A head of George Washington, the first President of the United States, facing left.

Designer: John Flanagan (JF), 1932 version from a 1786 bust by Houdon / William Cousins.

Depicts a mill girl working at a power loom with its prominent circular bobbin battery. A view of Lowell, including the Boott Mill clock tower, is seen through the window.

In the 1820s and 1830s Lowell grew into the cradle of the American Industrial Revolution. Its waterways and canal systems provided the power to run textile mills — innovative “integrated” factories that housed their entire operations under one roof, instead of spread out in several buildings or locations. New machinery was developed. Cloth manufacturing was revolutionized at Lowell, moving away from its cottage-industry origins into a new world of mass production. Providing the manpower — or womanpower — to run the machines were the so-called Mill Girls, most of them from the nearby farms of New England, recruited to Lowell to work in the factories. They stayed in company-owned boarding houses, with supervised educational and cultural opportunities and organized living. The Mill Girls became a social force in America, encouraging labor reform and education for workers.

Designer: Joel Iskowitz (JI)
Engraver: Phebe Hemphill (PH)