The Lowell Cotton Mill

Building America's Industrial Revolution: The Boott Cotton Mills of Lowell, Massachusetts

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ike a medieval fortress or great

cathedral, the structure dominates all that is around it. A great wall separates it from the Merrimack River. Within that wall, thick, red brick walls, dotted by windows of many shapes and sizes, rise from the ground, surrounding interior courtyard spaces that can be entered only by crossing a single bridge over the deep water of a canal. Brick or wood stair towers placed along the exterior of the walls provide the only means of entry to upper floors. A single bell tower rules the central courtyard. (Lowell Museum Collection/Lowell Historical Society) For more than 100 years the bell called people to this place on a daily basis, not to protect the city from invaders or to worship, but to work. The sounds from the campus were not those of battles or church choirs, but of machinery clanking and rumbling 10 to 14 hours a day. Rushing water ran water wheels and turbines, and bells constantly clanged to regulate life's daily activities. This was the Boott Cotton Mills complex at Lowell, Massachusetts. It was (Lowell National Historical Park) typical of what some call a " church of industry" where people from all over the world worked for the single purpose of massproducing a consumer product: fabrics.

The Boott Cotton Mills campus contains mills built from the mid-1830s to the early 20th century, reflecting the early use of waterpower, steam power, and finally electric power. Changes in technology and production capability influenced the development and appearance of the millyard over time. In spirit, the Industrial Revolution's transformation of America from an farm -based society to an industrial society can be seen through the physical development of the Boott Cotton Mills from 1835 through the early 20th century. Today, the restored mill complex houses the Boott Cotton Mills Museum, a part of Lowell National Historical Park.

Life in the Lowell Cotton Mill Answer the questions that follow. No you do not have to write the questions!!!!!!!! Questions for Map 1 1. Note the location of Lowell, Massachusetts. How do you think raw materials needed for textile manufacture and finished textiles were transported between Lowell and Boston as well as other cities in the 19th century? Questions for Map 2 1. Locate Boott Mills. Between what two waterways was the Boott Mills complex situated? 2. How many mill complexes are indicated on the map? How many of these were constructed before Boott Mills? What does this indicate about Lowell's importance as an industrial site? Questions for Reading 1 1. What conditions at the Merrimack River did Lowell's early industrialists use to their advantage? 2. Besides mills, what were other important elements of the industrial planning at Lowell? Questions for Reading 2 1. What was the end product of the mill system? How do you think this product was made before mills were built? 2. In the broadest sense, the mill system stretched far beyond a single factory or factory complex. What outside forces had an impact on the functioning of the mill? Questions for Reading 3 1. Where had industrial development begun in the United States before Lowell was established? 2. How were the operations of Slater's Mill different from those of the Boston Manufacturing Company? 3. Why was brick considered a better construction material for a mill than wood? Questions for Drawing 1 1. Identify all of the numbered items on the drawing.

2. How was water used to create power for the mills? 3. What seasonal problems might water-powered mills like the Boott have encountered? Questions for Drawings 2, 3, & Photo 1 1. Many Americans were influenced by negative public opinion about industry in the early years of the Industrial Revolution. Which of the two mill designs shown in Drawings 2 and 3 do you feel would blend into the existing American landscape better and be a less threatening industrial form? Explain. 2. Based on what you already know, which type of mill looks as if it would better withstand machinery vibrations and better guard against fire? Explain. 3. What reasons can you give for constructing larger mills like those shown in Drawing 3? 4. Compare and contrast Drawing 3 and Photo 1. What features shown in the drawing do you see in the photo? What are some of the changes that appear to have taken place over time? 5. What evidence of a new source of power for the Boott Mills can be detected in Photo 1? Questions for Drawings 4 & 5 2. Based on what you already know, what did these four original mills look like? Why were they separated? Why were they later able to be connected? 3. Look at all that has been built up around the original mills. What might explain this construction? 4. What two sources of power for the mills are evident in the drawings? Which one allowed the mill to run more efficiently? Activity 3: The Mill as a System The Boott Mills complex is an example of the mill as a system. Power, people, machinery, capital, and many distinct subsystems came together to produce textiles. A school is also a system with many subsystems coming together to create the eventual product: educated persons. Identify the elements (people, places, objects, outside elements, etc.) that come together to produce a school system. Have students think again of what they learned from Reading 2, "The Mill as a System," and have them list internal and external forces that affected the smooth running of the operation. Then have students make a list of positive and negative forces that act on a school system.