Merrimack Canal, Lowell, Middlesex County, MA

Significance: The Merrimack Canal was the first of the series of power canals constructed at Lowell. At the end of it, the Merrimack Mills produced textiles using the process developed by Francis Cabot Lowell at Waltham, Massachusetts, whereby raw cotton was turned into finished cloth on one site. The Merrimack Mills, the only facility fed by the canal, was one of the largest manufactories in Lowell throughout the nineteenth century.
Survey number: HAER MA-3
Building/structure dates: 1823 Initial Construction