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The Boston Associates was a term created by historian Vera Shlakmen in Economic History of a Factory Town, A Study of Chicopee, Massachusetts (1935) to describe a loosely linked group of investors. They included Nathan Appleton
Nathan Appleton

Nathan Appleton was an United States merchant and politician....
, Abbott Lawrence
Abbott Lawrence

Abbott Lawrence was a prominent United States businessman, politician, and philanthropist. He founded Lawrence, Massachusetts.Born in Groton, Massachusetts, the son of Revolutionay War officer Samuel Lawrence , Abbott Lawrence attended Groton Academy, Upon his graduation in 1808, Lawrence became an apprentice to his brother, Amos Lawrence...
, and Amos Lawrence
Amos Lawrence

Amos Lawrence, was an American merchant and philanthropist. He was the son of Samuel Lawrence , a Revolutionary War officer, and the founder of Groton Academy , where Amos was educated....
, often related directly or through marriage, they were based in Boston, Massachusetts
Boston, Massachusetts

Boston is the State capital and largest city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is considered the economic and cultural center of the region, and is sometimes regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England." Boston city proper had a 2007 est...
. By 1845, there were 31 textile companies—located in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and southern Maine—produced one-fifth of all textiles in the United States.






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The Boston Associates was a term created by historian Vera Shlakmen in Economic History of a Factory Town, A Study of Chicopee, Massachusetts (1935) to describe a loosely linked group of investors. They included Nathan Appleton
Nathan Appleton

Nathan Appleton was an United States merchant and politician....
, Abbott Lawrence
Abbott Lawrence

Abbott Lawrence was a prominent United States businessman, politician, and philanthropist. He founded Lawrence, Massachusetts.Born in Groton, Massachusetts, the son of Revolutionay War officer Samuel Lawrence , Abbott Lawrence attended Groton Academy, Upon his graduation in 1808, Lawrence became an apprentice to his brother, Amos Lawrence...
, and Amos Lawrence
Amos Lawrence

Amos Lawrence, was an American merchant and philanthropist. He was the son of Samuel Lawrence , a Revolutionary War officer, and the founder of Groton Academy , where Amos was educated....
, often related directly or through marriage, they were based in Boston, Massachusetts
Boston, Massachusetts

Boston is the State capital and largest city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is considered the economic and cultural center of the region, and is sometimes regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England." Boston city proper had a 2007 est...
. By 1845, there were 31 textile companies—located in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and southern Maine—produced one-fifth of all textiles in the United States. The textiles were a product of cotton, brought north from the southern cotton states by sea. With the capital earned through these mills, they invested in railroads
Rail transport

Rail transport is the conveyance of passengers and goods by means of wheeled vehicles running along railways . Rail transport is part of the logistics chain, which facilitates international trade and economic growth....
, such as the Boston and Lowell. These railroads helped transport the cotton from warehouses to factories. These Boston-based investors established banks—such as the Suffolk Bank—and invested in others. In time, they controlled 40% of banking capital in Boston, 40% of all insurance capital in Massachusetts, and 30% of Massachusetts' railroads. Tens of thousands of New Englanders received employment from these investors, working in any one of the hundreds of their mills.

Mill locations established or improved by the Boston Associates:
  • Waltham, Massachusetts
    Waltham, Massachusetts

    One of the early centers of the Industrial Revolution in northern America, Waltham is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Massachusetts, United States....
     (1813)
  • Lowell, Massachusetts
    Lowell, Massachusetts

    Lowell is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 105,167....
     (1822)
  • Manchester, New Hampshire
    Manchester, New Hampshire

    Manchester is the largest city in the U.S. state of New Hampshire and the largest city of northern New England, an area composed of Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine....
     (1825)
  • Saco, Maine
    Saco, Maine

    Saco is a city in York County, Maine, Maine, United States. The population was 16,822 at the 2000 United States Census. It is home to Ferry Beach State Park, Funtown Splashtown USA, Thornton Academy, as well as General Dynamics Armament Systems , a subsidiary of the defense contractor General Dynamics....
     (1831)
  • Nashua, New Hampshire
    Nashua, New Hampshire

    Nashua is a city in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, New Hampshire, United States. As of the 2000 census, Nashua had a total population of 86,605, making it the second largest city in the state after Manchester, New Hampshire ....
     (1836)
  • Dover, New Hampshire
    Dover, New Hampshire

    Dover is a city in Strafford County, New Hampshire, New Hampshire, in the United States of America. The population was 26,884 at the 2000 census....
     (1836)
  • Chicopee, Massachusetts
    Chicopee, Massachusetts

    Chicopee is a city located on the Connecticut River in Hampden County, Massachusetts, Massachusetts, United States of America. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield, Massachusetts metropolitan area....
     (1838)
  • Lawrence, Massachusetts
    Lawrence, Massachusetts

    Lawrence is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States on the Merrimack River. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 72,043....
     (1845)
  • Holyoke, Massachusetts
    Holyoke, Massachusetts

    Holyoke is a city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, Massachusetts, United States, on the banks of the Connecticut River. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield, Massachusetts metropolitan area....
     (1847)


See also

  • Boston Manufacturing Company
    Boston Manufacturing Company

    The Boston Manufacturing Company was organized in 1813 by Francis Cabot Lowell , a wealthy Boston merchant, in partnership a group of investors known as The Boston Associates, for the manufacture of cotton textiles....
  • Francis Cabot Lowell (businessman)
  • Paul Moody (inventor)


Further reading

  • Robert Sobel
    Robert Sobel

    Robert Sobel was an United States professor of history at Hofstra University, and a well-known and prolific writer of business histories. He was also a chess Master, who represented the United States at the 1957 and 1958 Student chess Olympiads; he defeated thirteen-year-old future World Champion Bobby Fischer at Montreal 1956....
     The Entrepreneurs: Explorations Within the American Business Tradition (Weybright & Talley 1974), chapter 1, Francis Cabot Lowell: The Patrician as Factory Master. ISBN 0-679-40064-8


  • Francois Weil; "Capitalism and Industrialization in New England, 1815-1845." The Journal of American History, Vol. 84, No. 4 (Mar., 1998), pp. 1334-1354.


  • Anne Farrow; John Lang; Jennifer Frank; "Complicity: How the North Promoted, Prolonged, and Profited from Slavery." Chapter 1. Ballantine Books, The Hartford Courant Company: Hartford, Connecticut. 2005.