Mills, factories, and the machines that changed America.
3 markers in this collection.
Childs (Gaines), NY · est. 1993
After the Erie Canal opened in 1825, the masons who had cut its locks turned to building homes, churches, and schools from glacial cobblestones. The Childs cluster is the densest surviving example of the craft.
Lockport, NY · est. 1976
To lift canal boats 60 feet over the Niagara Escarpment, engineers built five paired locks — boats going up on one side while others descended. The project drew workers from across Europe and gave the city of Lockport its name.
Lowell, MA · est. 1978
Lowell harnessed the Merrimack's drop through a network of power canals to run the nation's first integrated cotton mills. Its young women workers — the 'Lowell mill girls' — wrote the first chapters of American labor history.