Incorporated as a town in 1826, Lowell grew to contain numerous water-powered factories, as well as boardinghouses for its workers. To attract and meet the basic needs of a varied workforce, the textile corporations built low-cost, communal living units. Early boardinghouses in Lowell and other New England mill towns were two -and- a- half- story, whitewashed duplexes made of wood. By the mid-1830s, three-and-a-half-story brick rowhouses, reflecting the now more familiar Lowell boardinghouse design, became the norm. These dwellings housed 20 to 40 people and contained a kitchen, a dining room and parlor, a keeper’s quarters, and up to ten bedrooms.
Under this early form of corporate paternalism, the millworkers’ behavior came under the watchful eyes of the boardinghouse keepers. The corporation required the keepers to report any unacceptable conduct to mill managers. Intemperance, rowdiness, illicit relations with men, and “habitual absence from worship on the Sabbath” were grounds for dismissal from the factory and removal from the boardinghouse. The keepers were also responsible for purchasing or renting everything needed to furnish a house and feed its occupants. Room and board costs, which ranged from $1.25 to $1.50 per week during the 1830s and 1840s, were deducted from wages. For this amount, workers received three meals a day, limited laundry service, and a bed in a shared room. Most mill workers shared living space with relatives, friends from home villages, and strangers. Their bedrooms provided little privacy. Typically four to six people slept in a room and often two women shared a double bed. Despite the overcrowded conditions, communal living in the boardinghouses fostered close bonds between working women and helped new hires adjust to factory toil and city life. Although boardinghouse keepers were employed by the corporations, they functioned as small businessmen and women.
Incorporated as a town in 1826, Lowell grew to contain numerous water-powered factories, as well as boardinghouses for its workers. To attract and meet the basic needs of a varied workforce, the textile corporations built low-cost, communal living units. Early boardinghouses in Lowell and other New England mill towns were two -and- a- half- story, whitewashed duplexes made of wood. By the mid-1830s, three-and-a-half-story brick rowhouses, reflecting the now more familiar Lowell boardinghouse design, became the norm. These dwellings housed 20 to 40 people and contained a kitchen, a dining room and parlor, a keeper’s quarters, and up to ten bedrooms.
Under this early form of corporate paternalism, the millworkers’ behavior came under the watchful eyes of the boardinghouse keepers. The corporation required the keepers to report any unacceptable conduct to mill managers. Intemperance, rowdiness, illicit relations with men, and “habitual absence from worship on the Sabbath” were grounds for dismissal from the factory and removal from the boardinghouse. The keepers were also responsible for purchasing or renting everything needed to furnish a house and feed its occupants. Room and board costs, which ranged from $1.25 to $1.50 per week during the 1830s and 1840s, were deducted from wages. For this amount, workers received three meals a day, limited laundry service, and a bed in a shared room. Most mill workers shared living space with relatives, friends from home villages, and strangers. Their bedrooms provided little privacy. Typically four to six people slept in a room and often two women shared a double bed. Despite the overcrowded conditions, communal living in the boardinghouses fostered close bonds between working women and helped new hires adjust to factory toil and city life. Although boardinghouse keepers were employed by the corporations, they functioned as small businessmen and women.