Industry and Innovation Tours
Come see an evolution of a historic textile mill
The Museum is proud to present THREE different INDUSTRY AND INNOVATION TOUR programs!
FREE TO THE PUBLIC!
INDUSTRY AND INNOVATION TOUR #1
From Bale to Bolt:
The First Integrated Factory
INDUSTRY AND INNOVATION TOUR #2
The Mills Girls:
In Story & Song
INDUSTRY AND INNOVATION TOUR #3
Manufacturing the Modern World:
A Gallery Tour
UPCOMING TOURS:
NEW!
Manufacturing the Modern World: A Gallery Tour
Explore the history of American ingenuity with this new tour, a guided experience that provides an overview of the museum’s collection, highlighting transformative advancements in manufacturing, precision engineering, and industrial technology.
Visitors will learn about include the revolutionary textile machines of the early factory system, the world-class craftsmanship of Waltham watchmaking, and tools and inventions that shaped the modern age.
Curious about the old mill complex by the river?
Discover the history and architecture of the world’s first modern factory, the 1813 Boston Manufacturing Company, which lies right in your own backyard!
Walking Tour
From Bale to Bolt:
The First Integrated Factory
Learn how this maze of buildings developed from a single brick mill—and why that humble mill was a powerhouse of industry and innovation!
Hone your powers of observation as you learn to read the clues that demystify this and other mill sites in every corner of industrial New England.
What:
FREE, 75-minute guided tours with staff members of the Charles River Museum
Where:
Tours begin at the Museum’s Visitor Entrance, on the river side of the building, beneath the Charles River Museum smokestack. Follow signs from Landry Park off of Moody Street or the footbridge behind Embassy parking.
Come learn about the first industrial mill in the United States at the Charles River Museum of Innovation and Industry.
Join us as we address the role of women in industrial America.
The Mill Girls:
In Story and Song
The tour explores the trials and triumphs of mill women who worked in Boston Manufacturing Company and the Boston Associates’ textile mills in Waltham and Lowell, MA. You will hear songs written by the mill women, recorded at a Museum concert performance by historical folk singer Diane Taraz, as well as artifacts and images of the women themselves.
These working women act as a case study for industrialization in America.
Tour length: 45 minute
It is a FREE TOUR which will explore a limited section of our exhibits.
Should you wish to stay and tour the remainder of the Museum, we ask that you please pay our regular admission
