Lowell, Massachusetts, USA
1854 - Lowell

Lowell, a city and one of the capitals of Essex county, Massachusetts, is situated on the right bank of the Merrimack where it receives the Concord river, and at the terminus of five railroads, which communicate with the principal cities on the seaboard, and with various sections of the interior, 25 miles N. by W. from Boston. Lat. 42° 38' 40" N., Lon. 71° 19' 2" W. In the extent and variety of its manufactures this city may be regarded as without a rival in the United States. The site has many inequalities of surface, but is regularly laid out with streets intersecting each other at right angles. In different sections are two public squares. The one in the southern part of the city, called South Square, has an ample area, which is being graded and beautifully ornamented. The private edifices are for the most part spacious and elegant ; those occupied as boarding-houses for the 15,000 operatives employed in the mills, will compare favorably with the better class of residences in other American cities. The principal public edifices are the Court House, Mechanics' Hall, a market-house, and the churches, of which there are 22, viz. 1 Episcopal, 3 Roman Catholic, 4 Baptist, 3 Congregational, 3 Universalist, 3 Methodist, 2 Unitarian, 2 Orthodox, and 1 ministry at large. A new court house was erected by the county two or three years since, at a cost of about $100,000 ; it is fire-proof throughout, and a very handsome structure. A costly railroad depot has been erected within the present year, the upper story of which contains a large hall for the use of the city council. The literary and educational institutions of Lowell are highly respect able. Among the most prominent may be mentioned the Mechanic Association, incorporated in 1825, with a fund of $25,000. It has a valuable library of about 6000 volumes, reading room, philosophical apparatus, &c. The City School Library, comprising about 9500 vols., is owned by the city, and accessible to all upon the annual payment of fifty cents. A hospital was established in 1830 by the several manufacturing companies, chiefly for the benefit of persons in their employ. Lowell has an excellent system of public instruction. It comprises 48 primary, 3 intermediate, 10 grammar schools, and 1 high-school, for the maintenance of which about $44,000 have been appropriated in 1853. The press consists of 4 daily and 4 weekly papers. The total number of pupils for this year is about 9500.

The almost unrivalled advantages which Lowell enjoys for manufacturing are derived from a descent of 30 feet in the Merrimack, known as the Pawtucket Falls, which, by the aid of canals and locks, furnishes an immense hydraulic power. The original design of the first canal was to provide a passage for boats and rafts from Concord river to the head of the falls. In 1822, a company, entitled the Proprietors of Locks and Canals on Merrimack River, commenced the enlargement of this channel for the purpose of securing an extensive and available water-power for the propulsion of machinery. Its present dimensions are, length, a mile and a half, breadth, 60 feet, and depth, from 6 to 8 feet. In 1847, the old canal proving in some degree inadequate to the rapidly increasing demand, a new one of greater capacity was construct ed, averaging 100 feet wide, 15 feet deep, and nearly a mile in length, costing upwards of $600,000. The same corporation are the proprietors of all the principal water privileges at Lowell, and also of most of the lands adjoining the falls on both sides of the river. In the short space of three months, the Lowell Machine Shop is prepared to furnish machinery for a mill with a capacity for 6000 spindles : the mill can be built in the same period. In 1852 there were 12 manufacturing corporations in Lowell, owning 51 mills, and employing an aggregate capital of $13,900,000. The number of hands engaged were, males, 4163; females, 8470 ; total, 12,633. Number of spindles in operation, 842,722: looms, 10,006; cotton consumed during the year, 91,650 bales ; wool, 5,158,000 pounds ; iron in ma chine shops, 4500 tons ; anthracite coal, 80,576 tons ; charcoal, 68,350 bushels ; wood, 3220 cords; whale and sperm oil, 69,607 gallons; lard, 47,000 gallons; and starch, 1,400,000 pounds. The weekly products of the looms were, cotton cloth, 2,087,000 yards ; osnaburgs, 90,000 yards ; woollens, 27,000 yards ; carpets, 25,000 yards ; cotton goods dyed and printed, 300,000 yards. The medium produce of a loom per day is about 15 yards of No. 14 yarn, and 33 yards of No. 30 yarn. Average produce of a spindle per day, l 1/ 4 yards. The average wages of males per week, clear of board, are about $4.80, and of females, $2.00. Among the 12 corporations, the Merrimack Manufacturing Company, with a capital of $2,500,000, may be mentioned as one of the most extensive. It annually makes use of 1.000,000 pounds of madder, 38,000 pounds of copperas, 60,000 pounds of alum, 50,000 pounds of sumac, 45,000 pounds of indigo, and 40,000 pounds of soap. The Middlesex Company annually use 6,000,000 teasels, 2,000,000 pounds of fine wool, 50,000 pounds of glue, $30,000 worth of dyestuffs, and $13,000 worth of soap. Other manufactures, in addition to those above specified, embracing powder, paper, batting, &c, are annually produced to the value of $1,500,000, employing a capital of $400,000, and about 1500 operatives.

Comparatively few adults arc natives of Lowel ; about one-third of the whole population are foreigners, principally Irish ; the other two-thirds are nearly all from the different New England states, Now Hampshire and Maine furnishing a large portion. Very great efforts are made to avoid the usual objections to a manufacturing city arising from immorality. No female of doubtful reputation is employed in any of the mills, and even a reasonable suspicion of any impropriety of conduct is, by an arrangement among all the manufacturing companies, sufficient to procure her discharge and to prevent her employment in any other manufactory in the city. The result is a highly respectable community, in which the daughters of the worthy farmers of New Hampshire and Maine find profitable work and agreeable society, without a suggestion that the employment is in any degree derogatory to their reputation. They remain only about three years on the ave rage. Lowell has 5 banks, an insurance company, and 2 savings institutions. The amount deposited in the latter, November 1st, 1851, was $812,508.63, and the number of depositors, 6224, nearly all of whom were persons employed in the mills. A reservoir of great capacity has been built on an elevation, in Belvidere, east of the city, for the purpose of furnishing a ready supply of water to any part of Lowell in cases of fire. The water is conveyed into the reservoir by forcing-pumps from the Lowell Machine Shop, and thence by distributing pipes to the city hydrants, to which hose can be attached when necessary. The annual expenditures of the government are about $200,000. The mills arc all heated by steam and lighted with gas. The name of Lowell is derived from Francis C. Lowell, a gentleman of Boston, distinguished for his efforts to introduce the manufacture of cotton into the United States. It was incorporated a town in 1826, and a city in 1886. When the enlargement of the canal was commenced in 1822, the territory included within the limits of Lowell contained less than 200 inhabitants. In 1830 the population was 0474 ; in 1840, 20,796; in 1850, 88,385; and in September, 1853, about 37,000.

A New and Complete Gazetteer of the United States: Giving a Full and Comprehensive Review of the Present Condition, Industry, and Resources of the American Confederacy ... Thomas Baldwin (of Philadelphia.) Joseph Thomas January 1, 1854 Philadelphia : Lippincott, Grambo & Company 1854.

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