The city of Lowell, Massachusetts, located just 30 miles north of Boston, was built as a factory city (because of its location next to the Merrimack River and Pawtucket Falls) and became synonymous with the American Industrial Revolution. Named for Francis Cabot Lowell, who is partially credited for creating the power loom, city locals began funding and building water-powered mills in the area in the early 1800s. By 1880 Lowell had over 100 mill buildings, 18 textile corporations, 2 machine shops, and a booming population (it was the second largest city in Massachusetts in the mid 1800s), employing over 10,000 workers in the mills.
However, newer technological advances in more northern cotton mills took away from the businesses in Lowell and production started to decline. By the 1950s, all of the original mills and most of the textile companies closed and the buildings fell into disrepair until local citizens and businesses worked together to form the Lowell Heritage State Park in 1974. Four years later, Congress designated the space as Lowell National Historical Park and the park has continued to expand its historical exhibits, research, tours and programs for the public.
