The Boott Mill Weave Room

Built in 1835, the Boott Mills were home to the textile industry for over 100 years. In its heyday, the weave room held around 200 looms. Across the city of Lowell, thousands of people worked at machines just like these.

The Boott Cotton Mills shut down in 1958, amid mill closures in Lowell and across New England in the 1950s and 60s. The textile industry in the American South had access to cheaper labor and fewer transportation costs, and New England’s mills could not compete. Many companies tried to make money back by selling their equipment to new factories opening in the American South. New innovations, such as electric motors and pick counters, were added to the older equipment when they arrived in southern states.

The looms on display in the Boott Cotton Mills Museum weave room tell the story of this movement. The weave room holds over 80 Draper Model E looms, made by the Draper Corporation in Hopedale, Massachusetts. Built between 1913 and 1922, these machines were first produced for a mill in Fall River, Massachusetts before they were sold to a southern factory. When the textile industry moved again, leaving the southern United States for manufacturers abroad, old machines were often abandoned. These looms were purchased from a dealer in Kingsport, Tennessee in the 1980s and restored here in Lowell with new leather and wooden parts.

 

Learn More About Weaving

To learn more about the work of weavers, explore the following resources about the weaving process, the parts of a loom, and the people who operated them. Still want more? visit us at the Boott Cotton Mills Museum and visit the weave room.