Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume X.djvu/698

 692 LOWELL NAME OF COMPANY. Ji fl ll 8 Capital. Number of mills. Looms. Spindles. Opera- tives. CONSUMED PEE WEEK. Yards of cloth produced per week. Cotton, Ibs. Wool, Ibs. Merrimack manufacturing 1828 1825 1828 1828 1830 1882 1883 1836 1840 $2,500,000 1,200,000 600,000 2,000,000 750,000 1,200,000 1,500,000 1,200,000 1,800,000 5 and print works 5 " " 1 4 4 and dye houses 5 and dye houses 6 6 2,583 1,546 7(54 865 230 2,196 2,260 2,868 2,509 135,000 51,268 27,088 22,516 16,400 93,968 90,000 111,872 93,087 2,500 1,285 520 1,450 815 1,400 1,630 1,875 1,810 85,000 85,000 70,000 4,000 100,000 165,000 110,000 150,000 70,000 25,000 i",6oo 490,000 280,000 160,000 87,000- . 23,000 380,000 400,000 460,000 470,000 Hamilton company Appleton company Middlesex company Tremont and Suffolk mills. Lawrence company. Boott cotton mills Massachusetts cotton mills. Total $12,750,000 40 14,821 641,199 12,785 769,000 96,000 2,700,000 The Merrimack company also dyes and prints 545,600 yards per week, and the Hamilton 415,000. The Lawrence company has 550 knitting machines, and produces 12,000 dozen of cotton and merino hosiery per week. The Appleton company put a second mill in oper- ation during 1874, which added 33 per cent, to its business. The Lowell company pro- duces carpets, serges, and lastings; the Mid- dlesex, beavers, ladies' sackings, opera flannels, cassimeres, and shawls ; the other companies, print cloths, drillings, sheetings, shirtings, &c. Each company owns from 20 to 30 dwellings, which are leased at a nominal rent to responsi- ble persons as boarding houses for the hands employed in the factories. Some of them are large enough to accommodate 40 or 50 inmates. None but operatives are allowed to board in them, and the sexes are kept separate. The corporations also provide a hospital in which workpeople find attendance in sickness, for which, if they be unable to pay, the employers are responsible. The Lowell bleachery, incor- porated in 1832, has a capital of $300,000, and employs 400 hands, dyeing 15.000,000 yards and bleaching 10,000,000 Ibs. per annum. The Lowell machine shop, incorporated in 1845, has a capital of $600,000, employs 1,100 hands, and manufactures cotton and paper machin- ery, turbine wheels, machinists' tools, hydraulic presses, force pumps, &c. Ayer's patent med- icines are manufactured here. Among the smaller establishments are manufactories of hair felt, bolts, nuts, and screws, elastic goods, fixed ammunition and cartridges, belting and hose, bobbins, boilers, boxes, brass ware, wood- working machinery, cabinet ware, carriages, chemicals, sash, doors, and blinds, drain pipe, edge tools, files, wire goods, paper, reeds and harnesses, &c. There are six national banks, with an aggregate capital of $2,350,000; six savings banks, with deposits in 1873 amount- ing to $10,233,562 43 ; and two insurance companies. The city is divided into six wards, and is governed by a mayor, a board of alder- men of 8 and a common council of 24 mem- bers. It has a well equipped fire department, and an efficient police force with a police court. The water works, constructed at a cost of $1,265,000, went into operation in January, 1873. The assessed value of property in 1874 was $36,762,005 ; taxation, including tax on polls, $607,705 91, of which $38,580 was for state and $26,400 11 for county purposes; to- tal expenditures of the city in 1873, $1,218,- 205 55, including $133,440 68 for schools, $42,661 51 for school houses, $144,257 05 for roads and bridges, $23,069 60 for paupers, $45,072 50 for police, $37,309 91 for fire de- partment, $65,575 66 for sewers and drains, $18,350 92 for lighting streets and public buildings, $18,247. 91 for salaries, $46,827 02 for payment of and interest on the city debt, and $349,717 87 for the water works. The city debt, Jan. 1, 1874, amounted to $1,937,- 500. The value of property belonging to the city was $2,413,235 23. The charitable insti- tutions are the almshouse, which has a farm connected with it, a free dispensary, an asso- ciation for aiding the worthy poor, an old la- dies' home, a young women's home, St. John's hospital, and an orphan asylum under the charge of the sisters of charity. The number of school houses belonging to the city at the close of 1873 was 34; number of schools, 64 (1 high, 9 grammar, and 54 primary) ; number of teachers, 120, of whom 11 were males ; average number of scholars enrolled during the year, 5,082; average daily attendance, 4,623; num- ber of children between 5 and 15 years of age, 6,728. There were also four evening schools, with 39 teachers and an average attendance of 341. The whole amount expended for teach- ers' wages during the year was $100,479 43. There are also several Roman Catholic schools. The city library contains 17,000 volumes, and the mechanics' library 13,000. Three daily, one semi-weekly, and four weekly newspa- pers are published. There are 29 churches, viz. : 4 Baptist, 6 Congregational, 2 Episcopal, 2 Freewill Baptist, 4 Methodist, 1 Presbyte- rian, 5 Koman Catholic (1 French), 1 Second Advent, 1 Unitarian, 2 Universalist, and 1 free chapel. Lowell was set off from Chelmsford and incorporated as a town in 1826, and as a city in 1836. Portions of Chelmsford, Tewks- bury, and Dracut have been since annexed. It had its origin in 1821, and was named after Francis C. Lowell of Boston. The population in 1874 was estimated at 50,000, a large ac- cession having been received by annexation of territory during that year.