Boston Manufacturing Company facts for kids
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Boston Manufacturing Company
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Boston Manufacturing Company, Waltham, Massachusetts
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 Location in Massachusetts
Location in the United States
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| Location | 144-190 Moody St., Waltham, Massachusetts |
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| Built | 1813 |
| Architect | Paul Moody |
| NRHP reference No. | 77001412 |
Quick facts for kids Significant dates |
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| Added to NRHP | December 22, 1977 |
| Designated NHLD | December 22, 1977 |
The Boston Manufacturing Company was a very important business in early American history. It started in 1813 and built one of the first big factories in the United States. This factory was special because it was the first place in the world to combine all the steps of making cotton cloth under one roof.
A rich merchant named Francis Cabot Lowell and a group of investors called The Boston Associates started the company. They built their factory in Waltham, Massachusetts. They used water power from a nearby river to run their machines. Lowell had secretly learned about new power looms from England. The Boston Manufacturing Company became a very successful and profitable factory. It helped America compete with cloth made in Britain. The way they ran their factory, called the "Waltham System", was later copied in other towns like Lowell, Massachusetts. This helped many new textile mills open across New England.
How it All Began
Before the Boston Manufacturing Company, making cloth was a slow process. In 1793, Samuel Slater opened the first successful water-powered mill in America. His mill in Pawtucket, Rhode Island made cotton fiber into yarn. This yarn then went to small shops or homes. There, people used hand looms to weave it into cloth. By 1810, many spinning mills were in New England. But weaving cloth was still quite slow.
In 1810, Francis Cabot Lowell visited England. He wanted to learn about their successful textile factories. He was very interested in the power loom. This machine could weave cloth much faster. America did not have a good power loom yet. Lowell knew that America needed this machine to make more cloth. When he returned to Boston in 1812, he remembered the plans for the power loom. He had to keep them secret because England did not allow new technology to leave the country.
In September 1813, The Boston Associates bought a paper mill site in Waltham, Massachusetts. The Charles River nearby had a ten-foot drop in its water level. This made it a perfect spot to use water power for their new factory.
A Big Change in Industry
The group hired a skilled mechanic named Paul Moody. He was from Amesbury, Massachusetts. Moody's job was to build the machines and oversee the factory's construction.
After more than a year of testing, Moody successfully built Lowell's power loom. He even made his own improvements to it. Moody's improved power loom was a huge step forward for American industry. For the first time, all the steps of making cloth could happen in one building. Moody also created a new way to send power from the water turbines to the machines. He used leather belts and pulleys. This system was much better than the old shaft and gear systems. The first mill was finished in late 1814.
By early 1815, the company was selling its cloth. Production grew quickly, and so did the profits. In 1816, a second, larger mill was built next to the first one. This new mill not only made cloth but also built textile machines for other companies. The two mills were later connected in 1843.
Many other mills in New England soon copied Moody's power loom. They also made their own changes and improvements. Sadly, Francis Cabot Lowell passed away in 1817 when he was only 42 years old.
The Waltham System
The Boston Associates wanted to create a good system for their workers. They wanted it to be different from the harsh conditions in English factories. The mill owners hired young women from nearby farms to work the machines in Waltham. These young women were called "mill girls." They lived in boarding houses provided by the company. Older women supervised them, and they had to follow strict rules.
The mill girls worked about eighty hours each week. They would wake up when the factory bell rang at 4:40 in the morning. They started work at 5:00 AM and had a half-hour breakfast break at 7:00 AM. They worked until noon, when they had a lunch break for 30 to 45 minutes. At 7:00 PM, the factory closed, and the workers went back to their company homes. They followed this routine six days a week. This way of running the factory and managing workers became known as the Waltham System.
By the early 1820s, the Boston Manufacturing Company was using almost all the water power available from the Charles River in Waltham, Massachusetts. The investors wanted to build even more mills. So, in 1822, they started the Merrimack Manufacturing Company. They copied the Waltham System in a new city called Lowell, Massachusetts, but on a much bigger scale. The same group of investors later helped create other industrial cities like Lawrence, Massachusetts and Manchester, New Hampshire. The factory methods started in Waltham were also copied by other industries in the years that followed.
The Waltham factory site grew again in the late 1800s. The original mills were connected, and new floors were added. The Boston Manufacturing Company closed its doors in 1930.
In 1977, the site was named a National Historic Landmark. Some of the company's original worker housing is also listed as historic.
Today, the old factory site is home to the Charles River Museum of Industry & Innovation. It also has housing for seniors and an arts center.
Images for kids
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Boston Manufacturing Company, Waltham, Massachusetts
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Boston Manufacturing Company, c. 1813
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Boston Manufacturing Company and Dam in August, 2011
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Boston Manufacturing Company (1978), HAER-54
