On this day, December 21 , in 1790

Samuel Slater's thread-spinning factory opened in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Two years later, Slater went on to build the first successful textile mill in America, establishing himself as the Father of the American Industrial Revolution. The first employees in Slater's Mills were children from 7 to 12 years old. They worked from sunrise to sunset under dangerous conditions for less than 1 dollar per week. The textile mill industry officially sparked the trend in child labor. Child labor wasn't successfully eliminated in Rhode Island for another 150 years.