Lowell

a manufacturing city of Massachusetts. It is situated at the junction of the Concord and the Merrimac, twenty-five miles northwest of Boston. An earlier name was Chelmsford. In 1822 the Merrimac Manufacturing Company established a cotton mill here. The name was changed to Lowell in honor of Francis Cabot Lowell, a pioneer in cotton spinning, the first American to make cotton cloth from raw cotton under one roof. There are numerous industries, as the making of hosiery, carpets, furniture, machinery, and ammunition. It is the great center in the United States for the manufacture of bunting for flags. Patent medicines are compounded on a large scale. The Ayers alone spend $600,000 a year on advertising and distribute 25,000,000 almanacs. The chief industry, however, is cotton spinning and weaving. A series of rapids at this point have a descent of thirty-two feet, and are relied upon chiefly for motive power. The factories cover many acres. A living tide of operatives pours in and out of the gates at the opening and closing hours. Every operation in cotton manufacture from the opening of the cotton bale to the boxing up of beautiful goods for shipment to the jobber may be seen to advantage in these mills. The city has spared no pains to maintain efficient municipal departments. Despite the great number of wage earners who do not own homes, the city is an attractive place of residence. A statue to Ephraim Ellsworth, the first soldier to fall in the Civil War, stands near the center of the city. In 1900 the population was reported at 94,969. Nearly half are of foreign birth. The predominating element is French Canadian, attracted by the opportunity to earn wages and lead a sociable life. When the mills were established the operatives were chiefly farmer's girls. Lucy Larcom and many another refined New England woman worked at one time in the mills. The change is a study in social science. See Butler; Larcom; Cotton; Calico; Dyeing