From the inside cover: "Lowell, Massachusetts, was America's first large-scale planned industrial community. After its establishment as a town in 1826, Lowell was celebrated for its innovative textile technology and its unique workforce of young Yankee farm women. Its mills helped transform American life with high-volume mechanized manufacturing, the rise of the corporation, and the growth of an urban working class. Lowell National Historical Park preserves many scenes of the city's industrial past. This book is both an illustrated account of the changing fortunes of Lowell's industry and its working people and a guide to surviving sites."
