Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1845-09-27
NATIONAL INTELLIGENCER..
LOWELL AND IT'S MANUFACTURES.


striking characteristics of the day and it may be in
teresting TO great portion of readers, it Ger
tainly is important in national point of view, L
trace, SO far they can be traced the which
have led to such an overstepping, such outrun-
ming the usual march of events, by which such 9
process has been accomplished. To use the words
of a little publication before u.s." LoweH, as a
ioas, and as IL IS" by Rev. HENRY A. MHEs)-
An unsettled territory of pasture and meadow has,
within the memory of the middle-aged, been COW
cred with substantial edifces mills stores, church
es, blocks of houses, the prosperous homes OF
nearly thirty thousand people thus almost reallz-
ing the creations of some Oriental fable; at least
emulating, in few years, what, IN other places,
has been the slow growth of centuries"
The site of the city of Lowell, at the junction of
the Merrimack and Concord rivers, had greater
relative importance two hundred years ago than at
any subsequent time prior to the introduction Of
cotton manufactures !" for it was then the head
quarters of one of the FIVE great tribes which were
found in New England, Wamest, the capital
of the Pawtucket tribes, being then situated at the
confluence of those rivers This spot was then
celebrated on account Of the supply of fish which
IT afforded. and the river /" Merrimack'' took It's
name from the quantity Of sturgeon it produced,
that word being the Indian name for sturgeon.
Among other curious matters relative to the early
history of Lowell, it is said that the log church in
which John Eliot the celebrated "aposte to the
Indians" used to preach to that people nearly two
hundred years ago, stood on the height of land on
Appleton street. Wamesit, when first discovered
by the white settlers contained Indian population
OF three thousand souls in 1914 it was reduced to
two hundred and fifty men, besides women and
children. These held, as their exclusive posses
sion, the identical soil which now the territory of
Lowell the Indian title to the land became extinct
in 1875.
The first step in internal improvement taken here
was in the year 1897 when the Pawtucket Canal
was opened, by which passage was gained round
the Pawtucket falls for the numerous boats andrafs
then employed in the conveyance of timber, lumber
and fuel to Newburyport. This canal cost $4,000,
and did not prove productive property to its pro-
Jectors and owners, its value being greatly dimn-
ished by the holder enterprise of the Mddlesex Ca
nal, connecting the Merrmack river, above the falls
with Boston harbor, which was completed in 1904.
The first attempt at the establishment of manufac-
lures in this place was in 1913, when Messrs.
Whiting a. Fletcher erected a wooden building
for the manufacture of cotton: this was the humble
parent of the spacious and costly ediices which
now adorn Lowell this the small beginning of those
extensive operations which have raised that busy
place to its present pre-eminence. Messrs. Whit
ing Fletcher's mandatory was sixty feet long
and fifty feet wide and cost 81, 500. II does not
appear that much attention was paid to the manu-
featuring facilities of Lowell until 1921 when the
Waltham Company, which had been incorporated
in 1914, with capital stock of 5000 OOO had their
observations directed to that locality The canal
round the Pawtucket falls being unproductve, the
shares were easily purchased, at below their par
value; and several farms forming the ground upon
which Lowell now stands were obtained 1.-THE last in
1924 at prices averaging about one hundred dollars
per acre. The cost of the whole Site including the
canal, did not exceed 500, 900; the purchasers of
the property were incorporated in 1922 as the
Merrimack Manufacturing Company
The Pawtucket Canal was enlarged in 1923 at
an expenditure of nearly $4,000, being made go
feet wide, with current Of water eight feet deep
lateral canal was constructed; the foundation of
the first mill was laid in 1922, and the first return
Of cloth made in November 1923. Such and so lately
the commencement Of the town of Lowell We cannot
find space for very full tracing Of its progress ma
chine shop costing $4,000 completed in 1925 The
first public worship since the days of Eliot held in ls24
The first church opened in 1925 The population in
creased from zoe 1870 $500 in 1885, and in the same
year the place incorporated into by the name OF
LOWELL, in honor of Francis Cabot Lowell to whose clear
perceptions, correct antcpaons, and great exerons the
United States under the greatest obligations for the sue
cessfu establishment Of the manufacture During the
ten years in which Lowell remained fotca and before
she ssped to the rank and dignity Of city, she was affect
ed, in common with the Of the country by the great
pesons Of 1877 and 1925 and suffered through the rage for
speculation which obtained in 1891 and the few successive
years yet her growth was, in the MAN, steadily onward
During these years s26 to 1850 her population ncreas
ed skiold Her public institutions and her manufacturing
establishments increased in proportion The interests Of re
gon and education provided for the necessities Of the
poor attended TO- and railroad which brought Boston
within an hours ride Of Lowell opened in 1885. The
population Of Lowell amounted in 1886 TO IT. $685. and in
March of that year IT was incorporated as a city.
During the nine years that Lowell has been city has
undergone great changes though many nor 80 striking
as during its history town Within that period ho-.ve
eight churches have been erected hospital and a
built and beautiful cemetery consecraed Two new man
ufacturng companies have erected works foun-
dry on large scale has been established "a change and
that the best change says Mr. Miles, has also been made
IN the feelings Of the people Of Lowell They have begun
TO cultivate home attachments the place They have
manifested disposition to make this their residence for life
They have felt prompted therefore, to efforts to improve and
sdorn he place. to establish the convenences and comforts
which large city demands and TO leave no practicable
untned which promise elevate tone and chaac-