Virtual Tour Detail

On a visit to England in 1811, merchant Francis Cabot Lowell memorized the details of the massive power looms that had made Britain the the world's leading textile producer. Inspired, Lowell returned to Massachusetts hoping to build a factory where all processes of cloth production&endash;cleaning, carding, spinning, weaving, and dying&endash;weredone by machinery in one building.

By 1815, Lowell and his associates had established the Boston Manufacturing Company on the banks of the Charles River in Waltham, Massachusetts.