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Early factories transformed the rural landscape. Factory owners preferred to locate their facilities in rural areas, where land was cheaper and more plentiful. Rivers and streams provided the waterpower upon which early factories depended to power their machinery. Factories put even small towns on the map. They also created new communities where none existed previously. This bird's eye view of Turners Falls, Massachusetts, reveals that it was a planned industrial community from its founding in 1867. Note the way planners laid out the roads in a grid-like pattern. The John Russell Cutlery Company moved from Greenfield, Massachusetts to Turners Falls in 1870. Note the proximity of the facility to the river.

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