Explore the Boott Cotton Mills Museum

The Boott Cotton Mills Museum at Lowell National Historical Park is the best place to learn about Lowell’s industrial past. Explore the stories of the workers, engineers, inventors, and investors who made Lowell the first successful planned industrial city in the United States. Learn more about the city’s role as a cutting-edge developer of technology and hub of social and economic change in the American Industrial Revolution. One of the museum’s highlights is an expansive weave room packed with over eighty historic power looms from the 1920s that is still weaving cotton cloth! Experience just a fraction of what Lowell’s mill girls and immigrant laborers would have seen, heard, smelled and felt when they worked in the mills. Talk with our friendly and knowledgeable weavers to learn more about the making textiles. The main exhibit at the Boott Cotton Mills Museum, Lowell: Visions of America covers Lowell’s history from the time it was known as East Chelmsford in the 1700s through the modern day, with a focus on Lowell’s time as a leading innovator and economic center in the American Industrial Revolution. Oral history videos highlight real mill workers’ experiences in these factories, and interactive activities let you try your hand at making thread and cloth! A park ranger or volunteer is always available on the second floor to answer questions offer talks about Lowell history. The museum also hosts rotating exhibits.