Life on the Corporation

Life on the Corporation. . Lowell’s first company-owned boardinghouses were built across the canal in 1823, to house young women workers from rural New England., Neat rows of boardinghouses once lined the streets of Lowell. The companies hoped that a moral, clean, and safe boardinghouse environment would encourage parents to send their daughters to work in the mills. Life “on the corporation” soon became a centerpiece of the acclaimed “Lowell Experiment.” , Over time, as mill owners sought to cut costs, working and living conditions deteriorated. Workers resisted with strikes in the 1830s, and agitation for a shorter work day in the 1840s., (Inscription next to the bottom photo on the left) , The once-heralded Merrimack Mills boardinghouses were demolished in 1966. This destruction fueled an intense local debate. One result was Lowell’s commitment to preserve its industrial and cultural heritage., (Inscription under the photo on the lower right) , Merrimack Mills and boardinghouses, 1848. By providing decent housing for employees, Lowell investors sought to avoid the brutality of Britain’s factories and urban slums.