John Fox Slater - a Jewett City native receives Congressional Gold Medal

Monday, 5 February 1883: Joint resolution presenting the thanks of Congress to John F. Slater, and for other purposes.
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the thanks of the Congress be, and they hereby are, presented to John F. Slater, of Connecticut, for his great beneficence in giving the large sum of one million dollars for the purpose of "uplifting the lately emancipated population of the Southern States and their posterity, by conferring on them the blessings of Christian education."
SEC. 2. That it shall be the duty of the President to cause a gold medal to be struck, with suitable devices and inscription, which, together with a copy of this resolution, shall be presented to Mr. Slater in the name of the people of the United States.

John Fox Slater was the son of John and Ruth Slater and nephew of Samuel Slater who brought the cotton-spinning industry to America.

While still a young man, John Fox Slater was put in charge of the former Jewett City Cotton Company mill which had been bought by his Uncle, Samuel Slater, in 1823. When the Hopeville mill was bought in 1825, John Fox ran that mill as well. Much of the Jewett City Cotton mill complex remains standing and in use today as the Slater Mill Mall on Slater Avenue, Jewett City, CT.

As the years went on, John Fox Slater became one of the leading industrialists in the United States. John Fox Slater died in 1884 and is buried in the Yantic Cemetery in Norwich, CT.

His many accomplishments include:

• Financial backer of Ponemah Mill in the Taftville section of Norwich
• Director of the Norwich and New London Steamboat Company
• Director three railroads: Norwich & Worcester; Joliet & Chicago; and, Chicago & Alton
• Corporator of Norwich Free Academy
• Director of Washington and Moel Manufacturing Company of Worcester
• Director of Norwich Fire Insurance Company

John Fox Slater bequeathed funds to complete the Slater Library of Jewett City and established an endowment fund for its operation, as well as, endowed funds for the Slater Museum of Norwich, CT.

One of his greatest gifts was the $1,000,000 endowment for the Slater Fund for the purposes of providing education to the recently emancipated slaves in the Southern States.

On February 5, 1883, John Fox Slater was presented with the Congressional Medal of Honor in gratitude of his generous and philanthropic bequest to provide the opportunity of an education to the freed slaves at the end of the Civil War.

*Special thanks and appreciation given to Mary Deveau, Griswold Municipal Historian, for her contribution to this article.