Boott Cotton Mills - Lowell MA - Converted Factories on Waymarking.com

In 1979, the Boott Cotton Mills underwent the first stage of rehabilitation in which Mill #6 became the Paul Tsongas Museum of Industrial History and hosted a range of National Park Service offices, archives, classrooms, a trolley car terminal, and other facilities. In 1989–1991, Mills #8 and #9 and the Storehouse were adaptively reused as commercial office and storage space. Further development occurred starting in 1998 when private owners converted Mills #3, #4, and #5 into apartment space, condominium lofts, commercial office space, and art studios, reflecting the resurgence of Lowell that has stemmed, in part, from the National Park Service’s investment in the Boott Mills. Thus, the Boott Cotton Mills have served as an economic engine for Lowell as well as a testament to its industrial past.

The Boott Cotton Mills, built from 1835 until 1923, are an especially notable complex because they have remained comparatively intact, demonstrating the historical evolution of Lowell and the textile industry at large over almost two centuries. While the Boott buildings themselves make up a fraction of Lowell’s industrial center, they help interpret that landscape with its gridded planning, attendant worker housing, social clashes over worker conditions, and the economic power of converting a common resource—water—into a commodity. In this way, as a relative complete center and the basis of a National Historical Park, Boott helps interpret the larger landscape of Massachusetts industrial development.

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Address:: 126 John St Lowell, MA Year built: 1835 Year converted: 1979 Web page: Not listed

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