You cannot talk about the history of the mill cities without discussing the mill city itself, Lowell Massachusetts. Being such a large and influential city, Lowell holds one of the two seats of Middlesex County along with Cambridge holding the other spot. Lowell stands with an incredibly large population for the entire state of Massachusetts, having 115,554 individuals making it the fifth most populated in the state of Massachusetts and third within the Boston Metropolitan Region. The city of Lowell is a part of a few regions within mass, one of which is named after itself, hailing from the Greater Lowell area and within the New England Merrimack Valley Region.

Lowell’s Influence to the industrial revolution gave it its title of the mill city, as it was known as a mill town from its incorporation in 1826. The region gained its name not as a city from England as many local towns did in Massachusetts, it gained its name from the important figure of the industrial revolution, Francis Cabot Lowell. Lowell is one of the largest players when it comes to the industrial revolution due to its mass production through textile mills and other products from its factories. For its massive industrialization, it was then known as “the cradle of the American Industrial Revolution.” The mills and textiles within the Lowell area are so historic that they were preserved as part of the Lowell national historical park that you can visit and learn about their part in the Industrial Revolution. Lowell has the Second largest Cambodian American population within America as it took in many Cambodian Refugees, Leading to the creation of the large portion of Lowell known as Cambodia Town.