The Waltham-Lowell system was a labor and production model employed during the rise of the textile industry in the United States, particularly in New England , during the rapid expansion of the Industrial Revolution in the early 19th century.
88-540: The textile industry was one of the earliest to become mechanized, made possible by inventions such as the spinning jenny , spinning mule , and water frame around the time of the American Revolution , and models of production and labor sources were first explored in textile manufacturing. The system used domestic labor, often referred to as mill girls , who came to the new textile centers from rural towns to earn more money than they could at home, and to live
176-703: A mill town , Lowell was named after Francis Cabot Lowell , a local figure in the Industrial Revolution . The city became known as the cradle of the American Industrial Revolution because of its textile mills and factories. Many of Lowell's historic manufacturing sites were later preserved by the National Park Service to create Lowell National Historical Park . During the Cambodian genocide (1975–1979),
264-405: A beam on that frame. The rovings when extended passed through two horizontal bars of wood that could be clasped together. These bars could be drawn along the top of the frame by the spinner's left hand thus extending the thread. The spinner used his right hand to rapidly turn a wheel which caused all the spindles to revolve, and the thread to be spun. When the bars were returned, the thread wound onto
352-465: A controlled system of labor, unlike the harsh conditions that they observed while in Lancashire , England. The owners recruited young New England farm girls from the surrounding area to work the machines at Waltham. The mill girls lived in company boarding houses and were subject to strict codes of conduct and supervised by older women. They worked about 80 hours a week. Six days per week, they woke to
440-516: A cultured life in the city. Their life was very regimented: they lived in boardinghouses and were held to strict hours and a moral code. Competition grew in the domestic textile industry and wages declined, so workers began to go on strike. Immigration began to grow in the United States, and immigrants often brought skills and were willing to work for lower wages by mid-century, and the system proved unprofitable and collapsed. The precursor to
528-536: A household in the city was $ 51,714, according to the American Community Survey 5-year estimate ending in 2012. The median income for a family was $ 55,852. Males had a median income of $ 44,739 versus $ 35,472 for females. The per capita income for the city was $ 22,730. About 15.2% of families and 17.5% of individuals were below the poverty line , including 24.5% of those under age 18 and 13.2% of those age 65 or over. Racial Makeup: In 2010,
616-405: A marketing system emerged. In 1738, John Kay started to improve the loom. He improved the reed, and invented the raceboard, the shuttleboxes and the picker which together allowed one weaver to double his output. This invention is commonly called the flying shuttle . It met with violent opposition and he fled from Lancashire to Leeds. Though the workers thought this was a threat to their jobs, it
704-531: A northeasterly turn there before emptying into the Atlantic Ocean at Newburyport, Massachusetts , approximately 40 miles (64 km) downriver from Lowell. It is believed that in prior ages, the Merrimack continued south from Lowell to empty into the ocean somewhere near Boston . The glacial deposits that redirected the flow of the river left the drumlins that dot the city, most notably, Fort Hill in
792-643: A part of the University of Massachusetts Lowell system, established in 1971 to assure the safekeeping, preservation, and availability for study and research of materials in unique subject areas, particularly those related to the Greater Lowell Area and the University of Massachusetts Lowell. Located downtown in the Patrick J. Mogan Cultural Center at 40 French Street, the center is committed to
880-536: A patent (no. 962) on his invention, the Spinning Jenny—a machine for spinning, drawing and twisting cotton. By this time a number of spinners in Lancashire were using copies of the machine, and Hargreaves sent notice that he was taking legal action against them. The manufacturers met, and offered Hargreaves £3,000. He at first demanded £7,000, and stood out for £4,000, but the case eventually fell apart when it
968-549: A power source. Francis Cabot Lowell died prematurely in 1817, and soon his partners traveled north of Boston to East Chelmsford, Massachusetts , where the large Merrimack River could provide far more power. The first mills formed the Merrimack Manufacturing Company and were running by 1823. The settlement was incorporated as the town of Lowell in 1826 and became the city of Lowell ten years later, boasting ten textile corporations, all running on
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#17327824065921056-610: A reemergence of their use. Downtown Lowell includes the UMass Lowell East Campus which consists of university housing, recreation facilities, research and the university's sports arena , as well as the Middlesex Community College . Pawtucketville , the University of Massachusetts Lowell , North Campus; and the Acre make up the 01854 ZIP Code. The northwestern portion of the city includes
1144-544: A significant increase in the number of residents between the ages of 50-69 while the percentages of residents under the age of 15 and over the age of 70 decreased. In 2010 the city's population had a median age of 32.6. The age distribution was 23.7% of the population under the age of 18, 13.5% from 18 to 24, 29.4% from 25 to 44, 23.3% from 45 to 64, and 10.1% who were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females, there were 98.6 males; while for every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.6 males. Median Income: for
1232-497: A single plant. This large amount of control made it so that no other company could interfere with production. The Waltham mill also pioneered the process of mass production which greatly increased the scale of manufacturing. Water-powered line shafts and belts connected hundreds of power lines. The increase in manufacturing occurred so rapidly that there was no localized labor supply in the early 19th century that could have sufficed. Lowell solved this problem by hiring young women. After
1320-689: Is a city in Massachusetts , United States. Alongside Cambridge , it is one of two traditional seats of Middlesex County . With an estimated population of 115,554 in 2020 , it was the fifth most populous city in Massachusetts as of the last census, and the third most populous in the Boston metropolitan statistical area . The city is also part of a smaller Massachusetts statistical area , called Greater Lowell , and of New England 's Merrimack Valley region. Incorporated in 1826 to serve as
1408-801: Is a part of the Merrimack Valley Library Consortium . Currently, circulation of materials averages around 250,000 annually, with approximately one-third deriving from the children's collection. In fiscal year 2009, Lowell spent 0.35% ($ 885,377) of its budget on the library—approximately $ 8 per person, per year ($ 9.83 adjusted for inflation in 2021). As of 2012, the Pollard Library purchases access for its patrons to databases owned by: EBSCO Industries ; Gale , of Cengage Learning ; Heritage Archives, Inc. ; New England Historic Genealogical Society ; OverDrive, Inc. ; ProQuest ; and World Trade Press. The Lydon Library
1496-461: Is a part of the University of Massachusetts Lowell system, and is located on the North Campus. The building is named in honor of President Martin J. Lydon, whose vision expanded and renamed the college during his tenure in the 1950s and 1960s. Its current collection concentrates on the sciences, engineering, business management, social sciences, humanities, and health. The O'Leary Library
1584-513: Is a part of the University of Massachusetts Lowell system, and is located on the South Campus. The building is named in honor of former History Professor and then President O'Leary, whose vision helped merge the Lowell colleges during his tenure in the 1970s and 1980s. Its current collection concentrates on music and art. The Center for Lowell History [special collections and archives] is
1672-554: Is a point in the middle of the Concord River where Lowell and Billerica meet Tewksbury and Chelmsford. The ten communities designated part of the Lowell Metropolitan area by the 2000 US Census are Billerica , Chelmsford , Dracut , Dunstable , Groton , Lowell, Pepperell , Tewksbury , Tyngsborough , and Westford , and Pelham, New Hampshire . See Greater Lowell . Lowell has eight distinct neighborhoods:
1760-488: Is an urban area south of downtown, toward the mouth of River Meadow Brook. South Lowell is the area south of the railroad and east of the Concord River. Other minor neighborhoods within this ZIP Code are Ayers City, Bleachery, Chapel Hill, the Grove, Oaklands, Riverside Park, Swede Village, and Wigginville. Although the use of the names of these smaller neighborhoods has been in decline in the past decades, there has been recently
1848-487: Is elected every two years and is composed of eight district seats and three at-large seats. The School Committee is elected for two-year terms and is composed of four district seats, two at-large seats, and the mayor. City Council and School Committee elections are non-partisan. In 1957, Lowell voters repealed a single-transferable-vote system, which had been in place since 1943. The City Council chooses one of its members as mayor , and another as vice-mayor. The role of
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#17327824065921936-622: Is located at 42°38′22″N 71°18′53″W / 42.63944°N 71.31472°W / 42.63944; -71.31472 (42.639444, −71.314722). According to the United States Census Bureau , the city has a total area of 14.5 square miles (38 km ) of which 13.8 square miles (36 km ) is land and 0.8 square miles (2.1 km ) (5.23%) is water. Lowell features a four-season Humid continental climate , with long and very cold winters, which typically experience an average 56 in (1,400 mm) of snowfall, with
2024-409: Is that jenny was an abbreviation of engine . Thomas Highs of Leigh has claimed to be the inventor and the story is repeated using his wife's name. Another myth has Thomas Earnshaw inventing a spinning device of a similar description – but destroying it after fearing he might be taking bread out of the mouths of the poor. Lowell, Massachusetts Lowell ( / ˈ l oʊ ə l / )
2112-779: Is the official entrance to the Lowell-Dracut-Tyngsborough State Forest , the site of an historic Native American tribe, and in the age of the Industrial Revolution was a prominent source of granite used in canals and factory foundations. Population Density: According to the 2010 Census , there were 106,519 people living in the city. The population density was 7,842.1 inhabitants per square mile (3,027.9/km ). There were 41,431 housing units at an average density of 2,865.5/sq mi (1,106.4/km ). Household Size : 2010, there were 38,470 households, and 23,707 families living in Lowell;
2200-670: Is the section of Centralville east of Bridge Street. The Highlands , ZIP Code 01851, is the most populated neighborhood, with almost a quarter of the city residing here. It is located in the southwestern section of the city, bordered to the east by the Lowell Connector and to the north by the railroad. Lowellians further distinguish the sections of the Highlands as the Upper Highlands and the Lower Highlands,
2288-498: The Boston Manufacturing Company , named the new mill town after their visionary leader, Francis Cabot Lowell , who had died five years before its 1823 incorporation. As Lowell's population grew, it acquired land from neighboring towns, and diversified into a full-fledged urban center. Many of the men who composed the labor force for constructing the canals and factories had immigrated from Ireland , escaping
2376-546: The Catholic Germans , followed by a large influx of French Canadians during the 1870s and 1880s. Later waves of immigrants came to work in Lowell and settled in ethnic neighborhoods, with the city's population reaching almost 50% foreign-born by 1900. By the time World War I broke out in Europe, the city had reached its economic peak. In 1922, it was affected by the 1922 New England Textile Strike , shutting down
2464-535: The Confederate States of America . Many of the coarse cottons produced in Lowell eventually returned to the South to clothe enslaved people, and, according to historian Sven Beckert, "'Lowell' became the generic term slaves used to describe coarse cottons." The city continued to thrive as a major industrial center during the 19th century, attracting more migrant workers and immigrants to its mills. Next were
2552-677: The National Register of Historic Places including many buildings and structures as part of the Lowell National Historical Park . In the early years of the 1840s when the population quickly exceeded 20,000, Lowell became very active as a cultural center, with the construction of the Lowell Museum , the Mechanics Hall , as well as the new City Hall used for art exhibits, lectures , and for
2640-661: The genocide at the hands of the Khmer Rouge . The city continued to rebound, but this time, focusing more on culture. The former mill district along the river was partially restored and became part of the Lowell National Historical Park , founded in the late 1970s. Although Wang went bankrupt in 1992, the city continued its cultural focus by hosting the nation's largest free folk festival, the Lowell Folk Festival , as well as many other cultural events. This effort began to attract other companies and families back to
2728-440: The performing arts . The Lowell Museum was lost in a devastating fire in the early morning of January 31, 1856, but was quickly rehoused in a new location. The Lowell Art Association was founded in 1876, and the new Opera House was built in 1889. Continuing to inspire and entertain, Lowell currently has a plethora of artistic exhibitions and performances throughout a wide range of venues in the city: The first Lowell public library
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2816-460: The 139th most dangerous city of over 75,000 residents in the United States, out of 393 communities. Out of Massachusetts cities, nine are larger than 75,000 residents, and Lowell was fifth. For comparison Lowell was still rated safer than Boston (104 of 393), Providence, RI (123), Springfield (51), Lynn (120), Fall River (103), and New Bedford (85), but rated more dangerous than Cambridge (303), Newton (388), Quincy (312), and Worcester (175). Lowell
2904-454: The 1990s, Lowell had been locally notorious for being a place of high drug trafficking and gang activity, and was the setting for a real life documentary, High on Crack Street: Lost Lives in Lowell . In the years from 1994 to 1999, crime dropped 50 percent, the highest rate of decrease for any city in America with over 100,000 residents. Within one generation, by 2009, Lowell was ranked as
2992-413: The 1990s, and while the likelihood of becoming a victim of violent crime in Massachusetts are 1 in 265, the odds in Lowell are 1 in 289, making Lowell (approximately) 10% safer than the rest of the state, on average. Lowell's violent crime rate is comparable to Honolulu, HI and is less than one-quarter that of Washington, D.C. Among the many tourist attractions, Lowell also currently has 39 places on
3080-468: The Acre, Back Central, Belvidere, Centralville, Downtown, Highlands, Pawtucketville, and South Lowell. The city also has five ZIP codes : four are geographically distinct general ZIP codes, and one (01853) is for post-office boxes only. The Centralville neighborhood, ZIP Code 01850, is the northeastern section of the city, north of the Merrimack River and east of Beaver Brook . Christian Hill
3168-771: The American Civil War. In 1981, the library was renamed the Pollard Memorial Library in memory of the late Mayor Samuel S. Pollard. And, in the mid-2000s the century-old National Historic building underwent a major $ 8.5m renovation. The city also expanded the library system to include the Senior Center Branch, located in the City of Lowell Senior Center. In fiscal year 2008, the city of Lowell spent 0.36% ($ 975,845) of its budget on its public libraries, which houses 236,000 volumes, and
3256-566: The Belvidere neighborhood. Other large hills in Lowell include Lynde Hill, also in Belvidere, and Christian Hill, in the easternmost part of Centralville at the Dracut town line. The Concord, or Musketaquid (its original name), forms from the confluence of the Assabet and Sudbury rivers at Concord, Massachusetts . This river flows north into the city, and the area around the confluence with
3344-504: The Comprehensive Master Plan, more broad changes were recommended so that the land use and development would be consistent with the current master plan. The most significant revision to the 1966 zoning code is the adoption of an inclusion of a transect-based zoning code and some aspects of a form-based code style of zoning that emphasizes urban design elements as a means to ensure that infill development will respect
3432-620: The HCD Master Plan. The HCD is a major redevelopment project that comprises 13 acres of vacant, underutilized land in downtown Lowell abutting former industrial mills. Trinity Financial was elected as the Master Developer to recreate this district with a vision of making a mixed-use neighborhood. Development plans included establishing the HCD as a gateway to downtown Lowell and enhanced connectivity to Gallagher Terminal . In
3520-633: The Lowell High School Red Raiders, also played host to the Boston Patriots during their first season. The Pawtucket Falls , which provided the hydropower for Lowell's industry in the 1800s, also served as an important seasonal fishing site for native people at the time of European colonization in the 1600s. The Pawtucket people are named for this location, literally meaning "at the falls" in Massachusett . In
3608-507: The Merrimack was known as Wamesit. Like the Merrimack, the Concord, although a much smaller river, has many waterfalls and rapids that served as power sources for early industrial purposes, some well before the founding of Lowell. Immediately after the Concord joins the Merrimack, the Merrimack descends another ten feet in Hunt's Falls. There is a ninety-degree bend in the Merrimack partway down
Waltham-Lowell system - Misplaced Pages Continue
3696-724: The Pawtucket Falls. At this point, the river briefly widens and shallows. Here, Beaver Brook enters from the north, separating the city's two northern neighborhoods, Pawtucketville and Centralville. Entering the Concord River from the southwest is River Meadow, or Hale's Brook. This brook flows largely in a man-made channel, as the Lowell Connector was built along it. Both of these minor streams have limited industrial histories as well. The bordering towns (clockwise from north) are Dracut , Tewksbury , Billerica , Chelmsford , and Tyngsborough . The border with Billerica
3784-826: The Waltham System and each considerably larger than the Boston Manufacturing Company. Lowell became one of the largest cities in New England and the model became known as the Lowell System; it was copied elsewhere in New England, often in other mill towns developed by the Boston Associates. Eventually, cheaper and less organized foreign labor replaced the mill girls. Even by the time of the founding of Lawrence in 1845, there were questions being raised about its viability. One of
3872-687: The Waltham-Lowell system was used in Rhode Island , where British immigrant Samuel Slater set up his first spinning mills in 1793. Slater drew on his British mill experience to create a factory system called the "Rhode Island System" based on the customary patterns of family life in New England villages. Children aged 7 to 12 were the first employees of the mill, and Slater personally supervised them closely. The first child workers were hired in 1790. Slater first tried to staff his mill with women and children from afar, but that fell through due to
3960-569: The abandonment of many praying towns. By the 1800s, the area that would become Lowell was part of the farming community of East Chelmsford, Massachusetts. Founded in the 1820s as a planned manufacturing center for textiles , Lowell is located along the rapids of the Merrimack River , 25 miles (40 km) northwest of Boston in what was once the farming community of East Chelmsford, Massachusetts . The so-called Boston Associates , including Nathan Appleton and Patrick Tracy Jackson of
4048-406: The amount of work needed to produce cloth , with a worker able to work eight or more spools at once. This grew to 120 as technology advanced. The yarn produced by the jenny was not very strong until Richard Arkwright invented the water-powered water frame . The spinning jenny helped to start the factory system of cotton manufacturing. The spinning jenny was invented by James Hargreaves . He
4136-567: The annual New England Golden Gloves tournament, which featured fighters such as Rocky Marciano , Sugar Ray Leonard , and Marvin Hagler . Micky Ward and Dicky Eklund both began their careers in Lowell, the subject of the 2010 film The Fighter . Arthur Ramalho's West End Gym is where many of the city's boxers train. * =current mayor **=former mayor Lowell has a Plan-E council-manager government . There are eleven city councilors and seven school committee members. The City Council
4224-451: The average household size was 2.66 and the average family size was 3.31. Of those households, 34.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 35.9% were married couples living together, 14.7% had a female householder with no husband present, 38.4% were non-families, 29.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. Age Distributions: Lowell has also experienced
4312-545: The character of the neighborhood or district in question. By 2004, the recommended zoning changes were unanimously adopted by the City Council and despite numerous changes to the 2004 Zoning Code, it remains the basic framework for resolving zoning issues in Lowell to this day. The Hamilton Canal District (HCD) is the first district in Lowell in which regulation and development is defined by Form-Based Code (HCD-FBC) and legislated by its own guiding framework consistent to
4400-526: The city (south of the Merrimack River and southeast of the Lowell Connector). Belvidere is the mostly residential area south of the Merrimack River, east of the Concord River, and north of the Lowell and Lawrence railroad. Belvidere Hill Historic District runs along Fairmount Street. Lower Belvidere is the section west of Nesmith Street. Rogers Fort Hill Park Historic District , Lowell Cemetery , and Shedd Park are this side of town. Back Central
4488-786: The city include the Whistler House Museum of Art , the Merrimack Repertory Theatre , the Lowell Memorial Auditorium , and Sampas Pavilion . In sports, the city has a long tradition of boxing, hosting the annual New England Golden Gloves boxing tournament. The city has a baseball stadium, Edward A. LeLacheur Park , and a multipurpose indoor sports arena, the Tsongas Center , both of which have hosted collegiate and minor-league professional sports teams. Cawley Stadium, home of
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#17327824065924576-413: The city took in an influx of refugees, leading to a Cambodia Town and America's second-largest Cambodian-American population. Lowell is home to two institutions of higher education . UMass Lowell , part of the University of Massachusetts system, has three campuses in the city. Middlesex Community College 's two campuses are in Lowell and in the town of Bedford, Massachusetts . Arts facilities in
4664-481: The close-knit framework of the New England family. He then brought in whole families, creating entire towns. He provided company-owned housing nearby, along with company stores, and he sponsored a Sunday School where college students taught the children to read and write. The Waltham-Lowell system pioneered the use of a vertically integrated system . Here there was complete control over all aspects of production. Spinning, weaving, dyeing, and cutting were now completed in
4752-542: The design and implementation of historical, educational, and cultural programs that link the university and the community in developing an economically strong and multi-culturally rich region. Its current collections and archives focus on historic and contemporary issues of Lowell (including: industrialization, textile technology, immigration, social history, regional history, labor history, women's history, and environmental history). Boxing has formed an important part of Lowell's working-class culture. The city's auditorium hosts
4840-420: The ethnic diversity of the city was 60.3% White (49.3% Non-Hispanic White ), 20.2% Asian American (12.5% Cambodian, 2.0% Indian, 1.7% Vietnamese, 1.4% Laotian), 6.8% African American , 0.3% Native American , 8.8% from other races , 3.6% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 17.3% of the population. The largest Hispanic group was those of Puerto Rican ancestry, constituting 11.3% of
4928-475: The factory bell at 4:40 a.m. and reported to work at 5 before a half-hour breakfast break at 7. They worked until a lunch break of 30 to 45 minutes around noon. The workers then returned to their company houses at 7 p.m. when the factory closed. This system became known as the Waltham System. The Boston Manufacturing Company proved immensely profitable, but the Charles River had very little potential as
5016-523: The first Cambodian-American mayor in the United States, Sokhary Chau . According to current FBI Crime Data Analysis, Lowell is the 46th most dangerous city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, for all sizes. In 2018, the violent crime rate for Lowell was less than half of the violent crime rate in Boston, with no murders compared to 49 in Boston. Lowell's crime rate has dropped tremendously since
5104-642: The foreign lower-class, especially the Irish immigrants who flocked to Massachusetts. Spinning jenny This is an accepted version of this page The spinning jenny is a multi- spindle spinning frame , and was one of the key developments in the industrialisation of textile manufacturing during the early Industrial Revolution . It was invented in 1764–1765 by James Hargreaves in Stan hill, Oswaldtwistle , Lancashire in England. The device reduced
5192-464: The fustian masters were middle men, who collected the grey cloth and took it to market in Manchester where it was sold to merchants who organised the finishing. To hand weave a 12-pound (5.4 kg) piece of eighteenpenny weft took 14 days and paid 36 shillings in all. Of this nine shillings was paid for spinning, and nine for carding. So by 1750, a rudimentary manufacturing system feeding into
5280-427: The handloom weaver spent part of each day visiting neighbours buying any weft they had. Carding and spinning might be the only income for that household, or part of it. The family might farm a few acres and card, spin and weave wool and cotton. It took three carders to provide the roving for one spinner, and up to three spinners to provide the yarn for one weaver. The process was continuous, and done by both sexes, from
5368-405: The highest ever recorded seasonal snowfall being 120 in (3,000 mm) in the winter of 2014–2015. Summers are hot and humid, and of average length, while autumn and spring are brief transition periods between the two. On average, temperature in Lowell ranges from 64 to 84 °F (18 to 29 °C) in the summer months, and between 2 and 33 °F (−17 and 1 °C) in the winter months, with
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#17327824065925456-555: The large spinning community in Blackburn. Eventually they broke into his house and smashed his machines, forcing him to flee to Nottingham in 1768. This was a centre for the hosiery industry, and knitted silks, cottons and wool. There he set up shop producing jennies in secret for one Mr Shipley, with the assistance of a joiner named Thomas James. He and James set up a textile business in Mill Street. On 12 July 1770, he took out
5544-403: The latter being the area closer to downtown. Middlesex Village, Tyler Park, and Drum Hill are in this ZIP Code. The Upper Highlands also includes the University of Massachusetts Lowell, South Campus (Fine Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences, Health Sciences & Education). Downtown , Belvidere , Back Central , and South Lowell make up the 01852 ZIP Code, and are the southeastern sections of
5632-521: The leading causes of this transition to foreign labor and the demise of the system was the coming of the Civil War. Girls went to be nurses, moved back to their farms, or took positions that men had left when they joined the army. These girls were out of the mills for the duration of the war and, when the mills reopened after the war, the girls were gone because they no longer needed the mills. They had rooted into their new occupations or moved on in life to
5720-650: The mayor is primarily ceremonial. The mayor runs the weekly meetings under the guidance of the City Clerk. In addition, the mayor serves as the Chairperson of the School Committee. The administrative head of the city government is the City Manager , who is responsible for all day-to-day operations, functioning within the guidelines of City Council policy, and is hired by and serves indefinitely at
5808-481: The mid-1600s, English efforts to convert native people to Christianity led to the founding of the " praying town " of Wamesit at the confluence of the Concord and Merrimack Rivers in what is today Lowell, however the population of Wamesit was reckoned at only 75 people just prior to King Phillip's War , which significantly altered relations between English colonists and indigenous groups in New England, and led to
5896-562: The mills in the city over an attempted wage cut. The Mill Cities' manufacturing base declined as companies began to relocate to the South in the 1920s. The city fell into hard times, and was even referred to as a "depressed industrial desert" by Harper's Magazine in 1931, as the Great Depression worsened. At this time, more than one third of its population was "on relief" (government assistance), as only three of its major textile corporations remained active. Several years later,
5984-417: The mills were reactivated, making parachutes and other military necessities for World War II . However, this economic boost was short-lived and the post-war years saw the last textile plants close. In the 1970s, Lowell became part of the Massachusetts Miracle , being the headquarters of Wang Laboratories . At the same time, Lowell became home to thousands of new immigrants, many from Cambodia , following
6072-407: The neighborhood where Jack Kerouac resided around the area of University Avenue (previously known as Moody Street). The North Campus of UMass Lowell (Colleges of Engineering, Sciences and Business) is in Pawtucketville near the Lowell General Hospital. The older parts of the neighborhood are around University Avenue and Mammoth Road , whereas the newer parts are around Varnum Avenue. Pawtucketville
6160-414: The period of time when Lowell was part of the Massachusetts Miracle, the Lowell City Development Authority created a Comprehensive Master Plan which included recommendations for zoning adaptations within the city. The city's original zoning code was adopted in 1926 and was significantly revised in 1966 and 2004, with changes included to respond to concerns about overdevelopment. In 2002, in lieu of updating
6248-445: The point where the mill was no longer suitable for them. The lack of mill girls created a movement towards Irish immigrants. The Irish community that was building in Lowell, Massachusetts was not exclusively female, unlike the grouping of mill girls in the dormitories. The proportion of male employment at the mill increased which rapidly changed the demographics of the people that worked there. The Lowell plant became heavily dependent on
6336-640: The population. Cambodian-American Population: In 2010, Lowell had the highest proportion of residents of Cambodian origin of any place in the United States at 12.5% of the population. The Government of Cambodia opened up its third U.S. Consular Office in Lowell, on April 27, 2009, with Sovann Ou as current advisor to the Cambodian Embassy . The other consular offices are in Long Beach, California , and Seattle , Washington , which also have large Cambodian communities. In 2022, Lowell elected
6424-497: The poverty and Great Famine of the 1830s and 1840s. The mill workers, young single women called Mill Girls , generally came from the farm families of New England. By the 1850s, Lowell had the largest industrial complex in the United States. The textile industry wove cotton produced in the Southern United States . In 1860, there were more cotton spindles in Lowell than in all eleven states combined that would form
6512-401: The process. The flying shuttle ( John Kay 1733) had increased yarn demand by the weavers by doubling their productivity, and now the spinning jenny could supply that demand by increasing the spinners' productivity even more. The machine produced coarse thread. The idea was developed by Hargreaves as a metal frame with eight wooden spindles at one end. A set of eight rovings was attached to
6600-400: The spindle now pointed upright. Hargreaves realised there was no particular reason the spindles had to be horizontal, as they always had been, and he could place them vertically in a row. The name is variously said to derive from this tale. The Registers of Church Kirk show that Hargreaves had several daughters, but none named Jenny (neither was his wife). A more likely explanation of the name
6688-492: The spindle. A pressing wire (faller) was used to guide the threads onto the right place on the spindle. In the 17th century, England was famous for its woollen and worsted cloth. That industry was centred in the east and south in towns such as Norwich which jealously protected their product. Cotton processing was tiny: in 1701 only 1,985,868 pounds (900,775 kg) of cotton-wool was imported into England, and by 1730 this had fallen to 1,545,472 pounds (701,014 kg). This
6776-501: The successes of Samuel Slater, a group of investors called The Boston Associates and led by Newburyport, Massachusetts merchant Francis Cabot Lowell devised a new textile operation on the Charles River in Waltham, Massachusetts , west of Boston . This firm was the first in the nation to place cotton-to-cloth production under one roof, incorporated as the Boston Manufacturing Company in 1814. The Boston Associates tried to create
6864-523: The urban center. Additional historic manufacturing and commercial buildings were adapted as residential units and office space. By the 1990s, Lowell had built a new ballpark and arena, which became home to two minor league sports teams, the Lowell Devils and Lowell Spinners . The city also began to have a larger student population. The University of Massachusetts Lowell and Middlesex Community College expanded their programs and enrollment. During
6952-542: The woollen manufacturers claimed this was taking jobs from workers in Coventry . Another law was passed, to fine anyone caught wearing printed or stained calico; muslins, neckcloths and fustians were exempted. It was this exemption that the Lancashire manufacturers exploited. The use of coloured cotton weft, with linen warp was permitted in the 1736 Manchester Act. There now was an artificial demand for woven cloth. In 1764, 3,870,392 pounds (1,755,580 kg) of cotton-wool
7040-611: The yearly average being 49 °F (9 °C). Lowell is located at the confluence of the Merrimack and Concord rivers. The Pawtucket Falls , a mile-long set of rapids with a total drop in elevation of 32 feet, ends where the two rivers meet. At the top of the falls is the Pawtucket Dam, designed to turn the upper Merrimack into a millpond , diverted through Lowell's extensive canal system. The Merrimack, which flows southerly from Franklin, New Hampshire to Lowell, makes
7128-475: The youngest to the oldest. The weaver would go once a week to the market with his wares and offer them for sale. A change came about 1740 when fustian masters gave out raw cotton and warps to the weavers and returned to collect the finished cloth ( Putting-out system ). The weaver organised the carding, spinning and weaving to the master's specification. The master then dyed or printed the grey cloth, and took it to shopkeepers. Ten years later this had changed and
7216-432: Was adopted and the pressure was on to speed up carding and spinning. The shortage of spinning capacity to feed the more efficient looms provided the motivation to develop more productive spinning techniques such as the spinning jenny, and triggered the start of the Industrial Revolution . Hargreaves kept the machine secret for some time, but produced a number for his own growing industry. The price of yarn fell, angering
7304-491: Was born in Oswaldtwistle , near Blackburn , around 1720. Blackburn was a town with a population of about 5,000, known for the production of "Blackburn greys," cloths of linen warp and cotton weft initially imported from India. They were usually sent to London to be printed. At the time, cotton yarn production could not keep up with demand of the textile industry, and Hargreaves spent some time considering how to improve
7392-765: Was due to commercial legislation ( Calico Acts ) to protect the woollen industry. Cheap calico prints, imported by the East India Company from Hindustan (as India was then called), became popular. In 1700 an Act of Parliament was passed to prevent the importation of dyed or printed calicoes from India, China or Persia. This caused grey cloth (calico that had not been finished – dyed or printed) to be imported instead, and these were printed in southern England with popular patterns. Lancashire businessmen produced grey cloth with linen warp and cotton weft, which they sent to London to be finished. Cotton-wool imports recovered and by 1720 were almost back to 1701 levels. Again
7480-540: Was established in 1844 with 3,500 volumes, and was set up in the first floor of the Old City Hall, 226 Merrimack St. In 1872, the expanding collection was relocated down the street to the Hosford Building at 134 Merrimack St. In 1890–1891, the City of Lowell hired local Architect Frederick W. Stickney to design the new Lowell City Library, known as "Memorial Hall, in honor of the city's men who died in
7568-515: Was imported. In England, before canals , railways , and before the turnpikes , the only way to transport goods such as calicos, broadcloth or cotton-wool was by packhorse . Strings of packhorses travelled along a network of bridle paths . A merchant would be away from home most of the year, carrying his takings in cash in his saddlebag. Later a series of chapmen would work for the merchant, taking wares to wholesalers and clients in other towns, and with them would go sample books . Before 1720,
7656-414: Was learned he had sold several in the past. The spinning jenny succeeded because it held more than one ball of yarn, making more yarn in a shorter time and reducing the overall cost. The spinning jenny would not have been such a success if the flying shuttle had not been invented and installed in textile factories. Its success was limited in that it required the rovings to be prepared on a wheel, and this
7744-593: Was limited by the need to card by hand. It continued in common use in the cotton and fustian industry until about 1810. The spinning jenny was superseded by the spinning mule . The jenny was adapted for the process of slubbing , being the basis of the Slubbing Billy. The most common story told about the invention of the device and the origin of the jenny in the machine's name is that one of his daughters (or his wife) named Jenny knocked over one of their own spinning wheels. The device kept working normally, with
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