Lowell Mills Girls: Bootts Mills

Boott Mills and others like it in the area such as Merrimack, Appleton, Hamilton, Lawrence, Tremont, and Suffolk, employed thousands of young women as loom operators. Combined, these factories were known as the Lowell Mills and are remembered for their contribution to the development of industrial capitalism in New England. The conditions in the factories were greuling, hours were long, and wages paid on a per piece basis. The community based approach of living, training, and working together helped the women build a strong community that fostered solidarity through the challenging conditions in the factories.

Job training in the mills relied on partnerships among women, with a new hire acting as a spare hand for a more seasoned worker. This training set up allowed the workers to forge strong bonds early on in their careers at the mills. Wages were paid depending on output, so workers would often mind each other’s spinning wheels in order to grant each other small bouts of leave or time off. 

The workforce was compromised mainly of women between the ages of 15 and 30. Hamilton Company payroll records indicate that 85% of the employees were women between the ages of 15 and 30. Any men that worked in the mills were in different rooms, mainly in the repair shops and in all the supervisory roles in the factory. The women were also ethnically homogenous, hailing from the farms near Lowell. 

By 1834 the factory girls, as they were known, planned their first "walk-out" to protest a 12.5% cut in wages. This strike lasted only a few days and was unsuccessful, but allowed the factory girls to better strategize for their next walk out. In 1836, in response to more proposed wage cuts, they walked out again in much larger numbers and this time for months. They strategically planned for some girls to all walk out of specific rooms in the mill at the same time. If all the spinners left the room at the same time, the entire factory would grind to a halt. This, too, ultimately failed. However, the community building and strategic planning would be put to use later for the factory girls.

Miles, Henry. Sabin Americana 1500-1926. Powers and Bagley [Etc.], 1845.

Labor Reform: Early Strikes, National Park Service. November 21st 2019. Accessed October 30th 2020. https://www.nps.gov/lowe/learn/historyculture/womensactivism.htm.

Shepley, Bullfinch, Richardson, and Abbott. Lowell National Historic Park and Preservation District Cultural Resources Inventory, National Park Service. Invalid date. Accessed October 30th 2020. http://npshistory.com/publications/lowe/cri.pdf.