Industrial Revolution Timeline

1789 Samuel Slater brings textile machinery to New England

1814 Francis C. Lowell establishes large-scale textile factory in Waltham, MA

1820s Copper mining begins in Strafford, Corinth, Ely, VT

1823 Champlain Canal opens from the lake to the Hudson River, increases commerce and changes direction of VT trade from Canada to NY

1824 Rifles with fully interchangeable parts manufactured at Harpers Ferry armory.

1825 Erie Canal opens
         Textile mills set up at Lowell, MA

1830s Marble and slate quarries operating in Rutland County, VT

1834 Fairbanks Scales starts up in St. Johnsbury, VT

1835 Ironworks begin at Tyson’s Furnace in Plymouth, VT

1837 John Deere introduces the first steel plow
         Samuel Morse develops the telegraph

1840 80 textile factories in VT, ¾ employ 10-100 people

1846 1,200 VT girls are employed in the Lowell mills
      “Bolton War” on VT Central RR, VT’s first labor strike, by Irish workers due pay

1850 11,000 VTers are living in CA, many searching for gold

1850s Railroads emerge as nation's first big businesses
         Estey Organ company starts up in Brattleboro, VT, becomes largest in US

1851 Isaac Singer invents mechanical sewing machine
         Robbins and Lawrence factory in Windsor, VT, creates interchangeable parts for guns

1854 Henry Bessemer invents the steel converter

1855 Brattleboro washerwomen strike for higher pay

1859 Petroleum discovered in PA

1860 42% of native-born VTers live out of state

1866 Female textile workers in Woodstock, VT, strike for 10-hour day

1867 Alfred Nobel produces dynamite
         Refrigerated rail car invented

1869 First transcontinental railroad completed.

1870s Burlington, VT, a leading US lumber port

1870 John D. Rockefeller forms Standard Oil trust

1875 Granite industry in Barre, VT, begins to boom with RR spur

1876 Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone

1879 Thomas Edison invents the incandescent light

1883 “Ely War” outrage by copper workers denied pay prompts National Guard intervention

1886 American Federation of Labor is established
         Interstate Commerce Act regulates railroad rates, first federal regulatory action
         Barre workers organize local of Granite Cutters union, becomes largest in US
         United Labor party sweeps elections in Rutland

1892 Barre granite workers strike for 5 months