Built on the Backs of Children: Inside the Unsettling Avalon Mansion

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Step into the opulent world of the Avalon Mansion, the magnificent home of the wealthy Ayer family, who built their empire on the suffering of thousands of child workers. Discover the luxurious lifestyle of the Gilded Age and the shocking truth behind the family's fortune.
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Public Domain Photos from: Library of Congress, Architectural Record Volume 34, 1913, U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Lawrence History Center Photograph Collection, Digital Public Library of America online exhibition, Collier's Weekly, March 9. 1912 , Binghamton University, Bain News Service, George Grantham Bain Collection, Digital Commonwealth, Washington Evening Star, Marc N. Belanger, Miami U. Libraries - Digital Collections
CC BY-SA 3.0(creativecommon... from: Wikipedia User: CSZero
Assets from: Envato Elements
Music form Epidemic Sound

Опубликовано:

15 апр 2023

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Комментарии : 193

@tresalamb-5906 Год назад

I remember my dad telling me how he pick cotton during the depression. The sacks filled was longer than he was tall. How he hunted to have something to eat. How they got food from the woods. We've forgotten how to do this.

@kimcarter7567 Год назад

This story should be a movie

@StevenTorrey Год назад

I think American Experience (PBS) has made a program about the woolen mills and the child labor that made them so productive. Another incident in American History is "The Triangle ShirtWast" fire of 1911, that saw the death of some 147 mostly women die. I believe that too is a part of the American Experience programs.

@kimcarter7567 Год назад

Thanks! Will look for it!

@SpanishEclectic Год назад

This sort of thing went on all over the world, and still does in some places. Some of my ancestors and their families worked in the Lace Industry in Nottingham, England, in the mid-1800s. It was a bit of a shock to see the age of my great-grandfather's little brother, who was a Threader (I think it's called), working all day with very dangerous machines when he should have been in school. We love to look at these beautiful houses and appreciate the designs and lifestyles reflected, but more often than not, the wealth that allowed them to be built was made on the backs of the disadvantaged. A stark reality we must factor in. I recall the comments on videos you featured recently, where the owners of the home treated the builders very well, and made huge donations to philanthropic causes. People seemed so happy to learn about it. We can't undo the past, but I appreciate that you include both sides of the conversation. You are a kind person. :)

@111Phoenix777 Год назад

Very well said.

@Automedon2 Год назад

I'm in the US, but my family originated from Brechin, Scotland. In doing ancestry research using the census, I was amazed to see that kids as young as eleven had occupations listed. They were all workers in the linen mills.

@missylearned9821 Год назад

Absolute facts conveyed very well! We want to apply today’s standards to yesteryears and we can’t. We just have to know history and keep from ever returning to similar times.

@joananthony6323 Год назад

Many of my ancestors were Buckinghamshire lacemakers When my grandmother died my grandfather threw all the tatting materials away and said it was slave labour They had to work from dusk to dawn to earn a pittance

@theresebortzfield188 Год назад

Ethics, respect for humanity

@magneticpupful Год назад

I have watched you since WAY back now (my husband died week before last and I’ve been reminiscing) him and I, being a gay couple… we sorta turned the RU-vidrs that we constantly watched our family because you all were there with through so much … and I find myself wanting to say something only realizing you have no idea who we are …. So now I’m sitting here on my birthday and I needed something to occupy my mind so I decided to write this anyhow to let you know that John suddenly died and Joey is trying to manage… thanks for all of your hard work and amazing times you spent entertaining and teaching us!

@valeriefimple1209 Год назад

@uvexme I'm so sorry for you loss, may you find peace and comfort and by the way Happy Birthday. ❤❤

@brandyjean7015 Год назад

Be gentle with yourself, dear Joey.

@ThisHouse Год назад

I am so incredibly sorry for your loss. It's heartbreaking to hear about the passing of your husband, John, and I can't even begin to imagine the pain and grief you're experiencing right now. Please know that your RU-vid family is here to support you through this difficult time. Your message is a testament to the beautiful bond that you and John shared, and the way you two found solace and connection through the content creators you watched together. You may feel like we don't know who you are, but in a way, we do. Our community is made up of people like you, who find joy, comfort, and a sense of belonging through our videos. And that's what makes it so special. It's an honor to have been a part of your lives and to have brought some happiness into your days. As you continue to navigate this new chapter, I hope that our videos can provide a source of strength and distraction when you need it most. Remember that you are not alone, and we are here for you. Wishing you all the love and strength on your birthday and in the days ahead. May John's memory continue to live on in your heart and in the moments you shared together. - Ken & Dalton

@daradoe9415 Год назад

@@ThisHouse Beautifully said.

@Maliceless100 Год назад

Sorry for your loss, and agreed on the value of these videos.

@joecesa Год назад

This is history that needs to be talked about more often, not less. Within the last month, Arkansas just eased child labor laws for children so they can work more dangerous jobs including mining! Really, in 2023. We clearly learned nothing whatsoever. Perhaps I am foolish but I never believed that being a capitalist required being reprehensible. You can be successful and fair at the same time. I'm reading a book about the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire in NYC in 1911 currently, and again I see that we're not learning from history. I love the architecture and the stories of the owners and architects, and I like to hear the dark side, too. I want the full story. Thanks again for doing a great job.

@barbarabobb3406 Год назад

So did Iowa. Shameful.

@cassandraralph5906 Год назад

This kind of child slavery still continues today in India, Asia, and the Middle East. What an awful way to treat the workers at these woolen mills. Thank you for this most interesting and educational video.

@michaelplunkett8059 Год назад

Uighur children in China.

@LotsofLisa Год назад

Absolutely correct. If you count the (underage) human trafficking, every country including the US is guilty.

@cloudchaser907 Год назад

Also in Kentucky

@whyaminotoriginal Год назад

And arkansas...

@roncross1945 Год назад

Greed continues to plague mankind. Thanks for this look back into history. Sadly, there are still places in the world where child labor is being used. We should do everything we can to stop it.

@dreamcatcher5502 Год назад

Not much has changed except kids work in fast food now. I did. I worked 40 hours a week at age 16, 17 and 18 all while in high school. I left that and joined the Air Force. I became an Air traffic Controller and after 4 years in the A.F. worked for the FAA and retired at age 38. I made a promise to myself that I would get out of work slavery. And I did !!! How dare that Mayor issue orders to kill anyone who tries to leave the town. All of them should have gone to prison. So much for the "LAND OF THE FREE" This is a story of how the rich are the most UNAMERICAN citizens !!! 🤑🤬

@anncrow3340 Год назад

It's the real story of the American labor movement, every hint of union talk was met with violence, even murder. It's why union are more important than ever, and why big corps will always use whatever means they can to control workers. JS

@furtim1 Год назад

The concept of "child labor" didn't exist until this time period. Why? Because for the first time there were families, common families, who didn't need their children to work to survive. Up until this point in history, it was normal for everyone to work all their lives from beginning to end. Children as young as 2 or 3 were working 40+ hours on farms or hunting tribes in centuries prior, they just weren't paid in cash - but on the increased chances of survival through the next season. "Retirement" didn't mean anything to any but the wealthiest families until the late 18th century. As bad as this was, what allowed it to end was all the wealth generated by "work slavery", fossil fuels, capitalism, and liberty (when it was defended, rather than crushed, by governments).

@Silknswift Год назад

I very much appreciate your effort to place the houses within a broader historical context. How mansions were staffed and where resources to support this lifestyle came from is very well done especially in such a short amount of time devoted to each property. Bravo

@davidbrims5825 Год назад

There was a Sean Connery film ‘The Molly Maguires’ about this subject, how bosses mistreated their workers, paid them a pittance.

@SpanishEclectic Год назад

I was just thinking about the Molly Maguires. The original story was written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and is one of the longer Sherlock Holmes mysteries. It's called The Valley of Fear.

@LJB103 Год назад

Excellent video. Frederick also built a still extant mansion on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston that was designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany (the only one that Tiffany worked on from it's inception, not just a reworking of an existing home). His son-in-law was General George Patton.

@SpanishEclectic Год назад

This is really interesting! It was really a small world back then, for people who moved in those circles.

@LJB103 Год назад

@@SpanishEclectic It wasn't that the world was small but that the social circles were.

@joshuamontgomery4992 Год назад

Huron mountain club, he is a big part of upper Michigan history. The club is super secretive and acts like just a club but is a major part of American history and Federal government. League of nations/u.n., CIA, FBI, Manhattan project.

@mstsp9546 Год назад

It was a beautiful house. I have lived close to the textile mills set on the Merrimack River, they are really beautiful, but their history is similar to the story. Some of the windows are even painted black. Eventually, laws were put in place, such as Worker's Comp. Interesting story and a part of American history.

@danielintheantipodes6741 Год назад

Ghastly story. It is not unlike the story of King Leopold who grew fabulously rich from the Belgian Congo. Thank you for the video. Tragic story.

@johnmiller8975 Год назад

I went to university in the American south during the early '80s. many of my friends had worked in the mills as children (12-14), which means of course that the child labor laws were being circumvented as late as the mid '70s

@HORSEYANIME2024 Год назад

Pls continue to upload more new videos on historical mansions

@lauriehall1249 Год назад

I love seeing ALL the homes, and hearing about their history is a lesson about this country, good, bad, and otherwise. While we are still pulling ourselves out of some dark times, I look forward to learning more on This House.

@honestmom1958 Год назад

Thank you for the sharing the history of this beautiful house. How compassionate, though, when children' mandatory hours were cut from 56 hours to 54 hours a week.😢

@lifeslittlesweets Год назад

Ken, I grew up in Lawrence, MA, on Tower Hill, there are a lot of historic, old homes there. So glad you are talking about some of the history of that city. I moved away when I went to college (I went to Architecture School, and was influenced by the grand homes and mill town architecture). I remember riding by the big clock tower at the mill every day to go to school. That city has gone through a lot of upheaval over the years but it has a rich history. There are a lot of historic gems (homes, parks, monuments) there and I've wondered about their history of them. I worry a lot of it will be lost to time. For those of us who care about historic preservation, thank you for sharing these stories!

@StamperWendy Год назад

Crazy! We have a town in Massachusetts called Ayer, good grief, now I know why. Thanks, Ken!

@drwindsurf Год назад

I love seeing these beautiful houses and hearing your stories that accompany them. I would like to hear more stories like this one that discusses the true cost of these homes.

@ladyhonor822 Год назад

It's an architectural icon❤🎉🎉🎉 You couldn't pay me to live there, I'm just HAPPY. RIP Angels AMEN 🙏. Philadelphia USA 🇺🇲☦️🙏😇❤️

@ladyhonor822 Год назад

RN CCRN THAT'S ALL

@heatherjones6647 Год назад

Should be shown to every US lawmaker rolling back child labour laws in the current state sessions. For shame.

@rosezingleman5007 Год назад

Also to those whose EVs rely on forced child labor in Africa mining for cobalt etc for the ridiculous disposable batteries.

@kgreene460 Год назад

I was just about to comment the exact same thing, thank you for saying it for me. The fact is, illegal use of child labor is on the rise in the U.S. and a large percentage of them are in extremely dangerous agricultural sectors working with heavy equipment in farming and meat processing.

@kenj.8897 Год назад

They are too concerned with Trump derangement syndrome . That all the left possess

@rosezingleman5007 Год назад

@@kgreene460Yes, it’s estimated that 60% or more of the children crossing the southern border will be trafficked for labor of one sort or another-but most typically the kind of work which makes easy abortions very necessary. We are naive if we think this is unusual. What went on in the mills of Mass looks like a convent school by comparison.

@carolynnixon7095 Год назад

Seeing this would only encourage those lawmakers who want to go back to the 'good old days'.

@ropeburnsrussell Год назад

Hard to believe that happened in the 20th century, in Massachusetts no less.

@kays749 Год назад

I always mourn the destruction of historical buildings no matter who built them.

@111Phoenix777 Год назад

Very interesting story, and history lesson. I do love these old homes/mansions, but those were definitely different times. Hard to imagine someone having the artistic aesthetic to appreciate fine architecture and landscaping being such a horrible person, and caring so little about his or her fellow men and women, but I'm sure that was the norm back then.

@monkeygraborange Год назад

Don’t kid yourself, that’s still the norm today.

@johnmiller8975 Год назад

Not so different and don't think it's confined to "overseas" either. Ever wonder where all those migrant kids disappeared to on the border during the Trump administration? THOUSANDS "lost".

@barbaracarpenter1260 Год назад

It's the norm today sadly

@kareemsmith1632 Год назад

This hits close to home. My dad and his siblings were raised in the city pant town of Woodward, Alabama. I’m sure the Woodward family that owned the company and town had some palatial situation while the works toiled away.

@edwardzarnowski5558 Год назад

Same thing happened in the coal mines in Northeast Pa

@Automedon2 Год назад

At the beginning, I thought you might be talking about Holyoke Mass. They used a lot of workers from Ireland and Quebec, Canada. Many of the old mill buildings are still standing - empty now, of course.

@firecracker3911 Год назад

Infuriating! Thanks for sharing, even though hard to accept.

@jennyjatkola7094 Год назад

It's amazing how much you can learn about history & architecture in 6½ min. Thanks for all the research & an interesting topic.

@conneaness Год назад

That was an interesting 🤨 story. Thanks you for sharing your report. ☮️

@ginibauer2088 Год назад

Thank you Ken. I love your videos & the history lesson with them. Keep up the good work my friend!!!😊

@kissmet4154 Год назад

Thank you for this, my parents are from Lawrence and I grew up in Methuen (1 town over). I thought I recognized the clock tower. I did not know the story of Mr Ayer

@susiefairfield7218 Год назад

UVEXME 🎈🍰 Happy Birthday So glad you're apart of the This House Family ❤

@anncrow3340 Год назад

I really enjoy your videos, you've got such a great voice! Thanks

@NelsonClick Год назад

Sad story with a beautiful house.

@chesterthawkins7510 Год назад

A grand house but his employees had to work under appalling conditions.

@edgarsnake2857 Год назад

Most of the world's great fortunes were developed through exploitation of workers. Not all, but most. I hadn't heard about the Ayers, yet company towns, unsafe work places, child labor, low wages, brutal working hours, etc., etc, were and are cornerstones for building extreme wealth. Thanks for another fascinating video.

@janetmaurer2888 Год назад

LOVE your channel! I subscribe to alot of channels but yours is one, of the very few, that I also hit the notification button. I loved this video. You very tactfully exposed greed while being respectful to the victim workers.

@maizie9454 Год назад

you can make the argument that a great part of the industrial revolution was built on the backs of children. Andrew Carnegie started as a bobbin boy, when he was just a boy. as to the house, it's gorgeous.

@StevenTorrey Год назад

While the owners were becoming millionaires , the workers were making $7/week (or less) or $364/year.

@UncaDave Год назад

Maybe now they are shoveling coal into the devil’s furnaces. Amazing how so many industrialists of this time had no feeling at all for their workers especially in the coal industry too.

@anthonypopola5773 Год назад

Interesting story Ken, one small point, Calvert Vaux died in 1895 and Frederick Law Olmsted passed away in 1903…. Keep up the good work!

@ThisHouse Год назад

I can’t believe I didn’t catch that. I just reread through a portion of my source material and double checked the site plan. It appears the landscape was designed by the duo for the prior mansion which was torn down to build Avalon. My apologies for the oversight. I will submit a correction to the video. Cheers, Ken

@paco7992 Год назад

Does this town still exist? Is the company still in business in that town? Good episode. All these industrialists have some shady pasts, but it's not the mansions' fault. I'd still happily live there!

@becky4728 Год назад

Exactly! Not the house’s fault. That includes murder.

@lawrenceflynn2447 Год назад

Thank you Ken…great video ❤

@rickyt3961 Год назад

so sad… thanks for sharing

@arthurthompson8676 Год назад

I knew this house well, and was lucky enough to crawl over it. It was quite a place!!

@FirstLast-dy4gt 8 месяцев назад

I’ve been looking for someone who knew about it… can you give us details about its history to you? I can’t seem to find a single recentish photo

@DowntownChris Год назад

Good riddance is right. Despicable people. As beautiful as it was I would have liked to have been there as the wrecking ball swung.

@VideoDotGoogleDotCom Год назад

This _really_ reminds me of the film The Haunting (1999, starring Lili Taylor, Liam Neeson, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Owen Wilson), which itself is loosely based on the 1959 novel Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. In the film, there is a huge mansion that had been built for a textile mogul that abused children in his factories. He had also burnt some of the children in his large fireplace - not sure if the same applies to the Avalon Mansion... Thank you for another interesting video. It's too bad the mansion was torn down, regardless of its history. They don't make 'em like that anymore. BTW, subscribed now. I thought I already had, but apparently not.

@claudiamann7111 Год назад

Thanks so much for another interesting video. What a shame that it was torn down.

@Imlookingover007 Год назад

Short but gripping

@cmj2072 Год назад

I feel this is the world we live in

@katb.6132 Год назад

I live right next to Lawrence. This was fascinating.

@tresalamb-5906 Год назад

Children began working as soon as they were big enough. Families were desperately poor & needed all income possible. Wages were terrible then. Owners took advantage of desperate people.

@pauldc1066 Год назад

Important history...thank you

@birdsndog5932 Год назад

I think of this every time I am in a European castle - all the lesser privileged persons with no power whose exploited labor and shortened lives made this possible

@katgrey6239 Год назад

Very interesting 👌

@missunderstood8028 Год назад

I'm born in 1972 and remember my grandparents still having hard feelings about the wool company.

@Justice4547 Год назад

They’ve always used children to pass laws. Most of those kids went to work with their mothers, which was allowed in those days. They might’ve helped their mothers some but it wasn’t their job. Kids played together while the moms worked. I wanted to work to make money when I was 14. Children shouldn’t be forced to work or have to work long hours but a little work never hurt anybody.

@cjmiller2037 Год назад

56 to 54, oh how nice of them.

@PeterCombs Год назад

As an aside, You should have mentioned Ayer's daughter married General Patton.

@monkeygraborange Год назад

Massachusetts has always turned a blind eye to working people as long as there’s a profit to be made.

@arslongavitabrevis5136 Год назад

It is not Massachusetts only; let's be realistic, is the whole world because greed is part of human nature. In some eras and some countries things were/are worse than in others.

@hewitc Год назад

Nothing unusual about Massachusetts. Slavery in the south was far worse.

@jeanberard2078 Год назад

Glad is turned into a neighborhood.

@elizabethmcglothlin5406 Год назад

Dear heavens!

@SeanSalas Год назад

Does anyone know where exactly this building was at in prides crossing? Seems like a very upscale neighborhood

@suzstokes5382 11 месяцев назад

How tragic. I am angered!

@kbrown5218 Год назад

Times were horrible back then. The money made to show off is a sin. Big cities with industry used children in various trades. And a lot of them were Irish. Today's federal govmint is doing it again but this time from unaccompanied minors who are crossing the border. Who's making money off those children? Mansions like this needed to be torn down as they represented greed.

@suetaitporcaro2481 6 месяцев назад

the mills were in my hometown of Lawrence, Massachusetts....but where was the Avalon Mansion?

@365kps2 Год назад

Crazy how so many old mansions are torn down for new subdivisions. History gone. Sad for awful conditions. 6:35

@janedee6488 Год назад

Horrible treatment of the kids. Glad they tore it down.

@michaelwalter3399 Год назад

This is why we had unions to defend workers' rights. Unfortunately, we now have free trade policies, which allow manufacturers to send jobs to Third- and Fourth World countries, where these conditions persist to this day.

@MB-nn3jw Год назад

As much as I like these old houses, and wish more could have been preserved, in this instance, perhaps it is fitting it was demolished to make way for a residential estate. Allowing more people to live in their own homes. Good video, nonetheless.

@janbentzen6814 Год назад

Here l thought it had something to do with Catalina Island where there town of Avalon is.

@lkmsl Год назад

Ah the good old days ! When work ethics were enforced !

@esteban1487 Год назад

Again, the first rule: Be born into a wealthy family.

@joshuamontgomery4992 Год назад

They supplied uniforms for the military I believe it was up to or they the Korean war. Guy started Svalbard coal company in Norway. When Michigan got the U.P. he dredged a canal and got a crap load of land, they started the Huron mountain club. They still have companies up here in upper Michigan. His partner was John Munro longyear, that guy has a interesting history and house story. The Huron mountain club has lots of secrets. U.N., CIA, FBI, the guy who redesigned d.c, Manhattan project. Pretty sure but not positive that David Ayer the director and writer for fast and furious and training day is related. Channing Tatum was at the club like 8 years ago.

@stpat7614 Год назад

Those who work in the factories should own the factories.

@nafisahg.6509 Год назад

Did he say the “house” was torn down and an entire neighborhood fit in its footprint???

@johnbernasco3772 Год назад

Checkered floor

@cjmiller2037 Год назад

It's still happening in China at Nike, and many Companies owned by American million/billionaires, sport "stars", etc. Sickening.

@doreeseglassel1057 Год назад

It's still happening here

@ABerCul 4 месяца назад

Big ben is the name of the biggest bell in the clock tower not the name of the clock tower. Name is The Elizabeth Tower.

@awofstlkr8500 Год назад

Greed begets greed!

@skpjoecoursegold366 Год назад

the truth..........................should be known.

@lordnelson2.069 Год назад

Sounds like mining for EV batteries today

@YALPE Год назад

4:47 full time from 56 to 54 hrs a week 😫😫😫😫😫😫😫

@jws1948ja Год назад

I hope there is a hell for that family.

@RickNelsonMn Год назад

I'm not a fan of developers owing to massive gentrification and greedy rent increases. There's not enough quality housing for the near poor, let alone the poor! Losing that mansion as a historical landmark is part of that gentrification. Keeping it as a museum isn't thought highly of anymore, which again shares the mindset of powerful developers, who are an upper class of their own. Now too often including massive foreign investment or even control by proxy.

@asylumlover 4 месяца назад

ARE YOU SURE THESE WERE NOT "FORCED LABORERS"????????????? HOW COULD A THING LIKE THIS HAVE HAPPENED IN AMERICA????????????????? WHERE WERE THE PROSECUTIONS AND PRISON SENTENCES????????????????

@andrewyoung2796 Год назад

Did the mayor end up in prison?

@SMtWalkerS Год назад

Wow, terrible! This story is repeated over and over. I recall visiting a place in Montana, where a mining company flat-our murdered a large group of striking miners. I appreciate your history lessons; fascinating..

@Joy-TheLazyCatLady Год назад

They tore it down? I'm not into spending that kind of money on crap I don't need but I respect history. The architecture is amazing. Do we really need another neighborhood? Think of all the homeless you could house in that mansion. Oh well. Everything happens for a reason, I suppose.

@whereswaldo5740 Год назад

Returning I’m afraid.

@andyross4856 4 месяца назад

What horrible people

@jillatherton4660 Год назад

👍

@michellel564 Год назад

The American woolen company I hope is gone. ??

@jamesslick4790 Год назад

The opposite of George Westinghouse in every way.

@jrgnc1 Год назад

Greedy rich treating labourers like slaves.

@cjhoward409 Год назад

14-18 year olds are not children. Up until 50 years ago or so, kids always worked. My grandparents both went to work at age 9 to help support their families. We need a little of this now. “Kids” today (teens) are too soft and lazy and expect everything handed to them on a silver platter. I’m 57… I was babysitting at age 11 and working fast food at age 16. No biggie.

@kenj.8897 Год назад

14 isn't too young to work

@StevenTorrey Год назад

Not at a job that could get the child killed or maimed for life.

@joshuamontgomery4992 Год назад

Volunteered habitat for humanity 40 hours a week during summer I was 12 & 13, first job I was 14 building houses for a construction company. $4.75 hour. Must been 1997

@StevenTorrey Год назад

@@joshuamontgomery4992 Read the part again for the first time about a child being killed or maimed for life!

@hewitc Год назад

56 hour week means no school. Or anything else.