This industrial area of Lowell, located on the Concord River, underwent a major expansion from a more modest millworks in the mid-19th century by Oliver Whipple, a manufacturer of gunpowder.

Whipple was born in Weathersfield, Vermont, in 1794 and in 1815 he followed the Connecticut River downstream to learn gunpowder manufacturing at the Laflin mill in Southwick, Massachusetts.

As the Laflin brothers moved their gunpowder manufacturing operations elsewhere, Whipple moved to east in 1818 to manage a gunpowder mill built by Moses Hale on River Meadow Brook in East Chelmsford upstream of its confluence with the Concord River.

Whipple undertook the construction of a canal along the Concord River to provide power for a number of mills he erected in the area, consulting with engineer Loammi Baldwin Jr. on the matter.

[2] The area was further developed in the second half of the 19th century by Benjamin Butler's Wamesit Power Company, which acquired most of Whipple's properties and water rights.