ABSTRACT
Three mill towns were the yardstick for the cotton textile industry in Massachusetts: Fall River, New Bedford, and Lowell, the city where cotton manufacture had first begun in the 1820s. As Table 1 indicates, production and employment grew rapidly over the years, reaching a peak in 1919, with a combined output value of $375 million and nearly 80,000 workers. These levels would never be reached again. Although production would remain relatively strong for the next few years, output fell drastically after 1925. In 1932, the cotton goods produced in the three cities were worth less than $50 million. Cotton textile manufacture had collapsed in New England. Figuratively and literally it went South.
