diff --git a/js/src/factories.ts b/js/src/factories.ts
index aa54498c50bc0..657ae1b95ab92 100644
--- a/js/src/factories.ts
+++ b/js/src/factories.ts
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ export function makeBuilder<T extends dtypes.DataType = any, TNull = any>(option
 export function vectorFromArray(values: readonly (null | undefined)[], type?: dtypes.Null): Vector<dtypes.Null>;
 export function vectorFromArray(values: readonly (null | undefined | boolean)[], type?: dtypes.Bool): Vector<dtypes.Bool>;
 export function vectorFromArray<T extends dtypes.Utf8 | dtypes.Dictionary<dtypes.Utf8> = dtypes.Dictionary<dtypes.Utf8, dtypes.Int32>>(values: readonly (null | undefined | string)[], type?: T): Vector<T>;
-export function vectorFromArray<T extends dtypes.Date_>(values: readonly (null | undefined | Date)[], type?: T): Vector<T>;
+export function vectorFromArray<T extends dtypes.TimestampMillisecond>(values: readonly (null | undefined | Date)[], type?: T): Vector<T>;
 export function vectorFromArray<T extends dtypes.Int>(values: readonly (null | undefined | number)[], type: T): Vector<T>;
 export function vectorFromArray<T extends dtypes.Int64 | dtypes.Uint64 = dtypes.Int64>(values: readonly (null | undefined | bigint)[], type?: T): Vector<T>;
 export function vectorFromArray<T extends dtypes.Float = dtypes.Float64>(values: readonly (null | undefined | number)[], type?: T): Vector<T>;
@@ -145,7 +145,7 @@ function inferType(value: readonly unknown[]): dtypes.DataType {
     } else if (booleansCount + nullsCount === value.length) {
         return new dtypes.Bool;
     } else if (datesCount + nullsCount === value.length) {
-        return new dtypes.DateMillisecond;
+        return new dtypes.TimestampMillisecond;
     } else if (arraysCount + nullsCount === value.length) {
         const array = value as Array<unknown>[];
         const childType = inferType(array[array.findIndex((ary) => ary != null)]);
diff --git a/js/src/type.ts b/js/src/type.ts
index ae3aefa025999..a42552d65ad27 100644
--- a/js/src/type.ts
+++ b/js/src/type.ts
@@ -349,7 +349,19 @@ export class Date_<T extends Dates = Dates> extends DataType<T> {
 
 /** @ignore */
 export class DateDay extends Date_<Type.DateDay> { constructor() { super(DateUnit.DAY); } }
-/** @ignore */
+/**
+ * A signed 64-bit date representing the elapsed time since UNIX epoch (1970-01-01) in milliseconds.
+ * According to the specification, this should be treated as the number of days, in milliseconds,  since the UNIX epoch.
+ * Therefore, values must be evenly divisible by `86_400_000` (the number of milliseconds in a standard day).
+ *
+ * Practically, validation that values of this type are evenly divisible by `86_400_000` is not enforced by this library
+ * for performance and usability reasons.
+ *
+ * Users should prefer to use {@link DateDay} to cleanly represent the number of days. For JS dates,
+ * {@link TimestampMillisecond} is the preferred type.
+ *
+ * @ignore
+ */
 export class DateMillisecond extends Date_<Type.DateMillisecond> { constructor() { super(DateUnit.MILLISECOND); } }
 
 /** @ignore */
diff --git a/js/test/unit/vector/date-vector-tests.ts b/js/test/unit/vector/date-vector-tests.ts
index f8b4c1c7976d2..e5cd49933eac5 100644
--- a/js/test/unit/vector/date-vector-tests.ts
+++ b/js/test/unit/vector/date-vector-tests.ts
@@ -15,10 +15,19 @@
 // specific language governing permissions and limitations
 // under the License.
 
-import { DateDay, DateMillisecond, RecordBatchReader, Table, vectorFromArray } from 'apache-arrow';
+import { DateDay, DateMillisecond, TimestampMillisecond, RecordBatchReader, Table, vectorFromArray } from 'apache-arrow';
+
+describe(`TimestampVector`, () => {
+    test(`Dates are stored in TimestampMillisecond`, () => {
+        const date = new Date('2023-02-01T12:34:56Z');
+        const vec = vectorFromArray([date]);
+        expect(vec.type).toBeInstanceOf(TimestampMillisecond);
+        expect(vec.get(0)).toBe(date.valueOf());
+    });
+});
 
 describe(`DateVector`, () => {
-    it('returns days since the epoch as correct JS Dates', () => {
+    test(`returns days since the epoch as correct JS Dates`, () => {
         const table = new Table(RecordBatchReader.from(test_data));
         const expectedMillis = expectedMillis32();
         const date32 = table.getChildAt<DateDay>(0)!;
@@ -28,7 +37,7 @@ describe(`DateVector`, () => {
         }
     });
 
-    it('returns millisecond longs since the epoch as correct JS Dates', () => {
+    test(`returns millisecond longs since the epoch as correct JS Dates`, () => {
         const table = new Table(RecordBatchReader.from(test_data));
         const expectedMillis = expectedMillis64();
         const date64 = table.getChildAt<DateMillisecond>(1)!;
@@ -38,9 +47,9 @@ describe(`DateVector`, () => {
         }
     });
 
-    it('returns the same date that was in the vector', () => {
+    test(`returns the same date that was in the vector`, () => {
         const dates = [new Date(1950, 1, 0)];
-        const vec = vectorFromArray(dates);
+        const vec = vectorFromArray(dates, new DateMillisecond());
         for (const date of vec) {
             expect(date).toEqual(dates.shift());
         }