Brick Block, Dutton Street, Lowell, Middlesex County, MA

Significance: The early, typical boardinghouse was erected during Lowell's rapid development as the nation's first great manufacturing center that began in the early 19th century. The structure was a part of the comprehensive building program of the Merrimack Manufacturing Company, the nation's first mass-production textile manufacturer. The boardinghouses were generally placed near the mills and surrounded by other Company-owned structures, such as a church, a school, etc. This "utopian" industrial and residential community was always situated near the canal or the river. The Brick Block was one of the original boardinghouses and constituted the central part of a row of boardinghouses. The Lowell model was often copied in other mill towns in New England. Young female mill workers were the standard occupants of the boardinghouses.
Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: FN-332
Survey number: HABS MA-1151