The Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain around 1760. It spread to continental Europe and the United States by about 1840. Farming and handmade goods gave way to machine-made goods in factories. A factory is an industrial facility, often several buildings filled with machinery, where workers make items. Factories arose with the Industrial Revolution. The money and space needed became too great for cottage industry or small workshops. In 1771 Arkwright and his partners built the world's first water-powered mill at Cromford. It covered both carding and spinning and employed 200 people. In 1776 he built a second, larger mill there. His success as a businessman and innovator was widely recognized in his own time.
Arkwright ran Cromford with strict rules. Bells rang at 5 am and 5 pm. The gates were shut at exactly 6 am and 6 pm. Anyone who was late was shut out for the rest of the day. They lost a day's pay. The mill ran day and night, with workers on long shifts. The mill needed more workers than Cromford had. Arkwright brought in workers from outside the area. He built a cluster of cottages near the mill to house them. These workers' homes are now considered the first factory housing development in the world.
Some early factories had small amounts of machinery. They had fewer than a dozen workers. They have been called glorified workshops. Most modern factories have large warehouse-like buildings with heavy equipment for assembly line production. Between 1770 and 1850, mechanized factories took over from artisan shops. They became the main way of making goods. The earliest factories made cotton and wool textiles. Later ones made shoes and machinery, including machine tools. Samuel Slater, who learned the trade in England, built water-powered spinning machinery from memory in Rhode Island. In 1793 Slater and Brown opened their first factory in Pawtucket. In 1813 Francis Cabot Lowell and partners founded the Boston Manufacturing Company. Its first mill opened beside the Charles River in Waltham in 1814.
The Waltham mill was the first integrated textile mill in America. Every step from raw cotton to finished cloth could happen in one building. The Lowell mills hired young women, usually single, between 15 and 35. They became known as mill girls. The Lowell companies recruited women from New England farms and villages. They offered monthly cash wages and room and board in a boardinghouse. Factory bells governed the day. They summoned the women to the mills at 4:30 a.m. They signaled meal breaks. They sent them home after 12- to 14-hour shifts.
Words to know
- factory: makes things
- integrated: all in one
- mechanized: run by machines
- boardinghouse: rooming house
