Mill Building (now museum), Lowell, Massachusetts

Kirk Boott (October 20, 1790 – April 11, 1837) was an American Industrialist instrumental in the early history of

Lowell, Massachusetts Lowell () is a city in Massachusetts, in the United States. Alongside Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cambridge, It is one of two traditional county seat, seats of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middlesex County. With an estimated population of 115,5 ...

Biography

Boott was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1790. His father had emigrated to the United States from England in 1783, and worked in Boston as a wholesale merchant. After studying for a time in Boston schools, the son attended

Rugby School Rugby School is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Rugby, Warwickshire, England. Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain. ...

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, and later went to

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher ...

(class of 1809). Before graduation, Boott left Harvard for England to study

civil engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewa ...

with the goal of joining the British army. When he was 21, a commission as lieutenant in the British army was purchased for him. With his regiment, the 85th light infantry, he took part in the peninsular campaign against Napoleon, landing in

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in August 1813. After Napoleon had been sent to Elba, Boott's regiment was detailed for service against the United States, and took part in the attacks on

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and on

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Sandhurst. Later he resigned his commission in the British army and came to Boston to engage in business with two of his brothers. He was not successful in this venture, however. Boott then became involved in the

Boston Manufacturing Company The Boston Manufacturing Company was a business that operated one of the first factories in America. It was organized in 1813 by Francis Cabot Lowell, a wealthy Boston merchant, in partnership with a group of investors later known as The Boston As ...

Waltham, Massachusetts Waltham ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, and was an early center for the labor movement as well as a major contributor to the American Industrial Revolution. The original home of the Boston Manufacturing Company, ...

. At some point during his residency in England, Boott had an opportunity to tour the spinning mills in the

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. He was a quick study of engineering principals and was reputed to have committed his observations to paper. These notes and drawings, none of them extant today, subsequently formed the basis of some of the innovations and improvements in the mechanics and design of spinning and weaving technology which helped to make the mills in Lowell and subsequently other mills in New England more profitable than many of their English counterparts. When the Boston Manufacturing Company formed the Merrimack Manufacturing Company in 1822, Kirk Boott was sent to Lowell to be the first agent and treasurer, since the current agent, Patrick Tracy Jackson, had to remain in Waltham. Under Boott's leadership, the Merrimack Company was extremely profitable. When the Proprietors of Locks and Canals, the organization that controlled the canal water and land, was separated from the Merrimack Manufacturing Company, Boott became agent of that firm as well. In this position, he sold the water power the Merrimack Company did not use, allowing many other firms to open operations in Lowell. The city grew quite rapidly around these factories. Boott was also superintendent of the print works. Boott, more so than the other founders of Lowell, was involved in the day-to-day operation of the town and the lives of its mill operatives. He chose the denomination of the first church ( Episcopal), and even was involved in the design of school districts. He was moderator of the first town meeting, and was often sent to the state legislature. Boott died in his carriage at the corner of Dutton and Merrimack Streets in downtown Lowell on April 11, 1837. Some reports say the carriage tipped, other say a back ailment stemming from his time in the military killed him.

Family

Kirk Boott's father (born in

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, 1750-1817), who was also called Kirk Boott. The carriage that Boott died in was to have another brush with death thirteen years later. According to family lore, Boott's beautiful and thrifty daughter, Mary Love Boott, continued to use the carriage, taking it with her after her marriage to Boston lawyer, Charles A. Welch, in 1844. Welch, who had recently assisted Edward Dexter Sohier in the defense of Dr. John Webster in the notorious and grisly murder and dismemberment on

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, 1849, of the powerful, wealthy and eccentric Bostonian, Dr. George Parkman, used Boott's carriage to pick up Webster's body after he had been publicly executed on a gallows in Leverett Square. Mary never rode in the carriage again.

Legacy

Kirk Kirk is a Scottish and former Northern English word meaning "church". It is often used specifically of the Church of Scotland. Many place names and personal names are also derived from it. Basic meaning and etymology As a common noun, ''kirk' ...

Boott's name lives on in the Boott Mills, and perpendicular Kirk Street, which is dominated by the old building of Lowell High School. In the Boott Mills, part of

Lowell National Historical Park Lowell National Historical Park is a National Historical Park of the United States located in Lowell, Massachusetts. Established in 1978 a few years after Lowell Heritage State Park, it is operated by the National Park Service and comprises a ...

, The National Park Service has restored a weaving room to its 1920s appearance, giving the Park visitor a first hand look at some of the roots of the industrial revolution in the United States.

External links

Lowell Note: Kirk Boott
- From the National Park Service
Find Out About the Kirk Boott Portrait on City Hall's 2nd Floor
- From the Lowell, MA Historic Board.

References

* *https://web.archive.org/web/20090501164124/http://ecommunity.uml.edu/lhs/lowell_history.htm {{DEFAULTSORT:Boott, Kirk 1791 births 1837 deaths Harvard College alumni American manufacturing businesspeople Businesspeople from Massachusetts People of the Industrial Revolution American textile industry businesspeople People from Lowell, Massachusetts Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst 19th-century American businesspeople British Army personnel of the Peninsular War American people of English descent People educated at Rugby School 85th Regiment of Foot (Bucks Volunteers) officers