New England mill engineering: Rationalization and reform in textile mill design, 1790-1920

This study in the history of American technology examines the role of mill engineering and textile factory design in the evolution of the factory system. The factory is taken for granted in the historical scholarship on American industrialism. Yet I believe that the structure was instrumental in the factory system's growth and success. Changes in New England mill engineering and factory design between 1790 and 1920 made possible the development of the region's textile industry.; Factory design underwent a gradual transition, reflecting the empirical methods of the practical mill builder in the early nineteenth century and the scientific techniques of the university trained mill engineer in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This transition coincided with and served manufacturers' increasing attempts to rationalize industrial production. Mill engineers developed systematic methods to solve problems in fire protection, the strength of materials, building design, power generation, and labor control. They advanced new technologies after 1880 that affected the work environment. These innovations facilitated production and also enabled mill engineers to address contemporary reform issues related to factory design. Mill engineers' support of industrial reform programs enhanced their professional identity yet helped to retain their position as the industry's technical experts.; Southern manufacturers adopted modern mill engineering standards more readily than northern factory owners after 1880. By 1900, many New England textile mills were obsolete. The Boott Mills at Lowell, Massachusetts, provides a case study representative of the New England experience. Outmoded mill design added to northern mill owners' comparative disadvantages vis-a-vis southern operations. Where once mill owners were in the vanguard of new construction techniques, New England manufacturers' failure to adopt modern methods in the latter nineteenth century contributed to the industry's decline in that region by 1900.