Free Time in Lowell's Mill Days

By Frank Clark, Park Ranger, Lowell National Historical Park, for Lyddie: Voices from the Field (chapter 9).

A new idea

Lowell had thousands of workers, all on the same mill schedule. The short stretch between supper and curfew was one of the few times they could do what they wanted — for many, fresh from farms, a new idea. Many spent it out with friends and co-workers.

Plenty to do

With so many people with time and money, Lowell offered a lot:

• Shopping: many stores.
• Entertainment: plays and concerts.
• Walks: a park, a garden cemetery, the riverbanks.
• Learning: reading and self-improvement circles, and a public library.
• Ideas: lectures and talks by visitors from around the country and the world on the issues of the day.

Writing and organizing

• Some women wrote stories and poems for the Lowell Offering, a magazine written and edited by women in Lowell.
• Others joined groups on women's suffrage, anti-slavery and working conditions — among them the Lowell Female Labor Reform Association, whose work on conditions and rights led to the ten-hour petition.

A city of possibilities

The workdays were long, but the evenings were free — and Lowell was a city full of people, places, things to do and ideas from around the world.

Sources

Based on "Lyddie: Voices from the Field — Chapter 09: Free Time," by Frank Clark, Park Ranger, National Park Service; a work of the United States government in the public domain. The author's portrait is not reproduced.