The Birth of an Industrial City - Lowell MA - Massachusetts Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

TEXT on the Historical Marker

The Birth of an Industrial City- The opening of the Merrimack Manufacturing Company on this site in 1823, marked the beginning of America’s first industrial city.

The Merrimack was the largest of Lowell’s mill complexes. By 1848, it employed over 2,000 workers and produced more than 7,000 miles of cloth each year. Like its parent company in Waltham, the Merrimack combined all of the steps of cloth production under a single roof. No longer were carding, spinning, and weaving performed in separate mills. This integrated manufacturing system succeeded on a large scale for the first time in Lowell. When it closed in 1958, the Merrimack was one of Lowell’s last surviving mills, It was razed in the 1960s, a victim of the wrecking ball.

(Inscription next to the photo on the bottom left)
View of Lowell, Benjamin Mather, 1825.

(Inscription over the photo in the upper right)
The landmark clocktower and mills of the Merrimack, ca. 1875

Agency Responsible for Placement: National Park Service County: Middlesex City/Town Name: Lowell Relevant Web Site: [Web Link] Agency Responsible for Placement (if not in list above): Not listed Year Placed: Not listed

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Date Logged Log User Rating   06/24/2022 Don.Morfe visited it