Slater Dye Works
also known as Solway Dyeing and Textile Company, Slater Screen Print Corp.
An early-19th-century mill complex remained industrial for 100 years now has an uncertain future as industry continues to leave the state (and country)
images of this Property
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August 1989, Pawtucket Redevelopment Agency — Pawtucket Library -
August 1989, Pawtucket Redevelopment Agency — Pawtucket Library -
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1917 Richards Standard Atlas, Vol 2, plate 19 — Pawtucket Library on Flickr -
1923 Sanborn Insurance Map, Vol 3, plates 389 and 392 — Pawtucket Library on Flickr
21 images: Press to view larger or scroll sideways to see more. Contributions from the Pawtucket Library on Flickr
About this Property
There is a Then and Now photo pair for this property! View the Then & Now photos
Redevelopment
The large complex at the ninety-degree corner where School Street meets Beverage Hill Avenue in Pawtucket continues to be used for industrial purposes as far as we can tell, though it is no longer occupied by the Slater Group. This section of Pawtucket is referred to as “Bishop’s Bend” in many of the news stories we found.
Current Events
Google business says the Interpak organization occupied it last but it is listed as “permanently closed.”
History
Public map sources show an early version of the complex in 1917, with a 1923 cadastral map showing more detail. The building complex is shown in 1939 aerial photos largely the same as it appears today. One-story buildings on the north side of the complex were added between 1962 and 1972. The handsome two-story sawtooth shed was built between 1917 and 1923 and is an efficient way to flood the working area with natural light.
Early maps are labeled Solway Dyeing and Textile Company, Dye Works and Bleachery. No officially written history of the complex can yet be found. We created the following history from Providence Journal articles back to 1982.
In a 1962 Sanborn Map — Volume 3, Plates 389 amd 392 — the north portion of the complex is labeled with company names “Rhode Island Fabrics Co. Weaving” and “Lebanon Knitting Mill Inc, owner.” The southern portion was labeled “Textile Investment Company, owner.”
Over a four-year period starting in April 1979, 220 neighborhood complaints of a kerosene-like “oily” odor were submitted to state inspectors at the Department of Environmental Management (DEM).1 While representatives of the companies allege the neighborhood odors could have come from miles away, residents say the smells sometimes forced them to stay indoors and keep windows closed and complained of sore throats, headaches and nausea.2
A ruling in August of 1982 cited the companies as responsible, though they continued to deny it and questioned the accuracy of the testing methods. Richard Duffee, an odor consultant hired by Slater, asserted that DEM’s probe was faulty because inspectors had not checked areas upwind from the Slater complex, nor had they used instruments to determine the intensity of the smell, but, instead, had relied on their noses.3
Slater Dye Works, along the Seekonk River near the East Providence line, bleaches and dries cloth and sends some of it across the street for printing in the Screen Print building. The dye works has six exhaust stacks and Slater Screen Print has two. Charles M. Koutsogiane noted that the plants are near other industries, including Blackstone Webbing, the McHale sand and gravel complex and American Tourister.4
The case continued until finding a resolution in early 19835 with continued inspections afterward while residents continued to complain into the summer. Slater Dye Works installed a $100,000 external air filtering system mid-summer.6 That system didn’t mitigate the odors enough, and complaints continued into the following years, with news reports in 1986 citing the same issues.7
In the fall of 1989, approximately 125 workers went on strike to fight management’s plan to pass on a $60 a month health insurance increase to employees.8 Regionally, rising health care costs were a common theme. Workers at Royal Electric Co., Wardwell Braiding Machine Co., telecommunications workers at NYNEX, and union members at Ocean Spray in Massachusetts all went on strike. Nationwide, the percentage of strikes over health care increased to 78 percent compared with 18 percent in 1986.9
In 1991, the owner of Slater Dye Works Donald Dwares purchased a 250,00 square-foot building in Cumberland to expand his fabric printing operation.10 The firm consolidated as the Slater Companies with Sandlapper Fabrics, a textile manufacturer in Danbury, CT, around 2004.11
In a 2012 news story, the facility was referred to as the “former Slater Dye Works.”12 We did not find a story that pinpointed the date of closure.
In the News
Slater Companies seeks tax freeze
The company, which employs more than 200 workers in the state, says the agreement is necessary to meet competition from abroad.
by Gregory Smith
Providence Journal | January 27, 2004 (abridged)
A company that was persuaded to stay in Rhode Island with a $4.2-million state loan guarantee is now seeking a 10-year tax deal with the city.
The Slater Companies, a privately held corporation that currently pays the city $93,405 a year in taxes, wants to have its tax bill frozen until 2015.
In a memo to the City Council Finance Committee last week, Mayor James E. Doyle made a counter offer.
The mayor proposed that the council freeze the company’s taxes at $100,000 for the next five years, with the possibility of a second, five-year agreement freezing taxes at $120,000.
The Slater Companies was formed by the merger of two sister companies, Slater Screen Print Corp. and Slater Dye Works of Pawtucket, with Sandlapper Fabrics, a textile manufacturer in Danbury, Conn.
The state Economic Development Corporation got the newly formed company to agree to consolidate its operations in Pawtucket, rather than move them to Danbury, by offering to guarantee Sandlapper’s $4.2-million loan from the Bank of Rhode Island.
Sandlapper borrowed the money to buy Slater Screen Print Corp. and Slater Dye Works and move some equipment.
As part of its agreement with the state, the company will keep 205 employees in Rhode Island. Joseph V. Gatta, president of the Slater companies, said 60 of the employees are Pawtucket residents.
The Slater Companies prints and dyes fabrics for other manufacturers. The company’s operations are being consolidated in factory buildings belonging to Slater Dye Works and Slater Screen Print Corp. on School Street and Beverage Hill Avenue in Bishop’s Bend.
Gatta said the tax-stabilization agreement is necessary to help the company meet competition from abroad, where labor is cheaper and many of the textile manufacturers that once relied on the company’s services have moved. […]
City Council President John J. Barry III, whose council district includes the neighborhood around the company, had an additional caveat.
“We need to have the name and number of a contact person that we will be able to call immediately,” Barry said, in the event that plant odors that used to plague the neighborhood recur.
Slater Dye Works and Slater Screen Print Corp. were the target of complaints from 1979 to 1984 with neighbors saying they emitted a kerosene-like odor, causing headaches, dizziness and scratchy throats.
An industrial accident sent a cloud of caustic chemicals into the air around the plant last Dec. 31, when a truck driver for Univars Inc., a big chemical distributor that was making a delivery to the Slater Companies, pumped lye into a 6,000-gallon storage tank reserved for bleach.
Barry said he realizes that the mishap, which prompted the evacuation of 50 homes and businesses, wasn’t the fault of the company. The company, which implemented extensive antipollution measures in the 1980s, has not been the target of complaints since the early 1990s, Barry said.
Nevertheless, Barry said he wants the company formed by the merger to be as responsive to complaints from the neighborhood as the old company was.
In an interview yesterday, Jim Connor, chief financial officer of the Slater Companies, said that won’t be a problem.
Connor said the company, which was facing layoffs and a possible shutdown before the merger, has a loyal work force it would be a shame to let go.
“When I say we’re the best printer in the United States, it’s because of the people,” Connor said. “The workers are very industrious. The equipment everywhere is the same.”
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BROWN, THOMAS S.. “Slater firms ruled cause of smell in Bishop’s Bend area Companies ordered by DEM to pinpoint reason for odor and eliminate it.” Providence Journal (RI), BLACKSTONE VALLEY SOUTH ed., sec. NEWS, 17 Aug. 1982, pp. C-01. NewsBank: America’s News, https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=NewsBank&req_dat=D4BD6B42F1AB4706B5E1244D477DEE03&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews/1525C396EE621988. Accessed 23 Dec. 2024. ↩
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BRUNO, JAMES V.. “DEM probers fail to identify source of ‘oily’ odor ‘Your nose will tell you’ where it comes from, says Bishop Bend resident.” Providence Journal (RI), BLACKSTONE VALLEY SOUTH ed., sec. NEWS, 29 June 1982, pp. C-01. NewsBank: America’s News, https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=NewsBank&req_dat=D4BD6B42F1AB4706B5E1244D477DEE03&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews/1525C46011665498. Accessed 23 Dec. 2024. ↩
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BROWN, THOMAS S.. “Slater firms ruled cause of smell in Bishop’s Bend area Companies ordered by DEM to pinpoint reason for odor and eliminate it.” Providence Journal (RI), BLACKSTONE VALLEY SOUTH ed., sec. NEWS, 17 Aug. 1982, pp. C-01. NewsBank: America’s News, https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=NewsBank&req_dat=D4BD6B42F1AB4706B5E1244D477DEE03&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews/1525C396EE621988. Accessed 23 Dec. 2024. ↩
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Ibid. ↩
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BROWN, THOMAS S.. “Pollution expert sniffs solution to industrial odors, R.I. engineer says.” Providence Journal (RI), BLACKSTONE VALLEY SOUTH ed., sec. NEWS, 22 Feb. 1983, pp. C-01. NewsBank: America’s News, https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=NewsBank&req_dat=D4BD6B42F1AB4706B5E1244D477DEE03&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews/1525C2E284862460. Accessed 23 Dec. 2024. ↩
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BROWN, THOMAS S.. “Efforts of 2 mills fail to stem odors, neighbors complain to doubting agency.” Providence Journal (RI), BLACKSTONE VALLEY SOUTH ed., sec. NEWS, 5 July 1983, pp. C-01. NewsBank: America’s News, https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=NewsBank&req_dat=D4BD6B42F1AB4706B5E1244D477DEE03&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews/1525C26E0C0410A8. Accessed 23 Dec. 2024. ↩
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KILLEEN, WENDY. “Company must control pollution to expand.” Providence Journal (RI), BLACKSTONE VALLEY ed., sec. NEWS, 18 July 1986, pp. C-01. NewsBank: America’s News, https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=NewsBank&req_dat=D4BD6B42F1AB4706B5E1244D477DEE03&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews/15252D55CD5B4020. Accessed 23 Dec. 2024. ↩
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“Workers strike at Slater Dye Works over change in health insurance plan.” Providence Journal (RI), ALL ed., sec. NEWS, 11 Oct. 1989, pp. D-05. NewsBank: America’s News, https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=NewsBank&req_dat=D4BD6B42F1AB4706B5E1244D477DEE03&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews/152524FD64EED968. Accessed 23 Dec. 2024. ↩
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DAVIS, PAUL. “Health care is strike issue.” Providence Journal (RI), ALL ed., sec. BUSINESS, 15 Sept. 1990, pp. D-01. NewsBank: America’s News, https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=NewsBank&req_dat=D4BD6B42F1AB4706B5E1244D477DEE03&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews/1525BADADB61D3A0. Accessed 23 Dec. 2024. ↩
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“Pawtucket firm buys former Health-tex site New fabric printing plant will employ up to 100 workers.” Providence Journal (RI), BLACKSTONE VALLEY ed., sec. NEWS, 29 Aug. 1991, pp. B-01. NewsBank: America’s News, https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=NewsBank&req_dat=D4BD6B42F1AB4706B5E1244D477DEE03&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews/1525B91CB6094468. Accessed 23 Dec. 2024. ↩
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CASTELLUCCI, JOHN. “Slater Companies seeks tax freeze.” Providence Journal (RI), Blackstone Valley ed., sec. News, 27 Jan. 2004, pp. C-01. NewsBank: America’s News, https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=NewsBank&req_dat=D4BD6B42F1AB4706B5E1244D477DEE03&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews/15242A6254513F88. Accessed 23 Dec. 2024. ↩
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DUNN, CHRISTINE. “NEIGHBORHOOD OF THE WEEK - BISHOP’S BEND - Enclave with Polish roots.” Providence Journal (RI), 1 ed., sec. projoHomes, 8 Jan. 2012, p. E1. NewsBank: America’s News, https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=NewsBank&req_dat=D4BD6B42F1AB4706B5E1244D477DEE03&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews/152421B514388F38. Accessed 23 Dec. 2024. ↩