Formation of Advanced Technology Districts: New England Textile Machinery and Firearms, 1790–1820

Alternative explanations for the formation of industrial districts stress, on the one hand, that the industrial growth process produces characteristics of the district (labor skills, interindustrial linkages) and, on the other hand, that characteristics of the regions influence the types of industries that emerge. The formation of the cotton textile machinery and firearms industrial districts in New England between 1790 and 1820 demonstrates the importance of initial conditions, including general education and skills levels, a growing economy, prosperous people, and social networks that communicate information and support cooperative ventures. The bridges across social networks of personnel and firms provide the means to acquire new technology. Internal social cohesion within a network supports exchanges, but even more critical to long-term growth of an industrial district are the bridges across social networks that have minimal redundancy. Those types of contacts maximize the diversity of information and open new possibilities for contacts. The cotton textile machinery and firearms industries in New England emerged in a prosperous agricultural economy with a deep set of skills in metalworking. Those preexisting metalworking skills supported growth and technological change in the new industries. At the same time, the new industries added to the richness of metalworking skills and the social networks that tied personnel and firms.