Lowell, Massachusetts, on the Merrimack River, was founded in the 1820s as a textile manufacturing center.
Powered by the river’s 30-foot waterfall, the great mills housed thousands of machines that processed raw cotton into thread and then wove the thread into cloth.
Mill owners needed many workers to operate those machines, but they didn’t want to pay too much for labor. They found the perfect labor force—mostly teenage girls and young women from the farms of New England. Life on farms had given girls and women experience in cloth production. They saw mill work as a way to help their families by sending money home as well as an opportunity to earn a little money of their own.
To help attract female workers, mill owners built boardinghouses near the mills. A respectable older woman called the boardinghouse keeper ran the house. She monitored the girls’ activities and was required to report any bad behavior to mill management.
Work at the mills was tightly managed and monotonous. The girls signed a contract that bound them to follow the company’s rules and to work six days a week, 12 to 14 hours a day, for at least one year. They were on their feet all day.
Grace, the 14-year-old girl in the following story, comes from a farm. She is a fictional character, but her story is based on the actual experience of mill girls.
Lowell, Massachusetts - September 21, 1835
Dear Mama,
I am arrived in Lowell at last. My, what a lot I h ave to tell you!
The journey here seemed mighty long. Bumping along in the wagon and then the train, I couldn’t help but think how every mile w as carrying me farther away from home.
Esta historia es de la edición July/August 2017 de Cobblestone American History Magazine for Kids.
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Esta historia es de la edición July/August 2017 de Cobblestone American History Magazine for Kids.
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Eye in the Sky
An interview with Joe Piotrowski
Airborne Animals
Humans have taken to the skies in balloons, gliders, and airplanes-but we're not alone among the clouds. Animals of all sorts have evolved to harness wind power.
TAKING OFF
The Wright brothers expected airplanes to “take off,” but even they might be amazed at the way the airline industry has become big business. In the past, it was expensive to send something by plane.
GROWTH OF AN INDUSTRY
After their historic flight at Kitty Hawk in 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright returned to Dayton, Ohio. They spent the next few years making adjustments and building additional versions of their powered aircraft in their bicycle shop.
WHY KITTY HAWK?
The Wright brothers searched carefully for the best place to test their gliders and flying machines. Their main concern was for good, steady winds. But they also hoped to find a remote location to allow them to perform tests away from the public eye.
Two Brothers From Ohio
Most people do not realize that the Wright brothers—Wilbur, born in 1867, and Orville, born in 1871—performed various scientific experiments before inventing their aircraft. For as long as anyone in their hometown of Dayton, Ohio, could remember, the Wright boys had worked on mechanical projects.
A Helping Hand
May 6, 1896. A group of people who had gathered beside the Potomac River, just south of the U.S. capital, grew quiet. Then, it erupted in cheers as a small, unmanned aircraft took to the skies and flew for more than half a mile. The flight came seven years before the Wright brothers’ first manned, powered flight. The inventor of the aircraft was Dr. Samuel Pierpont Langley.
THE IDEA MEN
People dreamed of flying thousands of years before the Wright brothers found success near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. These dreamers, such as Leonardo da Vinci, studied birds flying and imagined how humans might do the same—if only they had wings. Other men developed a more hands-on approach to the topic. Early inventors made wings of cloth, glue, and feathers and tied these creations to their arms in an attempt to imitate nature.
Da Vinci's 4 Designs
Have you ever wondered how a bird flies? Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) did. He thought that understanding how a bird flies would provide the key to human flight. So, what did da Vinci learn from birds?
Silken Wings
Seven hundred years before the Wright brothers began experimenting with human flight, the Chinese had already mastered its secrets—with kites.
