Chapter 6

The year 1815 is memorable for the most disastrous gale that has devastated New England during two centuries; it was very severe in Chelmsford.

The sawmill and gristmill of the Messrs. Bowers, at Pawtucket Falls, was started in 1816. The same year Nathan Tyler started a gristmill where the Middlesex Company's mill No. 3 now stands. Captain John Ford's sawmill stood near the junction of the Concord and Merrimack Rivers.

In 1818, Moses Hale started the powder-mills on Concord River. The following year Oliver M. Whipple and William Tileston were associated with him in business. In 1821, the firm opened Whipple's Canal. The business was enlarged from time to time and was at its zenith during the Mexican War, when, in one year, nearly five hundred tons of powder were made. The manufacture of powder in Lowell ceased in 1855. In 1818, also, came Thomas Hurd, who purchased the cotton-mill started by Whiting and Fletcher and converted it into a woolen-mill. He soon enlarged his operations, building a large brick mill near the other. He was the pioneer manufacturer of satinets in this country. His mill was destroyed by fire and rebuilt in 1826. About this time he built the Middlesex (Mills) Canal, which conveyed water from the Pawtucket Canal to his satinet-mills, thus affording additional power. His business was ruined in 1828 by the reaction in trade; and two years later the property passed into the hands of the Middlesex Company.

The year 1818 also brought Winthrop Howe to town. He started a mill for the manufacture of flannels at Wamesit Falls, in Belvidere, and continued in the business until 1827, when he sold out to Harrison G. Howe, who introduced power-looms, and who, in turn, sold the property to John Nesmith and others in 1831. In the year 1819 a new bridge across the Concord River was built to replace the old one built in 1774. About this time the dam across the Concord at Massic Falls was constructed, and the forging-mill of Fisher and Ames was built. The works were extended in 1823, and continued by them until 1836, when the privilege was sold to Perez O. Richmond.

In 1821, the capabilities of Pawtucket Falls for maintaining vast mechanical industries were brought to the attention of a few successful manufacturers, who readily perceived its advantages and hastened to purchased the almost worthless stock of the Pawtucket Canal Company. In November, Nathan Appleton, Patrick Tracy Jackson, Kirk Boott, Warren Dutton, Paul Moody, and John W. Boott, visited the canal, which they now controlled, perambulated the ground, and planned for the future. February 5, 1822, these gentlemen and others were incorporated as the Merrimack Manufacturing Company, with Warren Dutton as president. The first business of the new company was to erect a dam across the Merrimack at Pawtucket Falls, widen and repair Pawtucket Canal, renew the locks, and open a lateral canal from the main canal to the river, on the margin of which their mills were to stand. Five hundred men were employed In digging and blasting, and six thousand pounds of powder were used. The canal, as reconstructed, is sixty fee wide and eight feet deep. The first mile of the company was completed and started September 1, 1823. The first treasurer and agent was Kirk Boott, a man of great influence, who left his mark on the growing village.

Paul Moody settled in the village in 1823, and took charge of the company's machine-shop, which was completed in 1826. Ezra Worthen was the first superintendent. The founders of the Merrimack Company contemplated from the first the introduction of calico-printing. In this they were successful, in 1826, when John D. Prince, from Manchester, England, took charge of the Merrimack print-works. Mr. Prince was assisted by the chemist, Dr. Samuel L. Dana; and together they made the products of the mills famous in all parts of the globe.

In 1825, the old Locks and Canals Company of 1792 was re-established as a separate corporation, with the added right to purchase, hold, sell, or lease land and water-power, and the affairs of the company were placed in the hands of Kirk Boott.

In 1820, there were in the villages of East Chelmsford, Belvidere, and Centralville, about two hundred and fifty inhabitants. Whipple's powder-mills and Howe's flannel-mill were then in operation, and there were several sawmills and gristmills. Ira Frye's Tavern stood on the site of the American House. There was Hurd's mill, a blacksmith shop at Massic Falls, a few other such establishments as a country village usually affords, and several substantial dwelling-houses, farmhouses, and cottages, conspicuous among which was the Livermore House in Belvidere.

The operations of the Merrimack Company soon attracted settlers. In 1822, a regular line of stages was established between East Chelmsford and Boston. In 1824, the Chelmsford Courier was established, and became at once the organ of the growing community. The next year a militia company was organized; the Fourth of July was celebrated with appropriate ceremonies; the Middlesex Mechanics' Association and the Central Bridge Corporation were incorporated; the Hamilton Manufacturing Company was established; and the inhabitants of the village of East Chelmsford petitioned to be incorporated. The petition was granted, and Lowell became a town March 1, 1826, with a population of about two thousand. The name of the town was adopted in honor of Francis Cabot Lowell, a business associate of Nathan Appleton, and a promoter of the manufacture of cotton goods in this country.

The years of 1827 and 1828 were marked by great depression in the commercial and manufacturing circles of the country, but Lowell had a good start, and her prosperity was assured. The Lowell Bank, the Appleton Company, and the Lowell Manufacturing Company, were established in 1828,--the year the first ton of coal was brought to town. The coal was used for fuel in the law office of Samuel H. Mann.

In 1829, the Lowell Institution for Savings was incorporated, and William Livingston established himself in trade. For a quarter of a century Mr. Livingston was one of the most active, most enterprising, and most public-spirited citizens of Lowell. Much of the western portion of the city was built up by his instrumentality.

The Middlesex Company was established in 1830, as was the Lowell fire department. The Town Hall was also built; and Lowell numbered sixty-four hundred and seventy-seven inhabitants.

In 1830, Mr. Jackson undertook to connect Boston and Lowell with a railroad. A macadamized road had been surveyed, when this new road was projected; and it was a part of the original plan to have the cars drawn by horses. The successful operation of Stephenson's Liverpool and Manchester Railroad was known to Mr. Jackson, and he was encouraged to persevere. The road was completed at a cost of $1,800,000 and was opened to the public, July 4, 1835. The cars and locomotive would be a curiosity to-day. The former, resembling Concord coaches, were divided by a partition into two compartments, each entered by two doors, on the sides. The interiors of the compartments were upholstered with drab-colored cashmere, and each accommodated eight passengers. The conductor and engineer had each a silver whistle. After the former had ascertained the destination of each passenger and collected the necessary fare, he would close the car doors, climb to his place in a cab at the top of the coach, and whistle to the engineer as a signal for starting. The engineer, who was protected by no cab, would respond with his whistle, when the train would dash out of the station. The brakes were such as are used on a coach, and it was a scientific matter, when the engineer gave his warning-whistle to break up a train on arriving at a station. The rails were secured to granite ties, by means of cast-iron plates, and the road was very, _very_ solid. Frost soon rendered it necessary to introduce wooden ties, and nothing has yet been discovered which can be used as a substitute for them.

The Lowell Railroad was not the first opened in the United States, but it was the first passenger road in successful operation in New England.

In 1831, the Railroad Bank was established.

In 1832, the Suffolk and Tremont Mills were established.

In 1833, the town felt the need of a police court, and one was established. Joseph Locke was the first justice. During the same year the Lawrence Mills were started; and the town was visited by President Andrew Jackson and members of his Cabinet, and later by the great statesman, Henry Clay.

In 1834, Belvidere was included in Lowell, and the town had the honor of entertaining Colonel David Crockett, George Thompson, M.P., the English abolitionist (not cordially), and M. Chevalier, the French political economist.

In 1835, Joel Stone, of Lowell, and Joseph P. Simpson, of Boston, built the steamboat Herald, for navigating between Lowell and Nashua, but the enterprise proved a failure; the Nashua and Lowell Railroad Company was incorporated; the Lowell Almshouse was started; the hall of the Middlesex Mechanics' Association was built; and the Lowell Courier, the oldest daily newspaper in Middlesex County, was established.

In 1836, the population of Lowell was 17,633. During the year the Boott Mills were started, and a city charter was adopted.

Dr. Elisha Bartlett was elected first mayor of the city of Lowell. He was succeeded, in 1838, by the Honorable Luther Lawrence; in 1840, by the Honorable Elisha Huntington, M.D.; in 1842, by the Honorable Nathaniel Wright; in 1844, by Dr. Huntington; in 1846, by the Honorable Jefferson Bancroft; in 1849, by the Honorable Josiah B. French; in 1851, by the Honorable J.H.B. Ayer; in 1852, by Dr. Huntington; in 1853, by the Honorable Sewall G. Mack; in 1855, by the Honorable Ambrose Lawrence; in 1856, by Dr. Huntington; in 1857, by the Honorable Stephen Mansur, the first Republican mayor; in 1858, by Dr. Huntington, for his eighth term; in 1859, by the Honorable James Cook; in 1860, by the Honorable Benjamin C. Sargent; in 1862, by the Honorable Hocum Hosford; in 1865, by the Honorable Josiah G. Peabody; in 1867, by the Honorable George F. Richardson; in 1869, by the Honorable Jonathan P. Folsom; in 1871, by the Honorable Edward F. Sherman; in 1872, by the Honorable Josiah G. Peabody; in 1873, by the Honorable Francis Jewett; in 1876, by the Honorable Charles A. Stott; in 1878, by the Honorable John A.G. Richardson; in 1880, by the Honorable Frederic T. Greenhalge; in 1882, by the Honorable George Runels; in 1883, by the present mayor, the Honorable John J. Donovan.

The young city met with a serious loss April 11, 1837, in the sudden death of Kirk Boott.

A county jail was built in 1838, and the Nashua and Lowell Railroad was opened for travel.

Luther Lawrence was killed, April 17, 1839, by a fall into a wheel-pit. He was serving his second term as mayor of the city at the time of the accident. His residence was bought by the corporations and converted into the Lowell Hospital.

In 1840, the Massachusetts Mills were established; and the South Common, of about twenty acres, and the North Common, of about ten acres, were laid out. During this year appeared the Lowell Offering, a monthly journal, edited by Miss Harriet Farley and Miss Hariot Curtiss, two factory girls. The journal was praised by John G. Whittier, Charles Dickens, and other gifted writers, for its intrinsic merits.

Lowell is largely indebted to Oliver M. Whipple for its cemetery, which was consecrated June 20, 1841. It contains about forty-five acres, and has near the centre a small gothic chapel.

In January, 1842, Charles Dickens made a flying visit to Lowell, and has left on record in American Notes his impressions of the city.

During this period the court-room of the city was occasionally graced by the presence of Daniel Webster and Rufus Choate.

The City Library was instituted in 1844.

The Stony Brook Railroad Company was incorporated in 1845.

The Honorable Nathan Crosby was appointed justice of the police court in 1846, and still continues in office. The Lowell and Lawrence Railroad was incorporated this year, and the population of Lowell numbered 29,127.

President James K. Polk visited Lowell in 1847; and the city met with the loss of Patrick Tracy Jackson, a man whose name should be always honored in Lowell. The great Northern Canal was completed this year by James B. Francis, the most distinguished hydraulic engineer in the United States. It was a stupendous work and stands a monument to the genius of its constructor. Daniel Webster, in company with Abbott Lawrence, rode along its dry channel, before the water was admitted, and fully appreciated the immense undertaking.

The Salem and Lowell Railroad was incorporated in 1848, and was opened for travel two years later.

The reservoir on Lynde's Hill was constructed in 1849.

Gas was introduced, and the Court House on Gorham Street built, in 1850.

In 1851, Centralville, previously a part of Dracut, was included within the city limits, and the Lowell Reform School was established.

In 1852, George Wellman completed his first working model of his self top card stripper--one of the most valuable inventions of the present century; Louis Kossuth, the Hungarian patriot, visited Lowell; and the Legislature of Massachusetts enacted the first prohibitory liquor law.

The City Hall was reconstructed in 1853. The Lowell Jail was built in 1856. Thomas H. Benton visited Lowell in 1857. Washington Square was laid out in 1858.

During the dark days of the Rebellion, Lowell responded loyally to the appeal for soldiers and money, and of her young men many of the best were sacrificed to preserve the Union.

The fall of Fort Sumter produced a profound sensation in Lowell. Four companies from the city hastened to join their regiment: the Mechanic Phalanx, under command of Captain Albert S. Follansbee; the City Guards, Captain James W. Hart; the Watson Light Guard, Captain John F. Noyes, and the Lawrence Cadets (National Grays), Captain Josiah A. Sawtelle. They assembled at Huntington Hall, the day after President Lincoln's call for troops, and were mustered into the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment under command of Colonel Edward F. Jones. They at once proceeded to Boston and were joined at Faneuil Hall by the other companies of the regiment and the next day were on their way to the seat of war. A detachment of the regiment had to fight their way through a mob in Baltimore, and four of the Lowell City Guards were the first to lay down their lives in the great drama of war known as the Rebellion. Addison O. Whitney and Luther C. Ladd, of Lowell, were the first martyrs; their last resting-place is commemorated by a monument in a public square of the city. The regiment arrived at Washington, were quartered in the Senate Chamber, and formed the nucleus of the rapidly gathering Northern army. The Hill Cadets, under Captain S. Proctor, and the Richardson Light Infantry, Captain Phineas A. Davis, were formed the day after the Baltimore riot. The company known as the Abbott Grays, under Captain Edward Gardner Abbott, was organized five days later. That called the Butler Rifles was organized May 1, by Eben James and Thomas O'Hare.

While these active preparations for war were progressing, Judge Crosby called a public meeting, April 20, at which the Pioneer Soldiers' Aid Association, the germ of the Sanitary Commission, was formed. The city government was liberal, too, in its appropriations for the families of absent soldiers. In September, Camp Chase, a military rendezvous, was established at Lowell.

Among the first, and most distinguished, of the citizens of Lowell to offer his services to the general government at this crisis, was General Benjamin F. Butler, already a lawyer and orator of great reputation, who had previously held high rank in the militia. Six companies from Lowell joined his expedition to the Gulf.

Early in 1862, the Sixth and Seventh Batteries, mostly Lowell men, were organized. In response to the President's call in July, 1862, three companies joined the Thirty-third Regiment. In August, the Sixth Regiment again entered the field for a campaign of nine months.

In February, 1863, Lowell sent to the war the Fifteenth Battery, in command of Captain Timothy Pearson and Lieutenant Albert Rowse. During this month the ladies of the city raised about five thousand dollars for the Sanitary Commission by a Soldiers' Fair--the second held in the Northern States. In July, 1863, the "draft" called for over four hundred additional soldiers from Lowell; less than thirty were forced into the service. These were the palmy days for the substitute brokers and bounty-jumpers. In July, 1864, the Sixth Regiment again responded, and served one hundred days.

In 1865, came the close of the war and the return of the battle-scarred veterans. During the long struggle more than five thousand citizens of Lowell were in the army and navy of the United States, and the city expended over $300,000 in equipment and bounties.

The Lowell Horse Railroad Company and the First National Bank were incorporated in 1864. The French-Canadians began to settle in Lowell just after the war.

In October, 1866, Dr. J.C. Ayer presented the city with the statue of Victory which stands in Monument Square.

The Old Ladies' Home was dedicated July 10, 1867. St. John's Hospital was completed and opened in 1868. It occupies the site of the old yellow house built in 1770 by Timothy Brown. In November of the same year the first meeting of the Old Residents' Historical Association of Lowell was held at the store of Joshua Merrill; in December, the city was visited by General Grant.

In 1869, the city authorities undertook a system of water-supply works which was completed four years later; the Lowell Hosiery Company was incorporated in May. The Thorndike Manufacturing Company commenced operations in June, 1870.

The fire-alarm telegraph was introduced in 1871; in August, trains on the Lowell and Framingham Railroad commenced running; in November, the new iron bridge across the Merrimack was finished; during the year, the city suffered severely from the scourge of small-pox.

The boundaries of Lowell were extended, in 1873, to include Middlesex Village, taken from Chelmsford, and a part of Dracut and Tewksbury. A new railroad by the way of Andover connected Lowell with Boston in 1874.

The city celebrated the semi-centennial of its incorporation, March 1, 1876.

The Emperor Dom Pedro of Brazil visited the city in June of the same year.

The Lowell Art Association was formed in May, 1878. In December of that year the waters of the Merrimack rose nearly eleven feet on Pawtucket Dam; in the same month the Merrimack Company introduced the electric light.

Merrimack Company introduced the electric light.

In August, 1880, Boston and Lowell were connected by telephone.

As one glances over the history of Lowell, he recognizes the fact that the city has gained its prominence, its wealth, and its population, chiefly through the great corporations, and the wisdom of their early managers; accordingly the record of these corporate bodies is intimately connected with the annals of the city. The reader has noted the fact that the first impetus was given to the place by the acts of the Merrimack Manufacturing Company. This company was incorporated February 5, 1822; and the first mill was started the following year. The company is not only the oldest in the city but is the largest, employing the most operatives and producing the most cloth; their chimney, two hundred and eighty-three feet high, is the tallest in the country.

Ezra Worthen, the first superintendent of the mills, died, suddenly, June 18, 1824, and was succeeded by Warren Colburn, the author of the popular arithmetic. Mr. Colburn died September 13, 1833, and was succeeded by John Clark, who held the office until 1848. Mr. Clark was succeeded by Emory Washburn, afterward Governor of Massachusetts, by Edward L. Lebreton, and from 1850 to 1865 by Isaac Hinckley, now president of the Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore Railroad. John C. Palfrey was superintendent from 1865 to 1874, when Joseph S. Ludlam was appointed. The print-works were in charge of Kirk Boott in 1822; after him was Allen Pollock, 1823 to 1826; John D. Prince, 1826 to 1855; Henry Barrows, 1855 to 1878; James Duckworth, 1878 to 1882; Robert Latham, since 1882. The treasurers of the company have been Kirk Boott, Francis C. Lowell, Eben Chadwick, Francis B. Crowinshield, Arthur T. Lyman, Augustus Lowell, and Charles H. Dalton.

The property of the company occupies twenty-four acres of land. They have five mills besides the print-works, 153,552 spindles, 4,465 looms, and employ 3,300 operatives. They use up 18,000 tons of coal. The prints made at this establishment, are marked "Merrimack," and are too well known to require description.

The Hamilton Manufacturing Company was incorporated in 1825. The treasurers have been William Appleton, 1825; Ebenezer Appleton, 1830; George W. Lyman, 1833; Thomas G. Cary, 1839; William B. Bacon, 1859; Arthur T. Lyman, 1860; Arthur L. Devens, 1863; Eben Bacon, 1867; Samuel Batchelder, 1869; George R. Chapman, 1876;

James A. Dupee, since 1870. The agents have been Samuel Batchelder, 1825; John Avery, 1831; O.H. Moulton, since 1864. The superintendents of print-works have been William Spencer, 1828; William Hunter, 1862; William Harley, 1866; Thomas Walsh, 1876. The company manufactures flannels, prints, ticks, stripes, drills, and sheetings.

The Appleton Company was incorporated in 1828. The treasurers have been William Appleton, 1828; Patrick T. Jackson, 1829; George W. Lyman, 1832; Thomas G. Cary, 1841; William B. Bacon, 1859; Arthur T. Lyman, 1861; Arthur L. Devens, 1863; John A. Burnham, 1867; George Motley, 1867; James A. Dupee, since 1874. The superintendents have been John Avery, 1828; George Motley, 1831; J.H. Sawyer, 1867; Daniel Wright, 1881. The company manufactures sheetings, drillings, and yarn.