BOOM, BUST, AND BOOM
Planned and developed as the original American industrial city, Lowell's site was chosen to capitalize off the forces of the mighty Merrimack River. It was the river that was needed to drive the looms, and so it was geography and a search for power that determined the setting for this story.
FRANCIS CABOT LOWELL, INDUSTRIAL SPY?
With the help of a skilled machinist named Paul Moody, Lowell successfully developed and patented a new version of the power loom, and, with the financial backing of the Boston Manufacturing Company, built a mill in Waltham, MA, on the banks of the Charles River. It was only later, after Francis Cabot Lowell had passed away from pneumonia at the age of 42, and after the Waltham Mill had exhausted the power of the Charles River, that the ambitious men of the Boston Manufacturing company set their sights on the Merrimack River, founding a mill town, but not just a normal town, a planned manufacturing center, and ultimately a major industrial city, which they would call Lowell, in honor of the inventor of their most important machine.
SOUTHERN CONNECTION
While on the one hand, the story of Lowell is one of can-do entrepreneurship and enormous economic success, there is, as in many stories of American enterprise, a dark side as well. The cotton that flowed into Lowell, the raw material that was spun into thread and woven steadily by Lowell's power looms was Southern cotton, picked by the hands of slaves and in some cases sold back to plantation owners in the South, for clothing those very same laborers. Therein may be the secret to the remarkable profits gained by the Boston Manufacturing Company, for free labor (and a captive consumer) is no small advantage in the markets of industrial enterprise. And so, Lowell's success was deeply entwined with the ugly institution of slavery in many ways, both simple and complicated.#nbsp;Note: if you're interested in this aspect of Lowell's story, read the book#nbsp;Empire of Cotton, a book we can't recommend enough for those curious about cotton and it's role in empire building.
WOMEN OF THE LOOM
The Lowell factories also benefited heavily from the accessibility of local (female) labor--known commonly today as the "Mill Girls."#nbsp;In the early years, factory work was seen as a way toward independence and an escape from an impoverished life as a country farm girl. Many of the mill girls had some education and high expectations for their lives, and as factory conditions deteriorated, they began to organize and speak out for their rights. Ultimately, labor activism among the mill workers of Lowell resulted in protests, strikes, and the formation of the nation's first union of women workers, the Lowell Female Labor Reform Association.
LOWELL TEXTILE HISTORY DESTINATIONS
LOWELL'S DOWNTURN
LOOMS TO LOFTS
LOWELL DESTINATIONS
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