# Slab city

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This article is about an area surrounding a sawmill. For the recreational vehicle community in California, see [Slab City, California](/source/Slab_City,_California). For the unincorporated community in Wisconsin, see [Slab City, Wisconsin](/source/Slab_City,_Wisconsin).

**Slab city** is a derogatory term for an area which surrounded a [sawmill](/source/Sawmill) in [American frontier](/source/American_frontier) times. De-limbed timber was placed in the mill. The timber was cut from its somewhat rounded shape to a four-sided piece of lumber, which would be further sawed into lumber of useful sizes. The original pieces that were cut, along with the bark, were called "slabs" and discarded nearby until a use was found for them. Eventually, the slab piles became the most visible part of the area. Other specialists would construct businesses in the area, such as a [blacksmith](/source/Blacksmith), a [general store](/source/General_store), a [post office](/source/Post_office), and a [wheelwright](/source/Wheelwright). Sometimes a village or town would form around the place and the sobriquet "slab city" was replaced by a place name.[1]

[Vermont](/source/Vermont) had nine such slab cities.[1] [Massachusetts](/source/Massachusetts) had at least one.[2]

## Citations

1. James Reid (6 April 2000). [*Diary of a Country Clergyman 1848-1851*](https://books.google.com/books?id=fyTUUvwICYQC&q=vermont+slab+city+nine&pg=PA275). McGill-Queen University Press. ISBN 9780773568136. Retrieved December 13, 2017.

1. Society, Shirley Historical. ["mills"](https://web.archive.org/web/20160724183046/http://www.shirleyhistory.org/mills.htm). *www.shirleyhistory.org*. Archived from [the original](http://www.shirleyhistory.org/mills.htm) on 24 July 2016. Retrieved 13 December 2017.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Slab city](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slab_city) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slab_city?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.