User:Lowellmania/Blowout

Origin of Blowout as: A festive social affair*. A big, loud party (1824)**

For example: ‘I don’t ever recall seeing such blowouts for the Presidential election results as the hundreds of thousands of folks showing up in Grant Park/Chicago, Times Square/NYC, and elsewhere in November ’08!’

In the early 1800s, the US moved from human power to mechanical power with the building of the multi-storied, red brick mills in New England in which to, initially, weave textiles. It was the start of the US Industrial Revolution. Irish muscle men, as legal immigrants, maneuvered blocks of granite to line the floors/walls of trenches they dug as canals into which down-flowing river water could be diverted to speed through in order to turn turbines which mechanically powered the weaving looms. To clean the cotton picked in the South and spin it into thread and to thread the looms and tend thread breaks, girls, mostly teens, came in from their hard life on family farms to live in company provided boarding houses where the intent of the mill owners was to provide a wholesome environment in contrast to the not so nice conditions for mill workers across the pond in England. Unfortunately, working 12+ hours a day, 6 days a week sucking in lint amongst the constant, deafening clatter of the loom machinery soon wore off a bit of the luster of 2 bucks a week being a means of economic independence at the time. In addition, a seasonal source of vexation came in the Fall when darkness fell earlier in late afternoon causing lamps to be lit to keep the gals working till 7. Whale oil was used to fuel these lamps and it put off a rather horrid smell. In the Spring when lengthening daylight sufficed for the lamps to no longer be needed, the gals celebrated with large, ‘blowing out’ (the lamps) parties***, e.g. sometimes lasting all night !!!

(As an aside: less than 50 years after the country’s American Revolution, that spirit for freedom provided the seeds (another origin!!!) amongst the Mill Girls to begin the Labor as well as the Women’s Revolutions, in addition to support for the Anti-Slavery Movement.]

Amongst the mill Cities to spring up in New England, Lowell, MA was the most prominent. The first extensive building of mills occurred here due to a progressive, 30 foot drop in elevation starting along a curve in the Merrimack River. The 1978 designation of Lowell as the first Park City**** of the National Park Service, created a museum restoration of a mill and boarding site along with boat tours of the canals. This also fostered the conversion of abandoned mills into shopping/dining areas, apartments, and condos. I.e. Lowell is a New England tourist destination from which to visit other MA historical sites, e.g. Concord/Lexington, Salem, Walden Pond, Boston, etc.


 * Merriam-Webster:
 * Online Etymology Dictionary:
 * Moran, William. The Belles of New England: the women of the textiles mills and the families whose wealth they wove. Thomas Dunne Books. 2002. p.19.
 * The National Park Service/Lowell

Suggested Reading: Zaroulis, Nancy. Call the Darkness Light. The Hera Series. 1979. A fictionalized, history novel whereby, if you go to Lowell, you will be able to walk the streets/neighborhoods in those 1800s per Zaroulis’ accurate labeling of locales traversed by a 15 year old Mill Girl growing into womanhood. Also Google e.g. 'Mill Girls'.

Suggested viewing of some of the remaining mills of Lowell: Corey Sciuto, a casual photographer: (Be sure to click on Table of Contents at the bottom of the opening page for subsequent pages)