money, the business.

- [Voiceover] "I give and bequeath to my daughter, "Elizabeth Ives Reed, the sum of $50,000."

- The second son usually goes into the army.

- [Voiceover] "I give, devise and bequeath to my daughter, "Helen Morris Waterman, "the house and lot number 39 College Street "in the city of Providence, "now occupied by me, "together with the furniture, pictures and books "in said house."

- The third usually goes into the priesthood.

- [Voiceover] "I give and bequeath the sum of $50,000 "in trust to pay from the income thereof "during the minority of my granddaughter, "Harriet Whipple Hall, "my child of my deceased daughter, Harriet.

"The expense of suitably supporting, "maintaining and educating, "to pay to my said granddaughter "upon her becoming 21 years of age."

- And then you get down the line to.

- [Voiceover] "I give, devise and bequeath "the residue and remainder of all my estate, "and to which I shall be entitled "at the same of my decease unto my son."

- I'm not sure how William Smith later handled it, but I don't get the sense that he prepared John Whipple Slater with the idea that he was gonna be a captain of industry.

Which leaves the question, then, of, well, who was gonna do it?

- At his father's passing in 1882, you realize that he- - [Voiceover] "John Whipple Slater."

- Actually inherits the bulk of the fortune of the family.

- [Voiceover] "To be the executor of this, "my last will and testament."

- And in the end, John Whipple Slater got the business anyway.

- [Voiceover] "I hereforeto set my hand and seal "on this ninth day of August in the year of our Lord, 1881, "William Smith Slater."

(whimsical music continues) - [Narrator] This occurrence seemed suddenly to change the aspect of affairs, and young Mrs. Slater, encouraged by her family, was once more the smiling and loving wife outwardly.

- [Narrator] When staying in Slatersville, John Whipple lived in the Slater Mansion.

Its home and surrounding gardens once occupied all of what is now Holliwell Boulevard.

(birds chirping) (string music) Built by architect Thomas Tefft in 1854, this Victorian-era home had a circular entrance for horse and carriage and sat atop a hill overlooking the back of Slatersville Mill.

This home, which once served as the carriage house, is all that remains of the Slater Mansion grounds today.

In her later years, Emily Waterman attempted to write a memoir.

- [Voiceover] "The real beginning was Mother's childhood "spent at Slatersville, Rhode Island.

"Here, the three children, Elizabeth, Helen and John, "lived with their parents "in a large, white house with a piazza across the front, "a large lawn, and to the side, thick woods.

"A short distance led to the white church and the cemetery "where all the Slaters found their last resting place."

(whimsical music continues) - [Narrator] Across from that entrance stood the Slatersville Grammar School, which John Whipple himself had built.

A gazebo takes its place today.

Through this school, John created Slatersville's first library, the books of which were funded directly from the mill.

By 1889, John Whipple owned a village of 2,000 inhabitants.

He oversaw the processes of coloring, spinning, weaving, and the folding of cotton, with over 750 employees on his payroll, most of whom were French Canadian.

He proudly claimed that his grandfather was the first to perfect the machinery to manufacture cloth in America, that he was several times a millionaire, and that he was blessed, having married one of the most esteemable ladies of the state.

- They never divorced, but Mrs. Slater lived in Washington for the rest of her life, and Uncle Johnny never married again.

He lived in Slatersville when he wasn't traveling around the world.

(people chattering) Well, my Mother always said that Uncle John was what, at her period of the 1920s, was called a roue, (mischievous music) which is someone who likes the ladies.

He seems to be surrounded by women a great deal of the time.

- And he's literally squandering millions of dollars of his father's wealth playing.

He's having fun, chasing women, spending large sums of money on steamer vessels.

- [Narrator] "The Evening Star," Washington, DC, December 1st, 1888.

"The steam yacht, 'Sagamore,' "Mr. Slater's pretty vessel, "which is attracting attention among river men."

- John Whipple Slater owned a yacht called the "Sagamore."

And the "Sagamore", which is in this picture here, was built at the Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine.

- [Narrator] "Isn't she a daisy?

"This or a like remark has been ejaculated "by each of the many visitors "who have visited Mr. J.W.

Slater's steam yacht, 'Sagamore.'

"For beauty, strength and sailing powers, "her equal has never been seen in our waters.

"The 'Sagamore' measures 176 feet overall, "155 feet on the keel, "26 feet beam and 12 feet, six inches deep.

"The indicated horsepower is 500.

"Going aboard the 'Sagamore,' "one is first struck with the graceful lines of the vessel.

"She sets like a duck on the water and looks almost alive.

"There is a small, brass cannon forward "and the magazine below "is stocked with sporting guns and rifles."

- Rifles, revolvers and guns.

And when they're referring to guns, they're referring to Gatling guns.

(rounds firing) - [Narrator] "The boat costs $150,000, "and it takes between 50,000 and $60,000 a year to run her."

- At one point, he decided that he wished to take the chorus of the Metropolitan Opera on his yacht for two weeks.

So he closed the opera down, paid everybody's salary, and took the chorus for a sail.

- [Narrator] "Commodore Slater is a great docker, "and has only just returned from a trip "up the Jamaica River.

"It is probable that several Washington friends of the owner "will accompany him on his Bermuda trip.

"The boat leaves tonight."

- Well, a good example of his love for the ladies was shown in an article that we found on the Yacht Club in Rye, New York.

Some of the members felt that they didn't want their wives there because they might see ladies of ill repute coming down the docks from some of the yachts, particularly from the steam yacht, the sole steam yacht, which belonged to the club.

And, while without saying it, we found in the earlier records that there was one steam yacht belonging to the club, and that was the "Sagamore," owned by John Whipple Slater of Rhode Island.

These are all things that would lead one to believe that there were more ladies aboard most of the time than the were gentlemen.

(string music) - He continues to use his money and his influence to do many things that are outside of the family needs.

And I say that because he is ignoring the mills.

- [Voiceover] You men who have stayed out want from five to 10 cents a cut more on goods that you were making here last year at the present prices without complaint.

Now boys, you have gone to work and shut down the mill.

- Many, many managers of these mills were hired and fired, but he's allowing them to manage it for him.

He's become the outsider in his own mills.

- [Voiceover] "Uncle John was a sweet, charming man "with no desire to work.

"Why should he?

"So he just gave his superintendent his power of attorney "and went off on the 'Sagamore' "for a two year cruise to Japan as their main destination.

"They bought everything imaginable, "including a dozen Chinese dogs, "which he gave to all his friends, "and trade of all kinds and shades, "going ashore at every port "to see what other beautiful things they could find "and bring home.

"At least they did come home, "only to find that the men in charge of Slatersville, "and who he had given his power of attorney, "had disappeared and taken all the Slater money "and everything he could put his his hands on.

"Poor, charming Uncle John had barely enough to exist on."

- [Narrator] Soon after his return to Slatersville, John Whipple Slater sold the "Sagamore" to his cousin, William Albert Slater.

(ominous music) He continued to struggle with running the mills.

Then, three years later, he made a generous offer to his nephew.

(ominous music continues) - My name is George Waterman III.

My grandfather was the son of Helen Morris Slater and Rufus Waterman.

That's my connection to the Slater family.

- In the case of George Waterman III, we're second cousins, and he's my best friend, so I'll say, "The less related, the better."

- The Slater family of that generation, there were four members.

- His great-great-grandmother and my great-great-grandmother were sisters, and they were both daughters of William Smith Slater, who built this house.

(birds chirping) - [Narrator] Rufus Waterman graduated from St. Paul's School in 1891 and he was going to teach at St. Paul's school after that.

However, he received an offer from John Whipple Slater to apprentice at the mill.

- [Voiceover] "August 22nd, 1892.

"My uncle has offered me a position "in his cotton mills at Slatersville, "to go in there and learn the business with the object of "carrying on the business after him.

"I have talked it over with the rector in Newport "and have decided that it would be better to accept.

"I'm awfully sorry not to go back to St. Paul's.

"It has disappointed me very much.

"I shall so miss my work there, the laboratory and all.

"Believe me, your loving friend, Rufus Waterman III."

(whimsical string music) - [Narrator] In looking back at Rufus' time in Slatersville, it is quite clear that a significant part of his job in working for Uncle John involved a thorough keeping of records.

Throughout the 1890s and early 1900s, Rufus kept and copied dozens of documents, many of which you've already seen in this series.

The details of receipts, transactions, wills, company business and personal family letters took us days to comb through, select and scan.

- What's this?

- That is Elizabeth Ives Slater and S.S. Whipple in Paris in 1867.

- Elizabeth Ives Slater.

- Yeah.

That would've been my great-grandmother, John Whipple Slater's sister.

(whimsical string music continues) - [Narrator] Oh, and Rufus also kept a thorough index card diary of his day-to-day activities in the village, everything from managing operations to who visited and when.

Why is this so significant?

This period in the story of Slatersville has always remained a mystery.

Until in depth research was conducted during the making of this film, neither historians nor the public had ever seen them.

- Well, Rufus kept everything.

And when he died in the forties in Providence, I think my father was an executor and nobody had any of the slightest interest in any of these papers.

So they remained in our attic in East Greenwich, in Potowomut, for all those years.

And then when we moved from there, I took them and they remained unopened for another 20 years.

So it was really between the mid-forties when Rufus Waterman died (whimsical music) and perhaps 2010, nobody looked at them.

So they were there for 60 or 70 years.

(whimsical music continues) - [Narrator] Through Rufus' collection, shared by George Waterman III, and the private photos and writings preserved by the family of Anne Holst, we are now able to bring this chapter of Slatersville's story to life in a way that has never been seen before.

But who was Rufus Waterman?

Researchers at the Hearthside Museum also tried to find out.

Through a marriage, Rufus was related to the Talbot family who once called Hearthside their home.

- We received from the Talbot family a number of photographs that had been taken here at Hearthside around 1911, and it was signed, "the Watermans."

And we really didn't know who the Watermans were.

Through some investigative work, we learned that it was Rufus Waterman III and his wife, Alice.

Rufus took many photographs here.

He was emulating the style of David Davidson, who was a very famous photographer who started his career by taking pictures here at Hearthside.

And he took these little vignettes of women dressed in colonial attire, using the homeowner in the pictures.

(phonograph music) And Rufus followed that same style.

This one in the full bonnet is Alice Waterman, sitting right in the kitchen.

♪ Nobody understood why ♪ - He wasn't outgoing and didn't have a lot of friends, so he would rely on Alice, and he also relied on her to do all the coloring of his photographs, so they were a team.

That shows up by him signing "The Watermans" on each of his photographs.

This is another beautiful picture of Alice sitting with Mrs. Talbot and her two children.

♪ He's not so good in the crowd ♪ ♪ But when you get him alone ♪ ♪ Mm-hmm ♪ ♪ You'd be surprised ♪ - He was never celebrated.

He didn't look for fame.

He just did what he wanted to do, but very quietly.

He loved documenting, and photography was just one way he did it.

So we got all of these photographs from Rufus.

We're preparing an exhibition and we wanna write about the photographer, and we can't find out information about Rufus.

We can't find photographs of Rufus.

We found one little shot, a profile shot of him, and that was about it.

And then trying to dig in and find out more about his life.

(piano music) - [Narrator] While we can see how Hearthside once looked through the eyes of Rufus, it is his words that bring Slatersville to life, just 20 years earlier at the age of 21.

(dramatic music) - [Voiceover] "October 7th, 1892.

"Took 8:20 A.M. train from East Greenwich to Slatersville "with Aunt Lizzie and Slater Reed.

"Uncle John's carriage met us at Blackstone Junction.

"Came to Slatersville, Rhode Island with bag and baggage "with the object in view of "learning the manufacturing business.

"Breakfasted at nine with J.W.

Slater.

"Drank coffee with Uncle John.

"This is the first time that I've had coffee "since before the race for the America's Cup "between 'The Puritan' and 'Genesta,' about '85.

"Went to Aunt Bartlett's house "and made arrangements to stay there, "having the first room in the L over the kitchen."

- [Narrator] Since 1848, Elizabeth Slater Bartlett, the daughter of John and Ruth Slater, lived in this home at the corner of Green and North Main.

(dramatic music continues) This is the only image we have of Elizabeth, painted at the age of 16.

But when Rufus arrived, she was 85 and in failing health.

After the tragic death of her husband, Dr. Elisha Bartlett, in 1855, Elizabeth had remained alone in her home, across the street from the village's boarding house.

- [Voiceover] "Went to the boarding house for supper "and made arrangements for my meals at $3.00 per week "with Mrs. Rufus Greene.

"On the same job as last night and did not clear the pipe.

"After supper, returned to work on Waterwheel "and worked until nearly 10 o'clock, "laying a pipe to keep the water running on step of wheel.

"The want of water with which to run the mills "is felt very much in the village.

"There is so little work that money is very scarce."

- [Narrator] The children of Elizabeth and Augustus Reed frequently left their Warwick home to visit their family in Slatersville.

- [Voiceover] "Nellie Reed came to see Uncle John.

"I dined with them in the evening.

"Worked in the dye house on wraps during the afternoon.

"Went to Providence on the 7:15 A.M. train "to see Professor Appleton at Brown University "about taking a course of study in chemistry.

"Went out to the Reeds.

(fire crackling) "Fire in the cloth room.

"First entire day this year "without electric lights in the mill.

"Painted John Slater's boat.

"Bed hour, 10 o'clock."

- [Narrator] That year, the Slatersville mill was getting ready to expand.

- This copy of an insurance drawing is the best sort of snapshot we have of what is going on in the individual mills.

It's very good.

It shows the number two mill, the western mills, over here.

Number one mill, here, number three mill in back.

- [Voiceover] "Road to the upper dam.

"Very little water in the pond.

"Bed hour, 12:30."

- [Richard] The water for the number two mill comes from a dam upstream, the upper dam, and its raceway runs along, goes through the wheelhouse on this mill and drops into the canal here (ominous music) where it can flow down here and power these mills.

- [Voiceover] "Dr. Monroe of Woonsocket saw Mrs. Bartlett, "as she was not feeling or looking well."

- [Narrator] As John Whipple Slater was a regular patron of the arts, he also became acquainted with his share of actors.

Lulu Tabor, a 19 year old actress from California, was a known talent performing throughout the country.

One of her stops was Boston, and somehow she ended up in northern Rhode Island.

- [Voiceover] "July 18th, 1894.

"Commenced to lay brick "for the new weave shed at Slatersville.

"Miss Tabor and Miss G. staying at John Slater's.

"Miss Tabor rode my horse.

"She is to play next season in 'Old Kentucky.'

"This is her first rehearsal in riding zoo."

- [Narrator] And while that was happening, a new mill was being built.

- [Richard] The weaving into cloth actually took place in the brand new weave shed, the two story brick building here.

- [Narrator] By 1894, cotton manufacturing at Slatersville needed to move into a new space.

Fewer floors meant easier access.

Wider spaces supported more looms, which would come in from Hopedale.

Larger windows meant longer hours for weavers, who depended on daylight to see clearly.

New construction had evolved from stone to brick, and new technology had advanced from water power to steam.

The weave shed was created to increase productivity through modernization.

It was built quickly and mainly for the sake of remaining competitive.

- This is one of those sad sayings about newfound wealth to failure.

You get to that third generation, where you have some competitiveness with some of the cousins on the other side of the family.

(dramatic music) - William Slater was not a well man.

His physician actually recommended that he take a cruise, not necessarily a round-the-world cruise, but in his style, he would've done nothing else.

- As a matter of fact, on the John Fox side of the family, his son, William Albert, builds the great 'Eleanor.'

(string music) - [Vivian] The 'Eleanor' was William and Ellen Slater's private yacht.

It was 262 feet long and was built at the Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine so that the family, William, Ellen, their two children, Eleanor and Willie, and a few of their favorite friends and family could cruise around the world on a grand tour.

It was a magnificent yacht, fitted with Tiffany stained glass, Oriental rugs on the floor, hot and cold running fresh and salt water, an onboard crew of seemingly thousands, including its own laundry, with requisite Chinese laundrymen.

- [Narrator] In the years before the 'Eleanor' was built, William had already achieved great success.

Not only had he continued to soar financially through the Connecticut mills he inherited, but in 1888, he also made the single biggest real estate deal in US history by purchasing an entire block in Chicago.

In 1893, he commissioned the construction of the 'Eleanor,' which was named after his daughter, at a cost of $300,000.

Before setting out for its maiden voyage around the world, he secured management over various businesses, including Slatersville.

William Albert Slater was clearly excelling.

- America had never had much experience with a small group of people having so much money.

- [Narrator] And among the guests on board the "Eleanor's" grand tour was none other than William's cousin, John Whipple Slater.

- [Wayne] All they know is the success.

They're born into it.

- [Voiceover] "October 25th, 1894.

"Running elevator in mill.

"Making belt holes in new weave shop.

"Commenced to work on erecting new weave shop engine."

- [Narrator] While Rufus continued working for the mill, he also had to be reminded of some other family responsibilities, as in by the mill's treasurer.

- [Voiceover] "Mr. Rufus Waterman III, "Don't you think it might be a good thing "to give Mrs. Bartlett an occasional ride?

"Anytime you and Mrs. Watson think "that that might be a good thing, let her have it.

"I presume Mr. Whitman can give you "a carriage and driver anytime.

"Yours truly, Thomas Powell."

- [Voiceover] "Mr. Waterman, "the ceiling in the sitting room "fell down on Saturday night, "and your Aunt had just moved from her chair to the sofa.

"I gave her, your Aunt, a little wine so she felt all right.

"So we sit in the parlor, since it's nice and warm "and your Aunt does not mind the change.

"Yours respectfully, Elizabeth Watson."

- So you now had a group of young people who should have been on the job taking gramp's place or dad's place or whomever.

Instead, they see all this money here and say, "You think I'm gonna bust my chops "walking up and down that factory floor, "saying, 'Hi," to everybody "and, 'How's little Jean "and how's this one and how's that one?'

"No way.

"This money is here for a purpose.

"Me sitting around here is wasting my intellect, "my ability to experience the world out there."

So they took the money and ran oftentimes, and and they did see the world.

- The map that we have on display charts the points of the compass that were shown on every page for every day that were kept by the first officer, and they show the yacht going out of New London, across the Atlantic.

The first port was Faial in the Azores, which is a part of Portugal.

And from there, they traveled through the Straits of Gibraltar and across the Mediterranean to Marseilles and around through Southeast Asia, across the Pacific to California.

And at that point, the ship went around South America because the Panama Canal had not yet been built.

So just the sailors and the crew went with the ship around South America, while the Slaters went overland by train.

Sherry Slater, the wife of William Albert Slater III, donated a two-volume set of photographs that document the "Eleanor's" maiden voyage.

(mystical music) (mystical music continues) (mystical music continues) (mystical music continues) (mystical music continues) - I don't think, by and large, working people necessarily resented management doing well.

In fact, probably a lot of 'em today, "That's your thing and you're gonna do it.

"Take care of us, though.

"Don't let us down."

(soft music) And, of course, the minute they do that, the resentment just pours in.

- [Voiceover] "October 14th, 1895.

"Strike of the doffers at Slatersville.

"The boys want better pay.

"They are now receiving in number one mill $3.25 per week.

"They now receive in number one mill, "one half cent a side, "and in number three mill, three quarters of a cent a side, "thus making doffing piece work.

(ominous music) "The mills were not stopped."

- [Narrator] And then without explanation, this is where Rufus' index card diary suddenly stops, for a while, anyway, and another diary takes its place.

- [Anne] Aunt Bessie was Elizabeth Ives Reed, and as a young girl she kept a diary of every day.

- [Narrator] And just so we're clear, Elizabeth Ives Reed was the daughter of Elizabeth Ives Slater and Alfred Augustus Reed, Jr., who lived in Warwick.

After his poor business decisions had left his family in financial straits, as once predicted by his late father-in-law, Alfred and Elizabeth separated.

In May of 1895, he died of a heart attack in New York at the age of 50.

Their daughter, Elizabeth, was the niece of John Whipple Slater.

- From the 1895 diary of who I think must have been his favorite niece, because she spent a great deal of time in Slatersville with him.

- [Voiceover] "Wednesday, November 27th, 1895.

"I went to Greenwich after lunch.

"I met Uncle John at the quarter of four train.

"He bought Nellie a dress from Papua, or rather a costume, "and he brought me clothes "to make a dress of pineapple fabric from Manila."

- So we can see here that he had just come back from Japan and also from the Philippines.

And we get another hint into his disposition.

- [Voiceover] "Monday, December 23rd, 1895.

"Uncle John bought me chocolate about seven.

"We took the 10 o'clock train for Providence "and walked up to the office first "and then we walked to Ladd's "and he bought me six pairs of black silk stockings.

"Then we went to Harris and Dixon "and he bought a harness and whip.

"Uncle John bought me a blanket and hood.

"I was frantic coming home.

"I had my purse stolen with $11.00 and my ticket in it."

- And now, granted, this is to his niece, but certainly a present of six pairs of black silk stockings is, number one, a magnificent present, but it also probably isn't exactly appropriate for him to be giving to a young lady, even if she is a relation.

- [Narrator] Meanwhile, back in Norwich, William Albert Slater prepared to sell the "Eleanor" to a wealthy woman from Pennsylvania.

Her name was Charlotte Wardle Martinez Cardeza.

- Charlotte discovered that her husband had been unfaithful to her, and she purchased the yacht and went off on her own grand tour, taking with her William's cousin, John Whipple Slater.

So John Whipple Slater, at that point, was already a seasoned grand tourist and probably by the end of Charlotte's grand tour, had been at sea about three years.

(whimsical music) - [Narrator] Then on July 28th, 1897, his aunt, Elizabeth Bartlett, the eldest member of the Slater family, died at the age of 90.

She was described as charitable and giving liberally to all good causes, having left an estate estimated at a quarter of a million dollars.

It was said that nearly 400 people attended her funeral.

There was, however, one notable absence.

(piano music) - [Voiceover] "A seamen out of a berth, "I shipped aboard the three-master steam yacht, 'Sagamore,' "Mr. W. Slater, owner, just then out of her builder's hands.

"She had cost Mr. Slater "around quarter of a million dollars.

"Her crew is a full set of firemen and engineers, "oilers, et cetera, sailing master, a navigator, "two mates, boatswain, two cooks, two stewards, "and seven men afore the mast.

"After stocking up at Newport, "we commenced our summer cruise up and down the coast.

"Champagne flowed in streams "and the doctors were overworked "trying to invent newfangled dishes.

"Mr. Slater kept a retinue of female admirers "on the boat continually.

"Feasting and carousing went on day and night.

"All this while the mill workers were struggling along "on seven or $8 a week, "piling up the major part of the proceeds of their labor "for their profligate master to squander, "chasing after pleasure.

"Every family at the mills "could have been furnished a comfortable house "with a patch of land to it "for what their master spent in one summer.

"We are a national party, "and not the pocket edition of some European movement "to be manipulated by a clique for private gain.

"An ex-sailor."

- [Narrator] By 1898, less than 50% of Slatersville's workforce spoke English and no less than eight nationalities were represented within the plant.

But when a supervisor named William Holt refused to raise their wages, they knew they had to band together for a fight, so they joined the Socialist Labor Party and formed their own group, the Slatersville Textile Alliance, which consisted of 26 charter members.

A region-wide strike began.

- Socialists, communists, and even worse, the anarchists, were the three bugaboos, really, of the labor movement.

They were always trying to prove themselves more patriotic than anyone else.

And they stamped the emerging labor movement with sort of a left-wing bent to it.

And in some ways socialism said, "You don't have to put up with this day after day after day "and you don't have to wait six years "to get that coffee break in your contract.

"Follow the dictates of the left "and we'll get you results immediately.

"We might have to burn the building down, "we might have to fight the police, "but we'll do it and we'll get results for you."

- [Narrator] Once Holt heard the news that three of his men were members of this alliance, he fired them on the spot, without explanation.

Then he fired a fourth, admitting it was because the man had been elected by this new alliance as one of their officers.

(dramatic music) As a result, roughly 300 employees across 53 families exited the village.

In 1899, as things intensified, Ella Reeve Bloor, a Pennsylvania-based labor organizer, showed up in Slatersville to give a harrowing speech.

- [Scott] People in those days just didn't pop in or out.

There was some reason for it.

There was somebody, there was a group that wanted her there.

She was of a national reputation.

- [Voiceover] "Slatersville, "beautifully situated as it is, "in the very heart of the high hills of Rhode Island, "has been suffering from the iron power of capitalism "even more than the average mill town of the country.

"They're left in the hands of a superintendent "while the family lived in Europe, "one member only visiting Slatersville occasionally "to put the screws on a little tighter."

- You have to remember, in that era, to go out and hear on a stage a woman expounding on the issues of the day in a voice that would've blown all of them away, they were astounded.

- [Voiceover] "One of our good comrades there "told me that many times during the winter "he had but $4.00 in his pay envelope on Saturday night "to take home to his wife and three children, "as he was one of the most skillful weavers "of the suitings manufactured by this mill.

"During my visit to Slatersville, "the young men gave me such testimony as this: "'I have been made a socialist by the alliance.

"The alliance has convinced me "that the Socialist Labor Party "is the only party for the working man.'

"At the open ear meeting in the evening, "there was an attendance of nearly 400 people.

"The voters of the town of North Smithfield "held an annual town meeting for the election of offices "at a hall in Slatersville, at which I was present."

- Sometimes just by their presence, by the very rumor that they might show up, might loosen management to give 'em, "You know, that wage thing, "ah, maybe you're right, we'll give you a little bit more."

- [Narrator] And that's pretty much what happened.

Shortly after Bloor's visit, management caved and reinstated the original pay rates of its workers, much to the dismay of its inherent mill owner.

- It also showed the ability of the labor movement to take on these people and say things to them that had never been said before, to show them that, "Hey, you're not pushing us around anymore "because this is what you are.

"Don't like it?

"Too bad."

(phonograph music) - [Narrator] At the turn of the century, John Whipple Slater was spending a lot of time in Kissimmee, Florida.

- [Voiceover] "January 27th, 1900.

"Dear Rufus, "I find my house has no furniture at all, "so I would like you to do something for me, if you will.

"I would like the dining room table, "six chairs and the sideboard chaise, "all alike if possible, but not necessary.

"Get Austin Cook and Company and one socket.

"Send men up and pack and crate the pieces in good shape "and send by freight to J.W Slater, Kissimmee, Florida.

"I will send you another table."

"Dear Rufus, "I wanna have some things sent down here by freight.

"Would you mind going over to the house "and show Levi and Mr. Chamberlain what they are "and then get Mr. Sanford to have them shipped?

"They could be put in an ordinary packing box, I think.

"I would like 20 floor rugs.

"Have Levi select the ones "that were used in the second story "as far as they will go, "and then take any of the others.

"I would like my bicycle.

"It should be put in a crate and sent separate.

"A book of card games in the library "put in the box Annie was to make out before she left.

"A list of the linen blankets, et cetera, in the house.

"If you can find it, please mail it to me.

"I would like the mahogany table in the smoking room "boxed up and sent by freight.

"Also, put in the box "the largest book of Indian photographs.

"It was on the library table.

"A new hat just sent from Knox, "mosquito nets, three story over library, "about six fancy, covered cushions, any of them.

"I don't know where they are.

"In third story room over library "are six or seven large portfolio books "containing a lot of small engravings.

"Please select all of them "that you think would be suitable for framing.

"I should have about 20 or 30 of them.

"Some of them are colored.

"Perhaps you had better send all of them "that would do to frames.

"Under the bookcase in the library "are two small, panorama books of Japanese photographs.

"Send them, if you can find them.

"Give love to all, "and with a lot to yourself, affectionately, Uncle John."

(phonograph music continues) - [Narrator] In the spring of 1900, Rufus' index card diaries suddenly resume.

- [Voiceover] "March 26th, 1900.

"John W. Slater in Slatersville.

"He returned from Florida for a few days "to attend to some business.

"Bessie Reed and Nellie Allen were there.

"John said that he was going to divide furniture "between Mrs. Reed and Mrs.

Waterman."

- [Narrator] In combining through Rufus' files, it became very clear that of all the structures within the village, the Slater family was most concerned about the future of the Bartlett House.

Although it was in desperate need of repair, it remained the beating heart of their family's legacy.

- [Voiceover] "Mother in Slatersville.

"Came to divide furniture with Reeds."

- [Narrator] Rufus' mother, Helen Morris Slater Waterman, expressed a desire to live in the home, but her brother, John, who was, of course, executor of the estate, may have had other ideas in mind.

- [Voiceover] "John W. Slater "took his furniture from Bartlett House today."

- [Narrator] And so did the Reeds.

- [Voiceover] "Alfred Slater Reed came to Slatersville "to divide the Bartlett books."

- [Narrator] With the textile industry dwindling in the Blackstone Valley, on top of a history of poor management, extravagant spending and scandalous behavior, John Whipple Slater, now at the age of 47, was facing an unstable future.

The family was on edge.

- [Voiceover] "My dear Uncle John, "some time ago, Mr. Powell wrote me asking to make an offer "for your interest in the Bartlett House.

"I found, after talking the matter over with "Mr. Holt and Mr. Andrews, "that the prospects here are not encouraging.

"Nearly everybody is leaving town.

"There are no signs whatever of any new company coming here.

"Not counting repairs, "Byron Andrews says that it will cost $1,000 "to put the house in first class order."

- [Narrator] Which would cost $32,000 today.

That's when Rufus' mother wrote his uncle.

- [Voiceover] "Dear John, "in regard with Slatersville House, "you know, of course, "that I am very anxious to keep it in the family, "and that if I had not written and begged it of Will Slater, "it would now be sold with the mills "and none of us have any claim at all to it.

"Now, neither you nor Lizzie have the least interest in it, "such as I have, "and don't you think it rather hard "to make me pay as much as the market price for it "under the circumstances?

"If Aunt Lizzie's house had not come into our possession "in just the way it did, "none of us paying out a cent for it "and given to us because "we wanted to keep our father's birthplace in the family, "I should not feel so keenly "the way you and Lizzie are treating me, as I now do, "trying to make money out of me "when I have not got it to spend, "for every cent, then, is an absolute necessity "to keep the many members of my family going.

"We are eight to support, while you are one.

"But to appeal to you, as I see, is of no possible use.

"I should think you would be only too thankful "that one member of the family "is willing to try and carry it, "and therefore be willing to keep in that direction "rather than it should be sold to strangers "and finally be turned into a rum shop "or some other cynically disreputable thing.

"You say you are giving me $500 "by selling me your share for $750.

"You mistake.

"It is only 250 each for you and Lizzie, "but the whole $500 comes out of me.

"Papa had been dead perhaps two hours "when Lizzie told me the lands belonged to me.

"But knowing I could not afford to keep it "with the little money that was left to me "out of Papa's big fortune, "you said you would take it off my hands "for you were then anxious to own it, as was hoped.

"To be sure, you paid me $50,000 for the lands, "which was a very generous payment, "and have many times in your life treated me handsomely.

"But you must remember that Aunt Lizzie gave you back "the whole mortgage of $60,000 on the land, "which, if it had been paid to me out of the estate, "as was Papa's intention, "would've accumulated enormously "in the 15 years between Papa's death and hers, "and all his heirs would've profited by it.

"I have always been ready to come to you "at any time in your life "when you have been in trouble and wanted me.

"I went up to Slatersville with you when I left Hope, "taking blankets, linens, silver, et cetera, "many of which things have never returned, "and in every way that I know how, "have tried to show you some sisterly regard, "and I cannot understand your attitude toward me now.

"It is certainly anything but brotherly.

"Your affectionate sister, H.M.W."

- What leads to the sale of Slatersville is not quite understood, but I would believe that honestly he just wanted to get out, probably could possibly get what he could get out of it financially.

And maybe he was looking down the road with his age and his future, and realizing that the money is running out.

- [Narrator] In August of 1900, America's first mill village was sold to a Boston banker, marking the end of the Slater family's ownership after nearly a century.

But the man who presided over the sale was not John Whipple Slater, but his cousin, William Albert Slater of Norwich.

- [Voiceover] "October 5th, 1900.

"John W. Slater left Slatersville for New York "on his way to Kissimmee, Florida.

"Mr. Hooper has leased Mr. Slater's house "for about two months."

(soft music) - [Narrator] In August of 1900, James Ripley Hooper acquired the Slatersville Mill and Village, minus the congregational church and the Bartlett House, which, for the first time, were separated from the deed.

Considered an absentee owner by historians, very little was known about Hooper, but from the little that was known, it was clear that he was not well-liked.

So we set out to find his descendants, and it took us several years to track them down.

We learned of one man living in Rochester, New York, and he made the long trip in just to be interviewed.

But when he arrived with his cousin, he sounded like this.

- I'm Jim Hooper.

I'm his great-grandson.

- This is Jimmy.

He unfortunately has laryngitis.

I'm his cousin, Fred.

I live in Rhode Island, in Cranston, but this is actually my first trip to Slatersville.

- And mine.

(phonograph music) He was already a banker.

This was a stage in the mill, and perhaps it needed someone with liquid capital to make that transition.

- He grew up, I think, and lived- - In Dorchester.

We know basically from what his father did, a merchant.

He owned all of the Constitution Wharf, traded sugar, sold and bought ships, and his son inherited, along with his six siblings, a great deal of wealth.

He was a workaholic and clearly had business in cotton before the turn of the century.

- [Narrator] In her later years, Gertrude Hooper, the daughter of James Hooper, ambitiously set out to write a book about her family's history.

- [Jim] She let us know that she'd written the story about the family.

So we got from her handwritten accounts of this, what turned out to be 150 pages.

- The book, when it eventually came out, was named "Relatively Speaking."

(phonograph music continues) - [Voiceover] "Father retained his interest "in the cotton business after he took up banking "and was connected with the Slatersville Finishing Company.

"For a while, before I was born, "the family even lived in Slatersville.

"Later, he made periodic visits to the mill, "and it was on one of these "that Adela drank water from a horse trough "and contacted Typhoid fever.

"I remember trips to Slatersville in the summer, "when Pa, Adela and I would get up in the dark, "cook scrambled eggs in a chafing dish "and set off in the car into the sunrise.

"We'd meet milkmen on their rounds "and see the world gradually waking up.

"We would get to Slatersville around nine or 10 o'clock, "and while Pa was in the mill, "we'd explore around the pond that fed the mill stream, "swim, walk across the dam, "picnic and generally have a glorious time.

"Mac, my Scottie, always went with us."

- This also suggests that his behavior with the people working with and for him was probably accurate, because if you were going to be truly unpleasant, you probably didn't want your young daughter there.

- [Narrator] And what might be considered truly unpleasant?

Well, first, Hooper demolished the mill buildings on the western side of the stone arch bridge.

Then he fired roughly 300 of its 700 employees and turned the fully integrated mill into a business that strictly finished cotton goods, which he could still make money on in the midst of a dying textile industry.

His superintendent ran operations while he remained at his Milk Street office in Boston.

With Hooper now in charge of a profoundly downsized workforce, morale in the village rapidly decreased.

In 1906, James Slater, a School Street resident, not related to the founding Slaters, was serving as North Smithfield's town clerk.

- [Voiceover] "The death of this place "is due directly to strikes.

"It's been the home of my family "for three or four generations, "and it makes me sick at heart "when I remember what the place once was, "then look about and see the houses falling to decay, "the yards being overrun with weeds, "and the few native residents that remain "after the last strike drop out one by one."

- He was blamed for having shrunken the mill in operation, that he had, in modern terms, downsized it.

- [Fred] Yeah.

- But the truth is, the Slaters, their plans in the 1890s, called for doing the very same thing.

- You just have to move with the times and change.

The world has changed; your company has to.

- So what's called for is disruption.

- Yes, yeah, yeah.

- It's a time when- - [Fred] Yeah.

- You have to disrupt.

- Yes, there are times when you just plain have to disrupt because the price of not disrupting is you lose it all.

- Well, I think it was simply the failure of the mills.

And then you had a town with no purpose.

(rain falling) - [Narrator] Following the sale of Slatersville, John Whipple Slater spent most of his remaining years living in Florida with his nephew, Alfred Slater Reed, and his wife, Zaidee Davenport Reed.

And in his will, he would leave to them his few remaining assets.

- I think the ending of the "Sagamore" was very appropriate.

(phonograph music) In 1922, she was borrowed by the Canadian Customs Preventative Service and listed as a chartered vessel working rum runners.

Because the "Sagamore" burned on February 2nd, 1925 in Halifax Harbor, I'm convinced that the rum runners got her, and I think it's an appropriate ending for the vessel that was built to have rum enjoyed on it and ended up chasing rum.

And that might be John Whipple Slater's life.

- [Voiceover] "Providence, Rhode Island.

"February 13th, 1924.

"My dear Rufus, "Uncle John had a stroke several weeks ago, "the left side paralyzed.

"He has been steadily growing weaker "and Dr. Collins says it is only a matter of time.

"He is with Zaidee in Providence, "I'm afraid, not very long off.

"Your affectionate cousin, Alfred Slater Reed."

- [Narrator] At the time, he was living in this Providence apartment building on Tabor Street.

This is where he died.

- What we don't find makes me curious, and I'm curious because I believe he was the type of individual who was literally destroying his past as he was getting through time.

I think he literally was destroying records and alleviating the family of any of this past.

(tape rolling) - [Narrator] In 1922, two years before his death, John Whipple Slater wrote his niece.

- [Voiceover] "Dear Nellie, "I am sending you some papers I have received "from people in Chicago "who are to publish a book on the first families in America, "asking for information about the Slater family.

"I cannot give them what they want because I don't know.

"And I guess you are the only one left "who might be able to give them any.

"So if you feel interested, "you might write them what you can "or say that none of us are able "to give them what they want.

"Orange trees are in bloom now, "and I will send you and Emily some.

"I suppose now is the time, as usual, "to ask the same, old question, "'What are you to do this summer and where?'

"Give my love to Emily.

"Nothing new here.

"With love, John.

"Rufus might know more than anyone else."

- [Voiceover] "April 16th, 1902.

"Mr. Felix O'Neill, "I hereby agree to sell the Bartlett House, "barn, windmill and outhouses to you for the sum of $2,250.

"This does not include furniture, carpets, "gas or electric fixtures.

"Yours truly, Rufus Waterman."

- [Narrator] This image, found in the archives of St. Paul's School, is believed to be one of the very few surviving images of Rufus himself.

(somber music) - [Voiceover] Our family, incidentally, is buried in Swan Point Cemetery, I mean, the Waterman side of the family, where we have a place to rest among the trees and the beautiful lawns, all most beautifully kept up.

- [Voiceover] "Hotel Colborne, March 11th, 1923.

"Dear Ruf, "I received these papers this morning "and can't help it along myself, "and think you are the one of the family to do so, "as you've always been interested in "keeping up the family tree, et cetera.

"It seems that many people do this every little while.

"Have we not received notices before?

"I think so.

"Perhaps not exactly the same as this, however.

(soft music) "I trust you and Alice at least keep well "and are happy there.

"Loads of love to both and write when you can.

"Ever your very loving mother, Helen M.

Waterman."

(soft music) - [Narrator] Today, over a century later, no Slaters or Watermans can be found in Slatersville.

In the years following the sale of the village, they all left town.

(soft music continues) By the late 1930s, the once beautifully kept Slater Mansion and its surrounding gardens had been abandoned and left to fall apart for decades.

- We used to call that the haunted house.

It was fenced in and it was set in the back.

It was scary.

(Cecelia laughing) That was the haunted house growing up.

- [Narrator] So the house was demolished and the land was redeveloped.

While the Bartlett House and several other buildings still stand, there remained only one place through which this part of our story could be rediscovered and told, as shared directly through the descendants.

- As Anne and I spoke about the house, her concerns about her Mom, when she took ill in the 1990s, Anne came to my wife and I and actually said, "What do I do?

"I'm the last of the family.

"There is no one else.

"What could I do with such a place?"

But I have to tell you honestly, I don't really believe Anne looked at this home as anything special.

- This was money that had been worked for for a hundred years by people that were very plain people and had really lived a plain life.

This house was not built to show anything off.

This house was built for comfort, as a comfortable summer house that people could come to.

There was not lavish entertainment in the house.

The dining room only seats 22 people, which to us, is probably a large number.

But back in that day, if you considered the family and all the relatives that would drop in, it was sort of like Thanksgiving every weekend.

(Anne laughing) - And that's kind of how she looked at it.

She almost had to be convinced that this home was something very special, and it took a lot of years.

This wasn't fast.

This wasn't something that happened overnight.

- [Anne] Hello.

- [Tourist] Hello.

- Come right in.

- You bring in one of the great families in American history.

Now she saw that it actually lends itself as a museum.

She's literally found that out through time, that it is worth saving.

So now her ambitions are to truly save the house.

(door slamming) To be honest, we don't have a total figure on the collection.

- Mm-hmm.

- It's gonna be tens of thousands of pieces.

- Wow.

- [Wayne] It's interesting.

We have actually completed one of the attics, the main attic of the main house, but have not completed the "L" attic.

There are still closets and there are still many boxes.

This is four generations of family belongings that still sit here that we're trying to identify, each of the generations' documents, letters, diaries.

(whimsical music) So we look at this as a multi-decade kind of a project to actually figure out what's still in this house.

(whimsical music continues) - [Narrator] Years after the nearly century-long era of Slater ownership had come to an end, a much younger owner, new to the industry, took notice of the village and started to inquire about its future.

And where others had seen nuisance and hardship, he would see hope and potential.

And the people would come to know his name, for it would be his mill that generations of families in the decades to follow would find employment.

And it would be the company that those who fought for the saving of the Slatersville Mill would identify with the most.

And that brings us right back to where we started.

- When you walk through the building and you see it in such decay, you say, "How did it ever get to this point?"

(somber music) Money, money and money, (Abbott laughing) because it takes deep, deep pockets to to just literally put these buildings back together.

- This is a continuation of the public hearing.

If there's someone from the audience who wishes to be heard.

- This was a privately owned facility, and so the town isn't gonna just go out and say, "Yeah, let's go put a new roof on that building "so we can preserve it for our children's children."

No, that never happens.

- There were many people that tried to be involved for the wrong reasons because, you don't want to talk about that.

But there were people involved that were not gonna be friendly to the mill.

- [Narrator] With fears of arson and threats of demolition, some who cautiously entered its ruins thought nothing could be saved.

Without a single offer to repurpose its structures or any plan to preserve its history, the heart of America's first mill village was about to be lost.

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