Boott Cotton Mills Museum

Lowell was known for its key role in the Industrial Revolution. It became a mill city, and people began to flock to it. As more and more people came, more factories opened up and it became a booming city. The Boott Cotton Mills Museum displays the crowded, loud, and demanding job that the mill girls experienced. Its a great adventure if your bored, or want to learn about some of the city's history. I can't forget to mention how beautiful the architecture is, and combined with the spectacular colors of autumn make it a remarkable site to see.
 
So on a lovely Sunday afternoon, two friends and I decided to go visit the mills. We'd all been there when we were younger on field trips with our elementary school classes or with our families. However, going, now that we are older, has proven a different, yet fun experience to say the least. I remembered the basic layout of the mills, but now I have a greater appreciation for the beauty that surrounds the mills. It amazes me how much time can change your perspective on things. The scenery outside the mill is quite beautiful.
For students of UMASS Lowell the admission is $3. Its quite affordable for such a great learning experience. When you first walk into the museum you see a punch-in clock, which you can actually punch in with a time card. Then you see a long row of looms that are going and making such a loud noise. After you "punch-in",  you walk through the long row of looms to a staircase at the other end. Walking through the long row of looms is an experience, in and of itself. The looms are massive machines that are incredibly loud, very close to each other, and produce a lot of heat. Just walking through this row, you get a feel for the terrible working conditions that the poor mill girls had to experience. Working one machine looked as if it were hard enough, but the mill girls were forced to three machines at one time, and in the cramped conditions with the heat the machine were producing, its no wonder why the workers went on strike. The real question is why not sooner? Those mill girls were put through an absurd amount of stress working there, but the introduction to city life and thrill of working in the new factories with the new machines blinded many of the workers for quite some time. However, its enlightening to see the toil that the mill girls faced for fourteen hours, six days a week. They were factors in establishing America as a strong country through the Industrial Revolution.

               

After you walk through the bottom floor exhibit, you go up the stairs at the end of the hall and proceed to go through the upper floor of the museum. This exhibit has more information and walks you through the changes and developments of Lowell throughout the years, especially during the Industrial Revolution. You can watch a short film about the struggles the mill girls and factory workers faced, and the development of unions in helping to aid the fight for better rights for workers. Its a great little historical film, but there's much more to the museum. It exposes you to the basic processes involved in processing and making textiles. For example, you can try and make thread from small cotton puffs, or experiment with a small loom (pictured below) to see how the loom works. These little activities, while they were small and fun, provide insight to the way that the textiles were made. While the mill girls and other factory workers toiled through the long, hard days, this museum pays a great tribute to their hard work and injustices by informing us about their struggles.  Just taking an hour or two to go through this museum is a great way to spend your day, and enlighten yourself about the way that factories and mills functioned to push America through the Industrial Revolution that has helped place America into a post-industrial society today.

If you didn't get enough from the museum, then once you walk outside you can visit the Mill Girls and Immigrants Exhibit. It displays the living conditions that the mill girls and immigrants, who worked for the mill, lived in. Its quite interesting to see that not only was their working spaces cramped but so were their living spaces. Its amazing how many girls and workers were able to fit into the housing space provided by the mill, which the girls had to pay for even though they were being paid barely enough to survive.This exhibit is a nice way to close out your visit to the Boott Cotton Mills. Overall, our trip to the museum was a fun and informative trip that I would recommend to anyone interesting in learning about the Industrial Revolution or some history about Lowell.

Lowell's National Park

Who would've thought that the city of Lowell had a national park? I, for one, certaintly would not have guessed at it. Who would've thought that Lowell is the national historical park? Not me is all I can say. Surprisingly, Lowell is a national historical park. The city of Lowell was prominent in the rise of the Industrial Revolution in the United States. Everyplace you go in Lowell you'll see some sort of historical land mark, whether its the Boot Cotton Mill, the canals, or Boston and Maine train engine.
The city is teeming with history, just waiting to be explored. If you want to find a place to visit, you can go to the Visitor's Center in Downtown Lowell. They have a movie that brings you through Lowell's history. Visiting all the historical places around Lowell is a great way to dive into the city and discover the roots that it was founded upon.
Before the Industrial Revolution, Lowell was a rural town that was just trying to establish itself in the newly formed United States. However, a man by the name of Francis Cabot Lowell(Pictured Below), memorized the plans of a loom in England, which was going through its Industrial Revolution at the time, and brought the plans back to Lowell. He manufactured looms and started textile mills along the Merrimack River. With the building of the mills, young women began to flock to Lowell to work in the factories and enjoy the city life. Lowell flourished for some time.

Unfortunately, with the mass production of textiles, there was not enough demand for the product so prices of the goods dropped dramatically. Mill owners still kept producing more and more textiles, and prices still kept dropping. The workers were working longer hours, being forced to handle more machines, and being paid less than they should've been making. The workers wouldn't stand for it, so mill owners had to resort to children. They also began to take in new waves of immigrants. The mills of Lowell turned into the very thing that Lowell hated about the European Industrial Revolution. They put their laborers through unbearable conditions and started to make children do their work for even less than the average worker was paid. Immigrants were also part of these terrible working conditions. Many natives of Lowell resented the immigrants.
Each wave of immigrants established a section of the city for themselves. They're was the Irish section, the Italian section, the German section, and it continues on and on. Immigrants were new to America, and would take the first jobs that they could get. They provided a great market for mill owners to choose their workers from. However, each wave faced discrimination, especially from natives of Lowell, who disliked the immigrants for taking their jobs. Nowadays, Lowell is a culturally diverse city, mostly in part due to the immigrants who set up roots in Lowell when they came to work in the mills.
For a while the underpaid workers labored through these conditions. Some perished or were wounded by them, but many did survive. Alot of people remember the downfalls of the Industrial Revolution in Lowell. Many people forget that the Industrial Revolution put Lowell on the map. Their key role in the Industrial Revolution is what make Lowell a National Park today. I'll say once again that Lowell is very great city to explore. Its a place where you can enrich yourself with the history of such a pivotal time in our country's transition form rural town to booming cities.
With the dawn of the world wars, the factories returned to a better environment, because most people were helping to support the war effort. Production continued to slow and eventually the factories were shut down, because more product was being produced elsewhere for a much cheaper price. Since then the factories have become the historic sites that are scattered throughout Lowell. The history that lies within the confines of this great city is magnificent.

Works Cited
1. "History & Culture." Www.nps.gov. National Parks Services, n.d. Web. 24 Sept. 2013.

The History of Coburn Hall

Coburn Hall

Coburn Hall was the first building for the University of Massachusetts Lowell. It is located at the intersection of Wilder Street and Broadway Street on what is now South Campus. It was founded in 1894 by the Lowell School Committee and State Board of Education and Legislature. It was built and opened in 1897. The first day of classes was held on October 4, 1897, however the building was not yet completed so classes were held in four rooms that were finished. In 1975, it was named in honor Frank Coburn, who was the first principal of the school. Originally it was named the Lowell Normal School later to be called Lowell State College, and nowadays Coburn hall is part of South Campus for the University of Massachusetts Lowell.
Coburn Hall is the oldest building on campus here at UMASS Lowell. The city provided $25,000 to build it in the 1890s. Its location was chosen by Charles Allen, who was a native of Lowell. Trolley tracks used to run in front of the building which made the intersection of Wilder and Broadway streets an ideal location, because the trolley was a main means of transportation in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The architects were Frederick Stickney, a Lowell native, and William Austin, a Massachusetts native. They were partners in their company, Stickney and Austin, and designed buildings that reflected the style of the time. They designed it with "high style Beaux Arts design with classical symmetry, arches, cast-iron lampposts, lion's head-adorned gutters, and a dignified bearing"(Frank, 10). The building was modern for the time, and had a grand appearance. However, in the 1970s the cast-iron railing and lampposts were taken down. Coburn Hall stands today almost the same as it was when it was built in 1897, except for changes made to the interior.
The Lowell Normal School was a two year school that allowed for third and fourth years, but they were not necessary. Students studied English, math, science, and drawing. Some of the sciences studied there were geology, botany, and mineralogy. In classes such as geology, the students would draw maps on there desk that turned into easels. These desks were able to bring a connection between some of the sciences and drawing classes. The building was fitted with the newest laboratory equipment for that time period. With this latest technology, the science classes had a strong standing in the Lowell Normal school, which they still have today at UMASS Lowell. Also, on the 3rd floor of Coburn Hall there used to be gymnasium that the students would play basketball in to de-stress from they pressure of classes and societal standards. The gym also had stairs that led to a shower room at both ends. The Lowell Normal School was able to get what is now UMASS Lowell on a strong footing right from the start.
However, the Lowell Normal School did face its problems. When the school opened in 1897, they only had 5 faculty members. Frank Coburn, the principal, was one of them and he taught most classes. The other 4 faculty members included a physical education teacher, 2 maintenance men, and secretary, who doubled as a librarian. Also, the school had 108 student, 3 of which were men, and the remaining 105 were all women. Despite these seemingly bad disadvantages the school flourished, until the Great Depression. Lowell Normal School faced the threat of being closed down but instead grew to change from the Lowell Normal School to Lowell State College. Lowell State College expanded and finally merged with Lowell Technical Institute, which was located on what is now North Campus, to form the University of Massachusetts Lowell that is the school I attend today.
Coburn Hall stands as the building that started it all. Growing from 108 students and 5 faculty members to thousands of students and hundreds of faculty members today. Coburn Hall is the founding father of UMASS Lowell. This historic building serves today as a building for classes and a reminder of the foundation of the University of Massachusetts Lowell.

Works Cited
1. "About Graduate Student of Education." About Graduate Student of Education. University of 
             Massachusetts Lowell, n.d. Web. 16 Sept. 2013.
2.Frank, Marie. University of Massachusetts Lowell. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Pub., 2012. Print.