1850s

Image Credit: The New England Offering, 1848

The city continues to grow and expand.  By 1848, the 5.6 mile canal system is completed providing power to ten major textile companies.  Within 30 years of its founding, Lowell has become America’s first great industrial city, the largest producer of cotton textiles in the United States, and a center of technological innovation. 

The majority of Lowell’s early workforce was comprised of young, single women from all over New England who were attracted by good wages and educational opportunities.  Early Irish immigrants provided much of the labor to construct the canal system and mills.  Lowell begins to be referred to as the Spindle City.