1820s

Events occurring in nearby Waltham along the Charles River changed the community forever as associates of the late Francis Cabot Lowell arrived, looking for a source of waterpower to expand their successful cotton textile mill operations.  Known as the Boston Associates, they included Nathan Appleton, Patrick Tracy Jackson, Abbott Lawrence, Amos Lawrence, and Kirk Boott In 1821, the Merrimack River’s Pawtucket Falls attracted these early 19th century industrialists who proceeded to rapidly transform the area into an industrial city by purchasing the Pawtucket Canal and various farms, including those belonging to the Cheever, Fletcher, and Tyler families.  By 1823, the Pawtucket Canal had been expanded and the Merrimack Canal dug off of it, powering the Merrimack Manufacturing Company, the first textile mill to begin operation.