How Many Girls Lived In Lowell Boarding Houses?
Typically 30 to 40 young women lived together in a boardinghouse. The first floor usually contained kitchen, dining room, and the keeper’s quarters. Upstairs bedrooms accommodated four to eight women, commonly sleeping two in a double bed. What was a female boarding house? Boarding houses were viewed as “brick-and-mortar chastity belts” for young unmarried women, …
