<P> After a trip to London in 1811 during which he memorized the design of power looms, Lowell founded the Boston Manufacturing Company in 1813 along with the Nathan Appleton, Patrick Tracy Jackson, and the other so - called "Boston Associates". This group of Boston - area merchants were "committed to the ideals of the original Protestant ethic and Republican simplicity" but were nevertheless "shrewd, far - sighted entrepreneurs who were quick to embrace...new investment opportunities". </P> <P> The Boston Manufacturing Company built its first mill next to the Charles River in Waltham, Massachusetts, in 1814 . Unlike the prevailing system of textile manufacturing at the time--the "Rhode Island System" established by Samuel Slater--Lowell decided to hire young women (usually single) between the ages of 15 and 35, who became known as Mill Girls . They were called "operatives" because they operated the looms and other machinery . </P> <P> The Lowell system, also known as the Waltham - Lowell system, was "unprecedented and revolutionary for its time". Not only was it was faster and more efficient, it was considered more humane than the textile industry in Great Britain by "paying in cash, hiring young adults instead of children, and by offering employment for only a few years and providing educational opportunities to help workers move on to better jobs". </P> <P> For the first time in the United States, these mills combined the textile processes of spinning and weaving under one roof, essentially eliminating the "putting - out system" in favor of mass production of high - quality cloth . It completely revolutionized the textile industry and "eventually became the model for other manufacturing industries" in the United States . </P>

Who opened a textile mill that combined spinning and weaving