The slate industry transformed Poultney in the last half of the 19th century. An agrarian community populated principally by Yankees became an industrialized town enriched by a diverse group of immigrants.

Allegedly, the slate industry was due to an accidental event. According to an old story, around 1843, a farmer was showing his land to a prospective buyer. The buyer kicked at a mound of soil and looked at the rocks he dislodged. He exclaimed to the farmer “Why that is slate” The farmer then decided not to sell!

The slate industry began in our area, when Colonel Alonsen Allen started the first quarry on Scotch Hill in Fairhaven in 1845. The first quarry in Poultney was the famed Eureka Quarry established in 1852 by Daniel Hooker. The initial applications of slate products were school slates for writing and slate pencils.

By the late 1840’s the Allen quarry was producing 600 school slates per day. Then, in the 1850’s demand for roofing material emerged. Slate roofs could last 100 to 150 years if properly maintained. Processing of slate for roofing required special skills which existed in abundance in Wales.