Who founded the Boston Manufacturing Company?
Francis Cabot Lowell, a wealthy Boston merchant, organized the Boston Manufacturing Company in 1813 along with a group of investors later known as the Boston Associates.
Questions about Boston Manufacturing Company
Short answers, pulled from the story.
Where was the Boston Manufacturing Company's factory built?
The Boston Associates built the Boston Manufacturing Company's factory in Waltham, Massachusetts, purchasing the Boies Paper Mill site there in September 1813. A ten-foot drop in the nearby Charles River made it a good location for water power.
What made the Boston Manufacturing Company's Waltham mill the first of its kind?
The Boston Manufacturing Company's Waltham mill was the first integrated spinning and weaving factory in the world, combining both processes under one roof using a power loom perfected by mechanic Paul Moody. It became the largest factory in the United States, employing about 300 workers.
What was the Waltham System used by the Boston Manufacturing Company?
The Waltham System was the Boston Manufacturing Company's labor arrangement, in which young Yankee farm girls worked the machines and lived in company boarding houses supervised by older women. The mill girls worked about eighty hours a week across six days, starting with a factory bell at 4:40 in the morning.
When did the Boston Manufacturing Company close?
The Boston Manufacturing Company closed in 1930. Its Waltham site was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1977, and some of its worker housing was later listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
What occupies the Boston Manufacturing Company's site today?
The former Boston Manufacturing Company site in Waltham is now home to the Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation. It also includes housing for seniors subsidized by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Ira B. Gordon Center For the Arts, and other housing.