After benevolent founder John Williams was ousted from the mills, the Cocheco Manufacturing Company's new Boston owners put James Curtis in charge. Curtis was a harsh taskmaster focused on profit with little concern for factory working conditions. The company opened a factory store on Franklin Square, and mill girls were paid in company scrip instead of cash, redeemable only for goods there. Prices were higher than in regular stores, accounts were often falsified, and wage payments were sometimes delayed. Daily pay was lowered from 58 cents to 53 cents, worker quotas were raised, and loom speeds were increased. Talking was forbidden, a 12½ cent lateness fee was imposed, and joining a combination or union was cause for dismissal. On December 30, 1828, more than half of the 800 Cocheco mill girls walked out in a turn-out, parading around the mill quadrangle with banners, signs, martial music, artillery, and speeches to protest cruel working conditions. The Dover Enquirer denounced the action as one of the most disgusting scenes ever witnessed and called the grievance imaginary. The next day the Boston owners advertised in the Dover Enquirer for the services of 2 to 300 females. Within three days, most of the mill girls except those blacklisted by the company returned to work, and their protest against reduced wages, longer hours, and unsafe working conditions did not succeed at the time. This was the first strike by women in the United States, and though largely unsuccessful then, it set in motion a revolution for workers' rights throughout industrial America.

Photo: Cosmos Mariner

Photo: Cosmos Mariner

Photo: Anonymous

Photo: Cosmos Mariner

Dover, New Hampshire · USA