Saco-Lowell Shops

The Saco-Lowell Shops (later Saco-Lowell Corporation) was once one of the largest textile machine manufacturers in the United States. It was formed in 1912 with a merger between the Lowell Machine Shop with the Saco-Pettee Machine Company. At its peak in the 1920s, the company had manufacturing facilities in Lowell and Newton, Massachusetts, and Biddeford, Maine. The company maintained their executive office at 77 Franklin Street in Boston, and also had a southern office in Charlotte, North Carolina. During the mid-20th century, Saco-Lowell was one of the "big three" cotton textile machinery builders in New England, along with the Whitin Machine Works and the Draper Corporation. While cotton machinery was the company's mainstay, Saco-Lowell also made machinery for the woolen and silk industries.