The history of Lowell, as told through the excellent exhibits housed in this complex of 19C mill buildings, illustrates the successes and failures of industrialization. In the early 19C, a group of investors affiliated with the late New England merchant Frances Cabot Lowell chose this spot on the Merrimack River for a large textile mill. By the mid-19C, Lowell ranked as the nation's largest cotton textile producer. At the visitor center in Market Mills you can view the multi-image program Lowell: The Industrial Revelation, as well as the entertaining short film Lowell Blues about Lowell native Jack Kerouac. Built in 1873, the imposing brick factory complex Boott Cotton Mills (French & John Sts.) is the park's main attraction.