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Lowell is a city in the U.S. Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Located in Middlesex County, Lowell (along with Cambridge) was a county seat until Massachusetts disbanded county government in 1999.[3] With an estimated population of 111,640 in 2018,[2] it was the fourth-largest city in Massachusetts as of the last census and is estimated to be the fifth-largest as of 2018, and the second-largest in the Boston metropolitan statistical area.[4] The city is also part of a smaller Massachusetts statistical area called Greater Lowell, as well as New England's Merrimack Valley region.

Incorporated in 1826 to serve as a mill town, Lowell was named after Francis Cabot Lowell, a local figure in the Industrial Revolution. The city became known as the cradle of the American Industrial Revolution, due to a large series of textile mills and factories. Many of the Lowell's historic manufacturing sites were later preserved by the National Park Service to create Lowell National Historical Park.[5] During the Cambodian genocide, the city took in an influx of refugees, leading to a Cambodia Town and America's second-largest Cambodian-American population.[6]

Lowell is home to two institutions of higher education.

Contents

1 History

2 Zoning, development and the Massachusetts Miracle

3 Geography

3.1 Physical

3.2 Neighborhoods

4 Demographics

4.1 Crime

4.1.1 Statistics

4.1.2 History of anti-crime efforts

5 Education

5.1 Colleges and universities

5.2 Primary and secondary schools

5.2.1 Public schools

5.2.2 Private schools

6 Libraries

6.1 Municipal

6.1.1 Pollard Memorial Library / Lowell City Library

6.2 University

6.2.1 Lydon Library

6.2.2 O'Leary Library

6.2.3 Center for Lowell History

7 Infrastructure

7.1 Transportation

7.2 Hospitals

8 Arts and culture

8.1 Monthly Calendar of Events and Entertainment

8.2 Annual events

8.3 Points of interest

8.4 Culture

8.5 Museums and public galleries

8.6 Interactive and live performances

9 Sports, Teams and Athletic Venues

9.1 Boxing

9.2 Teams

9.3 Athletic Venues

10 Government

10.1 Voting Rights Lawsuit

11 Media

11.1 Newspaper

11.2 Radio

11.3 Cable

12 Businesses started and/or products invented in Lowell

12.1 Current

12.2 Historical

12.3 Lowell Banks and Financial Institutions (current)

12.4 Lowell Banks and Financial Institutions (closed)

13 Notable people

14 Twin towns and sister cities

15 Honors

16 See also

17 References

18 Further reading

18.1 Primary sources

19 External links

History

The Massachusetts Mill at the confluence of the Merrimack and Concord Rivers; across the Cox Bridge are the Boott Mills; in the upper left is the historic Lowell Sun building with its iconic sign on top.

Main articles: History of Lowell, Massachusetts and Timeline of Lowell, Massachusetts

Founded in the 1820s as a planned manufacturing center for textiles, Lowell is located along the rapids of the Merrimack River, 25 miles northwest of Boston in what was once the farming community of East Chelmsford, Massachusetts. The so-called Boston Associates, including Nathan Appleton and Patrick Tracy Jackson of the Boston Manufacturing Company, named the new mill town after their visionary leader, Francis Cabot Lowell,[7] who had died five years before its 1823 incorporation. As Lowell's population grew, it acquired land from neighboring towns, and diversified into a full-fledged urban center. Many of the men who composed the labor force for constructing the canals and factories had immigrated from Ireland, escaping the poverty and Potato Famines of the 1830s and 1840s. The mill workers, young single women called Mill Girls, generally came from the farm families of New England.

Saint Anne's Episcopal Church, built 1824

By the 1850s, Lowell had the largest industrial complex in the United States. The textile industry wove cotton produced in the South. In 1860, there were more cotton spindles in Lowell than in all eleven states combined that would form the Confederacy.[8] Yet the city did not simply finish raw materials produced in the American South, but rather became involved in the South in another way, too. Many of the coarse cottons produced in Lowell eventually returned to the South to clothe enslaved people, and, according to historian Sven Beckert, "'Lowell' became the generic term slaves used to describe coarse cottons."[9] The city continued to thrive as a major industrial center during the 19th century, attracting more migrant workers and immigrants to its mills. Next were the Catholic Germans, followed by a large influx of French Canadians during the 1870s and 1880s. Later waves of immigrants came to work in Lowell and settled in ethnic neighborhoods, with the city's population reaching almost 50% foreign-born by 1900.[10] By the time World War I broke out in Europe, the city had reached its economic and population peak of over 110,000 people.

The Mill Cities' manufacturing base declined as companies began to relocate to the South in the 1920s.[10] The city fell into hard times, and was even referred to as a "depressed industrial desert" by Harper's Magazine in 1931, as the Great Depression worsened. At this time, more than one-third of its population was "on relief", as only three of its major textile corporations remained active.[10] Several years later, the mills were reactivated, making parachutes and other military necessities for the World War II effort. However, this economic boost was short-lived and the post-war years saw the last textile plants close.

Mills sat abandoned after industry left the city in the early twentieth century.

Zoning, development and the Massachusetts Miracle

In the 1970s, Lowell became part of the Massachusetts Miracle, being the headquarters of Wang Laboratories. At the same time, Lowell became home to thousands of new immigrants, many from Cambodia, following the genocide at the hands of the Khmer Rouge. The city continued to rebound, but this time, focusing more on culture. The former mill district along the river was partially restored and became part of the Lowell National Historical Park, founded in the late 1970s.

Former mill agent's house

Although Wang went bankrupt in 1992, the city continued its cultural focus by hosting the nation's largest free folk festival, the Lowell Folk Festival, as well as many other cultural events. This effort began to attract other companies and families back to the urban center. Additional historic manufacturing and commercial buildings were adapted as residential units and office space. By the 1990s, Lowell had built a new ballpark and arena, which became home to two minor league sports teams, the Lowell Devils and Lowell Spinners. The city also began to have a larger student population. The University of Massachusetts Lowell and Middlesex Community College expanded their programs and enrollment. During the period of time when Lowell was part of the Massachusetts Miracle, the Lowell City Development Authority created a Comprehensive Master Plan which included recommendations for zoning adaptations within the city. The city's original zoning code was adopted in 1926 and was significantly revised in 1966 and 2004, with changes included to respond to concerns about overdevelopment.[11]

In 2002, in lieu of updating the Comprehensive Master Plan, more broad changes were recommended so that the land use and development would be consistent with the current master plan. The most significant revision to the 1966 zoning code is the adoption of an inclusion of a transect-based zoning code and some aspects of a form-based code style of zoning that emphasizes urban design elements as a means to ensure that infill development will respect the character of the neighborhood or district in question. By 2004, the recommended zoning changes were unanimously adopted by the City Council and despite numerous changes to the 2004 Zoning Code, it remains the basic framework for resolving zoning issues in Lowell to this day.[12]

Pawtucket Canal

The Hamilton Canal District (HCD) is the first district in Lowell in which regulation and development is defined by Form-Based Code (HCD-FBC) and legislated by its own guiding framework consistent to the HCD Master Plan.[13] The HCD is a major redevelopment project that comprises 13-acres of vacant, underutilized land in downtown Lowell abutting former industrial mills. Trinity Financial was elected as the Master Developer to recreate this district with a vision of making a mixed-use neighborhood. Development plans included establishing the HCD as a gateway to downtown Lowell and enhanced connectivity to Gallagher Terminal.[14][15]

Geography

Aerial view of LeLacheur Park and the UMass-Lowell campus

Lowell in 1876

Lowell is located at 42°38′22″N 71°18′53″W (42.639444, -71.314722).[16] According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 14.5 square miles (38 km2).13.8 square miles (35.7 km²) of it is land and 0.8 square miles (2.1 km2) of it (5.23%) is water.

Physical

Central Lowell's canal system (1975) The city limits extend in all directions from this central core.

Lowell is located at the confluence of the Merrimack and Concord rivers. The Pawtucket Falls, a mile-long set of rapids with a total drop in elevation of 32 feet, ends where the two rivers meet. At the top of the falls is the Pawtucket Dam, designed to turn the upper Merrimack into a millpond, diverted through Lowell's extensive canal system.

The Merrimack, which flows southerly from Franklin, New Hampshire to Lowell, makes a northeasterly turn there before emptying into the Atlantic Ocean at Newburyport, Massachusetts, approximately 40 miles downriver from Lowell. It is believed that in prior ages, the Merrimack continued south from Lowell to empty into the ocean somewhere near Boston. The glacial deposits that redirected the flow of the river left the drumlins that dot the city, most notably, Fort Hill in the Belvidere neighborhood. Other large hills in Lowell include Lynde Hill, also in Belvidere, and Christian Hill, in the easternmost part of Centralville at the Dracut town line.

The Concord, or Musketaquid (its original name), forms from the confluence of the Assabet and Sudbury rivers at Concord, Massachusetts. This river flows north into the city, and the area around the confluence with the Merrimack was known as Wamesit. Like the Merrimack, the Concord, although a much smaller river, has many waterfalls and rapids that served as power sources for early industrial purposes, some well before the founding of Lowell. Immediately after the Concord joins the Merrimack, the Merrimack descends another ten feet in Hunt's Falls.

There is a ninety-degree bend in the Merrimack partway down the Pawtucket Falls. At this point, the river briefly widens and shallows. Here, Beaver Brook enters from the north, separating the City's two northern neighborhoods, Pawtucketville and Centralville. Entering the Concord River from the southwest is River Meadow, or Hale's Brook. This brook flows largely in a man-made channel, as the Lowell Connector was built along it. Both of these minor streams have limited industrial histories as well.

The bordering towns (clockwise from north) are Dracut, Tewksbury, Billerica, Chelmsford, and Tyngsborough. The border with Billerica is a point in the middle of the Concord River where Lowell and Billerica meet Tewksbury and Chelmsford.

The ten communities designated part of the Lowell Metropolitan area by the 2000 US Census are Billerica, Chelmsford, Dracut, Dunstable, Groton, Lowell, Pepperell, Tewksbury, Tyngsborough, and Westford, and Pelham, NH. See Greater Lowell.

Neighborhoods

The Acre neighborhood

Lowell has eight distinct neighborhoods: the Acre, Back Central, Belvidere, Centralville, Downtown, Highlands, Pawtucketville, and South Lowell.[17] The city also has five ZIP codes: four are geographically distinct general ZIP codes, and one (01853) is for post-office boxes only.

The Centralville neighborhood, ZIP Code 01850, is the northeastern section of the city, north of the Merrimack River and east of Beaver Brook. Christian Hill is the section of Centralville east of Bridge Street.

The Highlands, ZIP Code 01851, is the most populated neighborhood, with almost a quarter of the city residing here. It is located in the southwestern section of the city, bordered to the east by the Lowell Connector and to the north by the railroad. Lowellians further distinguish the sections of the Highlands as the Upper Highlands and the Lower Highlands, the latter being the area closer to downtown. Middlesex Village, Tyler Park, and Drum Hill are in this ZIP Code. The Upper Highlands also includes the University of Massachusetts Lowell, South Campus (Fine Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences, Health Sciences & Education).

Downtown, Belvidere, Back Central, and South Lowell make up the 01852 ZIP Code, and are the southeastern sections of the city (south of the Merrimack River and southeast of the Lowell Connector). Belvidere is the mostly residential area south of the Merrimack River, east of the Concord River, and north of the Lowell and Lawrence railroad. Belvidere Hill is a Historic District along Fairmount Street. Lower Belvidere is the section west of Nesmith Street. Back Central is an urban area south of downtown, toward the mouth of River Meadow Brook. South Lowell is the area south of the railroad and east of the Concord River. Other neighborhoods in this ZIP Code are Ayers City, Bleachery, Chapel Hill, the Grove, Oaklands, Riverside Park, Swede Village, and Wigginville. Although the use of the names of these smaller neighborhoods has been in decline in the past decades, there has been recently a reemergence of their use. Downtown Lowell includes the UMass Lowell East Campus which consists of university housing, recreation facilities, research and the university's sports arena, as well as the Middlesex Community College.

Pawtucketville, the University of Massachusetts Lowell, North Campus; and the Acre make up the 01854 ZIP Code. The Northwestern portion of the city includes the neighborhood where Jack Kerouac resided around the area of University Avenue (previously known as Moody Street). The North Campus of UMass Lowell (Colleges of Engineering, Sciences and Business) is in Pawtucketville near the Lowell General Hospital. The older parts of the neighborhood are around University Avenue and Mammoth Road, whereas the newer parts are around Varnum Avenue. Middle and elementary schools for this area include Wang Middle School, Pawtucketville Memorial, McAvinnue Elementary School, and private school Ste Jeanne d'Arc. Pawtucketville is the official entrance to the Lowell-Dracut-Tyngsborough State Forest, the site of an historic Native American tribe, and in the age of the Industrial Revolution was a prominent source of granite used in canals and factory foundations.[18]

Demographics

Historical population

Year Pop. ±%

1830 6,474 —

1840 20,796 +221.2%

1850 33,383 +60.5%

1860 36,827 +10.3%

1870 40,928 +11.1%

1880 59,475 +45.3%

1890 77,696 +30.6%

1900 94,969 +22.2%

1910 106,294 +11.9%

1920 112,759 +6.1%

1930 100,234 −11.1%

1940 101,389 +1.2%

1950 97,249 −4.1%

1960 92,107 −5.3%

1970 94,239 +2.3%

1980 92,418 −1.9%

1990 103,439 +11.9%

2000 105,167 +1.7%

2010 106,519 +1.3%

2018 111,670 +4.8%

* = population estimate.

Source: United States Census records and Population Estimates Program data.[19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29]

Source:

U.S. Decennial Census[30]

Population Density: According to the 2010 Census,[31] there were 106,519 people living in the city. The population density was 7,842.1 people per square mile (2,948.8/km²). There were 41,431 housing units at an average density of 2,865.5 per square mile (1,106.7/km²).

Household Size: 2010, there were 38,470 households, and 23,707 families living in Lowell; the average household size was 2.66 and the average family size was 3.31. Of those households, 34.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 35.9% were married couples living together, 14.7% had a female householder with no husband present, 38.4% were non-families, 29.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.[31]

Age Distributions: Lowell has also experienced a significant increase in the number of residents between the ages of 50-69 while the percentages of residents under the age of 15 and over the age of 70 decreased.[32] In 2010 the city's population had a median age of 32.6.[33] The age distribution was 23.7% of the population under the age of 18, 13.5% from 18 to 24, 29.4% from 25 to 44, 23.3% from 45 to 64, and 10.1% who were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females, there were 98.6 males; while for every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.6 males.[33]

Median Income: for a household in the city was $51,714, according to the American Community Survey 5-year estimate ending in 2012.[34] The median income for a family was $55,852. Males had a median income of $44,739 versus $35,472 for females. The per capita income for the city was $22,730. About 15.2% of families and 17.5% of individuals were below the poverty line, including 24.5% of those under age 18 and 13.2% of those age 65 or over.[35]

Racial Makeup: In 2010, the ethnic diversity of the city was 60.3% White (49.3% Non-Hispanic White[36]), 20.2% Asian American (12.5% Cambodian, 2.0% Indian, 1.7% Vietnamese, 1.4% Laotian), 6.8% African American, 0.3% Native American, 8.8% from other races, 3.6% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 17.3% of the population. The largest Hispanic group was those of Puerto Rican ancestry, comprising 11.3% of the population.

African Immigrants: In 2010 there were about 6,000 people of recent African heritage living in Lowell making up nearly the entire African American population of the city.[37]

Cambodian-American Population: In 2010, Lowell had the highest proportion of residents of Cambodian origin of any place in the United States, at 12.5% of the population. The Government of Cambodia had opened up its third U.S. Consular Office in Lowell, on April 27, 2009, with Sovann Ou as current advisor to the Cambodian Embassy.[38] The other consular offices are in Long Beach, California, and Seattle, Washington, which also have large Cambodian communities.

Crime

Police station in the city's Highlands neighborhood

The city is primarily policed and protected by the Lowell Police Department, the University Police: UMass Lowell, and the National Park Service Police. The Massachusetts State Police and Middlesex County Sheriff's Office also work with local law enforcement to set up driver checkpoints for alcohol awareness. With the growth of UMass Lowell and the impact of its faculty and students in areas of scientific research, engineering, and nursing, the city has seen rapid gentrification of several neighborhoods.

Statistics

According to current FBI Crime Data Analysis, Lowell is the 46th most dangerous city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, for all sizes,[39] the violent crime rate for Lowell was less than half of the violent crime rate in Boston, with no murders compared to 49 in Boston. Lowell's crime rate has dropped tremendously since the 1990s, and while the likelihood of becoming a victim of violent crime in Massachusetts are 1 in 265, the odds in Lowell are 1 in 289, making Lowell (approximately) 10% safer than the rest of the state, on average.[40] Lowell's violent crime rate is comparable to Honolulu, HI and is less than one-quarter that of Washington, D.C.[41]

In 2017, you were more likely to be a crime victim in Cambridge, MA than in Lowell (due to the high incidence of property crimes in Cambridge).[40][42]

History of anti-crime efforts

In the 1990s, Lowell had been locally notorious for being a place of high drug trafficking and gang activity, and was the setting for a real life documentary, High on Crack Street: Lost Lives in Lowell. In the years from 1994 to 1999, crime dropped 50 percent, the highest rate of decrease for any city in America with over 100,000 residents.

Within one generation, by 2009, Lowell was ranked as the 139th most dangerous city of over 75,000 residents in the United States, out of 393 communities. Out of Massachusetts cities, nine are larger than 75,000 residents, and Lowell was fifth.[43] For comparison Lowell was still rated safer than Boston (104 of 393), Providence, RI (123), Springfield (51), Lynn (120), Fall River (103), and New Bedford (85), but rated more dangerous than Cambridge (303), Newton (388), Quincy (312), and Worcester (175).[43]

Education

Colleges and universities

With a rapidly growing student population, Lowell has been considered an emerging college town.[44] With approximately 12,000 students at Middlesex Community College (MCC) and 18,500 students at University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell is currently home to more than 30,000 undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students, and the location of some of the top research laboratories in Massachusetts. UMass Lowell is the second largest state university and fifth largest university in Massachusetts, while MCC is the second largest Associate's college in Massachusetts.[45]

Middlesex Community College

University of Massachusetts Lowell

Recreation Center at UMass Lowell

Primary and secondary schools

Public schools

Lowell Public Schools operates district public schools. Lowell High School is the district public school. Non-district public schools include Greater Lowell Technical High School, Lowell Middlesex Academy Charter School,[46] Lowell Community Charter Public School,[47][48] and Lowell Collegiate Charter School.[49]

Lowell Public Schools is an above average, public school district located in Lowell, MA. It has 14,247 students in grades PK, K-12 with a student-teacher ratio of 14 to 1.[50]

Lowell High School students have the opportunity to take Advanced Placement® course work and exams. The AP® participation rate at Lowell High is 29 percent. The student body makeup is 50 percent male and 50 percent female, and the total minority enrollment is 68 percent with a student-teacher ratio of 14 to 1.[51]

Private schools

School Name Grades No. of Students Teacher/Student Ratio

Community Christian Academy K-8 185 1:9

Hellenic American Academy K-8 135 1:12

Immaculate Conception School K-8 324 1:17

Lowell Catholic High School

Riverside School (Non-sectarian SPED) 4-11 25 1:5

St. Louis School K-8 457 1:19

St. Michael Elementary School K-8 407 1:16

St. Patrick School K-8 181 1:15

St. Stanislaus School[52] K-8 124 1:12

Ste Jeanne d'Arc School, est. 1910[53] K-8 375 1:17

St. Margaret School (CLOSED) K-8 1:20

Franco-American School, est. 1963 (CLOSED)[54] K-8 1:13

Libraries

Pollard Memorial Library in August 2011

Municipal

Pollard Memorial Library / Lowell City Library

Main article: Pollard Memorial Library

The first Lowell public library was established in 1844 with 3,500 volumes, and was set up in the first floor of the Old City Hall, 226 Merrimack St. In 1872, the expanding collection was relocated down the street to the Hosford Building[55] at 134 Merrimack St. In 1890–1891, the City of Lowell hired local Architect Frederick W. Stickney to design the new Lowell City Library, known as "Memorial Hall, in honor of the city's men who lost their lives in the American Civil War.[56] In 1981, the library was renamed the Pollard Memorial Library in memory of the late Mayor Samuel S. Pollard. And, in the mid-2000s the century-old National Historic building underwent a major $8.5m renovation.[57] The city also expanded the library system to include the Senior Center Branch, located in the City of Lowell Senior Center.[58]

In fiscal year 2008, the city of Lowell spent 0.36% ($975,845) of its budget on its public libraries, which houses 236,000 volumes, and is a part of the Merrimack Valley Library Consortium. Currently, circulation of materials averages around 250,000 annually, with approximately one-third deriving from the children's collection.[56][59] In fiscal year 2009, Lowell spent 0.35% ($885,377) of its budget on the library—some $8 per person.[60]

As of 2012, the Pollard Library purchases access for its patrons to databases owned by: EBSCO Industries; Gale, of Cengage Learning; Heritage Archives, Inc.; New England Historic Genealogical Society; OverDrive, Inc.; ProQuest; and World Trade Press.[61]

University

Lydon Library

The Lydon Library is a part of the University of Massachusetts Lowell system, and is located on the North Campus. The building is named in honor of President Martin J. Lydon, whose vision expanded and renamed the college during his tenure in the 1950s and 1960s.[62] Its current collection concentrates on the sciences, engineering, business management, social sciences, humanities, and health.[63]

O'Leary Library

The O'Leary Library is a part of the University of Massachusetts Lowell system, and is located on the South Campus. The building is named in honor of former History Professor and then President O'Leary, whose vision helped merge the Lowell colleges during his tenure in the 1970s and 1980s.[64] Its current collection concentrates on music and art.[65]

Center for Lowell History

The Center for Lowell History [special collections and archives] is a part of the University of Massachusetts Lowell system, established in 1971 to assure the safekeeping, preservation, and availability for study and research of materials in unique subject areas, particularly those related to the Greater Lowell Area and the University of Massachusetts Lowell. Located downtown in the Patrick J. Mogan Cultural Center at 40 French Street, the Center is committed to the design and implementation of historical, educational, and cultural programs that link the university and the community in developing an economically strong and multi-culturally rich region. Its current collections and archives focus on historic and contemporary issues of Lowell (including: industrialization, textile technology, immigration, social history, regional history, labor history, women's history, and environmental history).[66]

Infrastructure

Transportation

A bus of the Lowell Regional Transit Authority

Lowell can be reached by automobile from Interstate 495, U.S. Route 3, the Lowell Connector, and Massachusetts Routes: 3A, 38, 110, 113, and 133, all of which run through the city; Route 133 begins at the spot where Routes 110 and 38 branch off just south of the Merrimack River.[67] There are six bridges crossing the Merrimack River in Lowell, and four crossing the Concord River (not including the two for I-495).

For public transit, Lowell is served by the Lowell Regional Transit Authority (LRTA), which provides fixed route bus services and paratransit services to the city and surrounding area. OurBus has daily bus service to Worcester and New York City. Other service includes Merrimack Vallery Regional Transfer Authority (MVRTA) Route 41 to Lawrence, and the Sunshine Travel bus to Mohegan Sun.

Lowell is also served by the MBTA's commuter rail Lowell Line, with several departures daily to and from Boston's North Station.

The Lowell National Historical Park provides a free streetcar shuttle between its various sites in the city center, using track formerly used to provide freight access to the city's mills. An expansion to expand the system to 6.9 miles was planned but rejected in 2016.[68]

In addition to several car rental agencies, Lowell has four (4) Zipcar rental locations convenient to Gallagher Terminal, the Downtown, and the three (3) University campuses (North, South and East).

Hospitals

Lowell General Hospital

Saints Medical Center

Arts and culture

The Boott Cotton Mill Museum and Trolley

Monthly Calendar of Events and Entertainment

Click Link to See Current Events and Entertainment

Click Link to See Weekly Live Music Events

Click Link for Tsongas Center Events

Annual events

February: Winterfest - celebration of winter. (Also, Lowell's Birthday)

March: Lowell Women's Week[69] - A week of events recognizing women's achievements, struggles, and contributions to the Lowell community past and present. Irish Cultural Week - A celebration of Irish history and hulture within the Greater Lowell community.

April: Lowell Film Festival[70]- Showcases documentary and feature-length films focusing on a variety of topics of interest to the Greater Lowell community and beyond

May: Doors Open Lowell[71] - A celebration of preservation, architecture, and design where many historic buildings that normally have limited public access are open for viewing

June: African Festival[72] - A celebration of the various African communities in and around Lowell

July: Lowell Folk Festival - A three-day free folk music and traditional arts festival attended by on average 250,000 people on the last weekend in July

August: Lowell Southeast Asian Water Festival[73] - celebrates Southeast Asian culture

September: Lowell Kinetic Sculpture Race[74] - From the crossroads of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics comes a spectacular racing spectacle!

October: Lowell Celebrates Kerouac Festival[75] - A celebration of the works of Jack Kerouac and his roots in the city of Lowell

October: Bay State Marathon and half marathon

The National Park Boat Tour

Points of interest

Among the many tourist attractions, Lowell also currently has 39 places on the National Register of Historic Places including many buildings and structures as part of the Lowell National Historical Park.

"A Mother's Hands" Armenian Genocide memorial outside of Lowell City Hall.

In the mid-1980s, Kerouac Park was placed in downtown.[76]

Lowell National Historical Park: Maintains Lowell's history as an early manufacturing and immigrant city. Exhibits include weave rooms, a waterpower exhibit, and paths along 5.6 miles of largely restored canals.

Lowell-Dracut-Tyngsboro State Forest: Hiking, biking, and cross-country skiing trails in an urban state forest

University of Massachusetts Lowell: State University

University of Massachusetts Lowell Radiation Laboratory: The site of a small nuclear reactor at the school

Vandenberg Esplanade: Walking, biking, swimming, and picnicking park along the banks of the Merrimack River. Contains the Sampas Pavilion.

Western Avenue Studios:[77] Largest complex of artists studios in the United States at 122 Western Avenue.

Jack Kerouac's birthplace: In the Centralville section of the city at 9 Lupine Road.

Armenian Genocide Memorial: "A Mother's Hands" Monument at Lowell City Hall.

Bette Davis's birthplace: In the Highlands section of the city at 22 Chester Street.

Rosalind Elias's birthplace: In the Acre neighborhood at 144 School Street .

Lowell Cemetery: burial site of many of Lowell's wealthy industrialists from the Victorian era, as well as several U.S. Congressmen, a Massachusetts Governor, John McFarland, and a U.S. Senator. 77 Knapp Avenue.

Edson Cemetery: burial site of Jack Kerouac and William Preston Phelps. Location of a monument dedicated to Chief Passaconaway. 1375 Gorham Street.

The Acre: Lowell's gateway neighborhood where waves of immigrants have established their communities.

Yorick Building: Former home of the gentlemen's club the "Yorick Club", currently a restaurant & function facility (Cobblestones).

Little Cambodia: In 2010, the city began an effort to make it a tourist destination.[78]

Culture

Lowell Memorial Auditorium

In the early years of the 1840s when the population quickly exceeded 20,000, Lowell became very active as a cultural center, with the construction of the Lowell Museum, the Mechanics Hall, as well as the new City Hall used for art exhibits, lectures, and for the performing arts. The Lowell Museum was lost in a devastating fire in the early morning of January 31, 1856,[79] but was quickly rehoused in a new location. The Lowell Art Association was founded in 1876, and the new Opera House was built in 1889.[80] Continuing to inspire and entertain, Lowell currently has a plethora of artistic exhibitions and performances throughout a wide range of venues in the city:

The Boott Cotton Mill and Museum

Lowell in the America the Beautiful quarter series

Museums and public galleries

119 Gallery[81]

Arts League of Lowell & All Gallery[82]

The American Textile History Museum (closed in 2016)[83]

Ayer Lofts[84] Artist Live-work Lofts

The Boott Cotton Mills Museum: Lowell National Historic Park

Brush Art Gallery and Studios[85]

Gallery Z & Artist Cooperative[86]

The Lowell Gallery[87]

Mill No. 5 - an eclectic indoor mall/streetscape featuring artisanal foods and hand-made items, live music and The Luna Theater, and independent film venue.[88]

National Streetcar Museum[89]

The New England Quilt Museum[90]

Patrick J. Mogan Cultural Center: Lowell National Historic Park

Whistler House Museum of Art - Art museum in birthplace of James McNeill Whistler.

Western Avenue Studios (The Loading Dock Galleries)[91] - A converted mill with over 300 working artists and musicians.

UMass Lowell Galleries[92]

Interactive and live performances

Angkor Dance Troupe[93] - Cambodian classical and folk dance company and youth program[94]

Arts League of Lowell[95]

Center for Lowell History, University of Massachusetts Lowell[96] - local history library and archive

The Gentlemen Songsters[97] The Lowell Chapter of The Barbershop Harmony Society -Causing Harmony In The Merrimack Valley.

The Hi Hat - acoustic performance stage located at Mill No. 5.

The Luna Theater - Independent film theater opened in 2014 and located inside Mill No. 5.

Lowell Memorial Auditorium - Mid-sized venue for live performances.

Lowell Philharmonic Orchestra[98] - Community orchestra presenting free concerts and offering youth programs

Lowell Poetry Network[99] - A network of area poets and appreciators of poetry who host readings, receptions, and open mics.

Lowell Rocks[100] - Lowell nightlife and entertainment web site promoting performances at local bars and clubs

Lowell Summer Music Series[101] - Boarding House Park

Merrimack Repertory Theater - Professional equity theater

Play by Player's Theatre Company - critically acclaimed community theater

RRRecords - Internationally known record label and store

Sampas Pavilion - Outdoor amphitheater on the banks of the Merrimack River

Standing Room Only Players - musical review troupe

UMass Lowell Department of Music Performances[102]

The United Teen Equality Center[103] A by teens, for teens youth center promoting peace, positivity and empowerment for young people in Lowell.

UnchARTed[104] - Gallery, studios, cafe, bar, and performance space in downtown Lowell

Sports, Teams and Athletic Venues

Ramalho's West End Gym trains the city's boxers.

Boxing

Boxing has formed an important part of Lowell's working-class culture. The city's auditorium hosts the annual New England Golden Gloves tournament, which featured fighters such as Rocky Marciano, Sugar Ray Leonard, and Marvin Hagler. Micky Ward and Dicky Eklund both began their careers in Lowell, the subject of the 2010 film The Fighter.[105] Arthur Ramahlo's West End Gym is where many of the city's boxers train.[106]

Teams

University of Massachusetts Lowell River Hawks, NCAA Division I Hockey, Soccer, Basketball, Baseball, Softball, Track & Field, Field Hockey, Volleyball

Lowell Spinners - Class A short-season professional baseball affiliate of the Boston Red Sox

Lowell All-Americans - NECBL (Collegiate Summer Baseball)

New England Riptide - National Pro Fastpitch League (Major League Softball)

Lowell Nor'easter[107] - Semi-Professional football team (New England Football League)

Greater Lowell United FC - Semi-Pro soccer team (NPSL)[108][109]

Tsongas Center at UMass Lowell

LeLacheur Park, home of the Lowell Spinners baseball team

Athletic Venues

Edward A. LeLacheur Park Baseball Stadium, shared by Lowell Spinners and the University of Massachusetts Lowell

Lowell Memorial Auditorium - performance and boxing venue.

Tsongas Center at UMass Lowell - multi-use sports and concert venue (6500 seats hockey, 7800 concerts)- the University of Massachusetts Lowell River Hawks, and various arena shows. On April 1, 2006, the arena held the 2006 World Curling Championships.

Cawley Memorial Stadium- Stadium for Lowell High School and other sporting events around the Merrimack Valley. Uses FieldTurf. Former home of the MICCA Marching Band Championship Finals

Stoklosa Alumni Field - Baseball stadium, used by Lowell All-Americans (4,000 seats)

Costello Athletic Center indoor arena on campus of the University of Massachusetts Lowell

UMass Lowell Bellgarde Boathouse[110] used as a rowing and kayaking center for UMass Lowell and the greater Lowell area

Long Meadow Golf Club[111] - Private 9 hole Golf course in the Belvidere neighborhood

Mount Pleasant Golf Club[112] - Private 9 hole Golf course in the Highlands neighborhood

Government

Lowell City Council (as of 1/3/18)[113]

See also: List of mayors of Lowell, Massachusetts

Lowell has a Plan-E council-manager government.[114] There are nine city councilors and six school committee members, all elected by plurality-at-large in a non-partisan election. In 1957, Lowell voters repealed a single-transferable-vote system, which had been in place since 1943.[115]

The City Council chooses one of its members as mayor, and another as vice-mayor. The role of the mayor is ceremonial, but s/he runs the weekly meetings under the guidance of the City Clerk. In addition, the mayor serves as the Chairperson of the School Committee.

The administrative head of the city government is the City Manager, who is responsible for all day-to-day operations, functioning within the guidelines of City Council policy, and is hired by and serves indefinitely at the pleasure of at least 5 of 9 City Councilors. As of April 2017, the City Manager is Eileen M. Donghue replacing Kevin J. Murphy.[116][117]

Lowell is represented in the Massachusetts General Court by State Representatives Thomas Golden, Jr. (D- 16th Middlesex), David Nangle (D- 17th Middlesex), Rady Mom (D- 18th Middlesex), and by State Senator Edward J. Kennedy (1st Middlesex) who is also a City Councilor. Federally, the city is part of Massachusetts's 3rd congressional district and represented by Lori Trahan (D). The state's senior member of the United States Senate is Elizabeth Warren (D). The state's junior member of the United States Senate is Ed Markey (D).

In July 2012, Lowell youth led a nationally reported campaign to gain voting privileges for 17-year-olds in local elections; it would have been the first municipality to do so.[118][119] The 'Vote 17' campaign was supported by national researchers; its goals were to increase voter turnout, create lifelong civic habits, and increase youth input in local matters.[120] The effort was led by youth at the United Teen Equality Center in downtown Lowell.[103]

Lowell City Hall

Registered Voters and Party Enrollment as of February 15, 2012[121]

Party Number of Voters Percentage

Democratic 20,420 40.48%

Republican 4,542 9.00%

Unenrolled 25,110 49.78%

Other 374 0.74%

Total 50,446 100%

Voting Rights Lawsuit

Lowell is the last city in Massachusetts to use a fully plurality-at-large system due to its impact in diluting minority representation on its city council and school committee. With majority bloc voting these two committees were all-white, and had been mostly so for decades, despite the fact that the city’s minority population had grown to 49%.[122]

On May 18, 2017, the Boston Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Economic Justice filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of Latino and Asian-American voters, charging Lowell with violating the Voting Rights Act.[122]

On May 29, 2019, a settlement agreement was reached that laid out six options for Lowell voters to review:[123]

A single-member district-based system, with nine city council districts including at least two majority-minority districts, and three school committee districts electing two members each, with at least one being a majority-minority district.

A hybrid system that combines single-member district-based seats with at-large seats:

Hybrid 8-1 will have eight single-member districts (at least two majority-minority) and one at-large seat for the city council, and four single-member districts (at least one majority-minority) and two at-large seats for the school committee;

Hybrid 8-3 is the same as 8-1 but expanding the city council by two at-large seats;

Hybrid 7-2 will have seven single-member districts (at least two majority-minority) and two at-large seats for the city council, and seven single-member districts (at least two majority-minority) for the school committee (increasing its size by one);

An at-large system of nine city council seats and six school committee seats, elected using single transferable vote — a return to the system in place between 1943 and 1957.

A three-district system elected using single transferable vote, with three members from each elected to the city council and two members from each elected to the school committee.

Two options will be selected by the city council and will be put before the voters to choose in a non-binding referendum in November 2019, with a final decision by the city council in December 2019. The new system must be put in place by the November 2021 municipal elections.

Media

The Sun is the city's daily newspaper.

Newspaper

The Sun, headquartered in downtown Lowell, is a major daily newspaper serving Greater Lowell and southern New Hampshire. The newspaper had an average daily circulation of about 42,900 copies in 2011.[124] Continuing a trend of concentration of newspaper ownership, The Sun was sold to newspaper conglomerate MediaNews Group in 1997 after 119 years of family ownership.[125]

Radio

WCAP AM 980, talk radio

WLLH AM 1400 Spanish Tropical

WUML FM 91.5, UMass Lowell-owned station

WCRB FM 99.5, Classical music, licensed to Lowell

Cable

Lowell Telecommunication Corporation[126] (LTC) - A community media and technology center

Businesses started and/or products invented in Lowell

Current

The Massachusetts Medical Device Development Center (M2D2) Biotechnology Lab offers 11,000 square feet of fully equipped, shared lab facilities that can house 50 researchers and also includes plenty of co-working and meeting spaces.[127]

The UMASS Lowell Innovation Hub[128] (iHUB) offer entrepreneurs, startups, technology companies and established manufacturing partners 24-hour access to all the amenities they need to get their businesses up and running, such as:

dedicated office space

rapid prototype development equipment and services

open co-working and collaboration space, and

meeting and conferencing space.

Historical

Cash Carriers: William Stickney Lamson of Lowell patented this system in 1881.

CVS/pharmacy: originally named the Consumer Value Store was founded in Lowell in 1963.

Father John's Medicine[129] a cough medicine that was first formulated in the United States in a Lowell pharmacy in 1855.

Francis Turbine - A highly efficient water-powered turbine

Fred C. Church Insurance (est. 1865)[130]

Market Basket - Chain of approximately 70 grocery stores in Massachusetts and New Hampshire

Moxie - the first mass-produced soft drink in the U.S.

Telephone numbers, 1879, Lowell is the first U.S. city to have phone numbers, two years after Alexander Graham Bell demonstrates his telephone in Lowell.[131]

Stuarts Department Stores

Wang Laboratories - Massachusetts Miracle computer company

Lowell Banks and Financial Institutions (current)

In 1854, The Lowell Five Cent Savings Bank was founded as the first and only bank in the city that would accept a deposit of less than $1.00. It is the 73rd oldest Bank in America and has been in continuous operation since founding.[132][133]

In 1885, the Lowell Co-operative Bank was founded. Now Sage Bank, it is one of the oldest still functioning banks in Massachusetts.[134][135]

In 1892, Washington Savings Bank made its first home in Lowell, MA and has continuously served the Greater Lowell area and communities.[136][137]

In 1989, Enterprise Bank and Trust was founded in Lowell and is the largest financial institution.[138]

In 1911, Jeanne D'Arc Credit Union was founded in Lowell and is the 5th largest Credit Union in Massachusetts.[139][140]

In 1922, Align Credit Union was founded in Lowell.[141]

In 1936, the Lowell Firefighters Credit Union was founded in Lowell.[142]

In 1937, the Lowell Municipal Employees FCU was founded in Lowell.[143]

In 1958, Mills42 Federal Credit Union was founded in Lowell.[144]

Lowell Banks and Financial Institutions (closed)

Lowell Bank and Trust Company (1970–1983; now part of Bank of America)[145]

Lowell Institution for Savings (1829–1991; now part of TD Banknorth N.A.)[146]

Butler Bank (1901–2010; now part of People's United Bank)[147][148]

19th century

1822

Merrimack Manufacturing Company incorporated.[1]

Hugh Cummiskley leads 30 Irishmen up the Middlesex Canal starting in Charleston, Mass to Pawtucket falls in Chelmsford, Ma[2]

1824

St. Anne's Church organized.[3]

Lowell Daily Journal and Courier begins publication.[4]

1825 - Middlesex Mechanic Association,[5] Hamilton Manufacturing Company,[3]and Mechanic Phalanx established.[6]

1826

Town of Lowell established from Chelmsford land.[7]

First Baptist Church and First Universalist Church organized.[3]

Merrimack Journal newspaper in publication.[8]

Central Bridge opens.[9]

1827 - First Methodist Episcopal Church organized.[3]

1828 - Appleton Company, Lowell Bank, and Lowell Manufacturing Company incorporated.[3]

1829

Lowell Institution for Savings incorporated.[3]

Lowell Fire Department established.[9]

1830

Lawrence Manufacturing Company, Middlesex Company, Suffolk Manufacturing Company, and Tremont Mills incorporated.[3]

Appleton Street Church, South Congregational Church, and Worthen Street Baptist Church established.[3]

Town Hall built.[10]

Population: 6,474.[11]

1831

First Roman Catholic Church organized.[3]

Railroad Bank incorporated.[3]

1832 - Lowell Bleachery incorporated.[3]

1833 - Police Court established.[12]

1834

Women's labor strike.[13]

First Freewill Baptist Church organized.[3]

Lowell Advertiser and Lowell Patriot newspapers begin publication.[4][8]

Lowell Circulating Library in business.[14]

James Abbott McNeill Whistler born.

1835

Boston and Lowell Railroad begins operating.[4]

Boott Cotton Mills incorporated.[3]

1836

City of Lowell incorporated.[15]

Factory Girls' Association,[13] Dispensary,[6] Lowell Temperance Society,[6] and Second Universalist Parish[9] established.

1838

Nashua and Lowell Railroad begins operating.[4]

County jail built.[10]

1839

Massachusetts Cotton Mills incorporated.[9]

Middlesex Horticultural Society[9] and Lowell Medical Association[16] founded.

1840

Hospital Association[6] and Lowell Museum established.

Lowell Offering begins publication.

Population: 20,796.[11]

1841

Lowell Cemetery established.

Vox Populi newspaper begins publication.[4]

1843 - First Wesleyan Methodist Church[3]and Missionary Association established.[4]

1844 - City Library,[14] Lowell Female Labor Reform Association,[17] and New Jerusalem Swedenborgian Church established.[3]

1845 - Lowell Machine Shop incorporated.[3]

1846

Lowell and Lawrence Railroad incorporated.[4]

Jefferson Bancroft becomes mayor.[9]

1847 - June: U.S. president Polk visits Lowell.[18]

1848 - Francis floodgate[1] and Colburn School built.

1850

Lowell Gas Light Company in business.[4]

Salem and Lowell Railroad begins operating.[4]

Middlesex County Law Library founded.[14]

Court-House built.[10]

Population: 33,383.[11]

1851 - Lowell Daily Citizen newspaper begins publication.[4]

1852 - May: Lajos Kossuth visits Lowell.[18]

1853

Belvidere Woollen Manufacturing Company organized.[4]

St. Patrick's Church and Merrimack Street Depot built.[10]

1856 - Jail built.[10]

1857 - Varnum School built.

1863 - High School Association organized.[12]

1864 - Lowell Horse Railroad begins operating.[12]

1865

United States Bunting Company in business.[19]

Wamesit Power Company incorporated.[19]

1867 - St. John's Hospital and Young Men's Christian Association established.[12][20]

1868 - Old Franklin Literary Association[19] and Old Residents' Historical Association organized.[21]

1870 - Coggeshall's Circulating Library in business.[14]

1873 - Young Women's Home established.[19]

1875 - Riding Park, and Club Dramatique established.[19]

1876

Moxie beverage invented.[22]

Lowell Art Association founded.

1882 - Butler School built.

1883

Public Library opens.[10]

Yorick Club active.

1887 - Board of Trade established.[23]

1889 - Opera House built.

1890 - Population: 77,696.[7]

1891 - Lowell General Hospital founded.[24][20]

1893 - Lowell Post Office built.

1894 - Normal School[1] and Middlesex Women's Club[9] founded.

1895 - Middlesex Village School built.[9]

1897 - Lowell Textile School opens.[1]

1898 - Pawtucket Congregational Church built.

20th century

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This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (October 2012)

1900 - Gaity Theatre opens.[25]

1902 - Lowell Historical Society incorporated.[26]

1908 - Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church built.

1910 - Population: 106,294.[7]

1911 - Colonial Theatre opens.[25]

1917 - Demoulas Market (grocery) in business.[27]

1918 - International Institute active.[28]

1922 - Lowell Memorial Auditorium built.

1924 - Commodore Ballroom opens.[9]

1925 - Edith Nourse Rogers becomes U.S. representative for Massachusetts's 5th congressional district.[29]

1927 - Victory Theater opens.[25]

1930 - Post Office built.

1937 - Cawley Memorial Stadium built.

1942 - Lowell Ordnance Plant active.

1946 - New England Golden Gloves boxing tournament begins.[30]

1951

WCAP (AM) radio begins broadcasting.

Monarch Diner in business.

1970 - Lowell Community Health Center established.[1][20]

1974 - Lowell Regional Transit Authority created.

1975

University of Massachusetts Lowell established.

Paul Tsongas becomes U.S. representative for Massachusetts's 5th congressional district.[31]

1976 - Wang Laboratories relocates to Lowell.[32]

1978

Lowell National Historical Park established.[33]

Yorick Club goes bankrupt.

1979

B. Joseph Tully becomes city manager.[34]

Merrimack Regional Theatre active.

1980

Wang headquarters construction begins.[35]

Population: 92,418.[36]

1983 - Lowell Historic Board and Downtown Lowell Historic District established.[37]

1987

Middlesex Community College opens campus in Lowell.

New England Quilt Museum founded.[38]

1989

Glory Buddhist Temple established.[39]

Sister city relationship established with Saint-Dié-des-Vosges, France.

1990

Lowell Folk Festival begins.[40]

Baystate Marathon begins.

1991

Richard Johnson becomes city manager.

University of Massachusetts' Industrial History Center established.[38]

1992 - August: Wang goes bankrupt.[32]

1995

Brian J. Martin becomes city manager.

Chamber of Commerce formed.[41]

1996

Lowell Spinners baseball team founded.

Stoklosa Alumni Field opens.

1997

Showcase Cinema in business.[25]

Merrimack Valley Textile Museum relocated to Lowell.

1998

Edward A. LeLacheur Park and Paul E. Tsongas Center at UMass Lowell open.

Lowell Lock Monsters hockey team formed.

City website online (approximate date).[42][chronology citation needed]

21st century

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This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (October 2012)

2000

John Cox becomes city manager.[43]

String Project (music education) established.[44]

2001

Cultural Organization of Lowell established.[45]

Winterfest begins.

Sister city relationships established with Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, Cambodia.[46]

2006

Bernard Lynch becomes city manager.[47]

Shree Swaminarayan Temple established.[39][48]

Sister city relationship established with Bryansk, Russia.[citation needed]

2007 - Niki Tsongas becomes U.S. representative for Massachusetts's 5th congressional district.[49]

2010

Patrick O. Murphy becomes mayor.[50]

Sister city relationship established with Winneba, Ghana.[citation needed]

Population: 106,519.[51]

2014

July: Fire.[52]

Kevin Murphy becomes city manager.[2]

See also: Lowell mills

Paul Moody

Entrepreneurs and industrialists soon began using Chelmsford as a location for new mills and manufacturing plants. The presence of Pawtucket Falls offered a source of water power that enabled the construction of a sawmill and gristmill in the early 18th century,[14] followed by a fulling mill in 1737.[16] The region's forests made it an attractive area for logging, but necessitated a way of shipping lumber down the river. The Pawtucket Falls made this difficult, as they included a 32-foot drop.[17] In 1792, the Proprietors of Locks and Canals association was formed, and completed a canal to bypass Pawtucket Falls in 1797.[18] This would allow the shipping of lumber and other products to the shipyards at Newburyport. Unfortunately the creation of the Middlesex Canal, which formed a direct route to Boston, severely harmed the Pawtucket Canal's prospects, and it swiftly fell into disuse.[19]

Francis Cabot Lowell, an American businessman and textile merchant, visited Britain in 1810 to investigate their textile machinery. Because British law prohibited the export of the machines, Lowell instead memorized the designs, and on his return helped build a replica. In 1813 he organised the Boston Manufacturing Company and created a cotton mill in Waltham, Massachusetts. This mill was the first one in America to use power looms, and proved so successful that Patrick Jackson (Lowell's successor after his death in 1817) saw a need to open a new plant.[20] Waltham had been chosen due to the power provided by the Charles River, and Jackson chose to use Pawtucket Falls to power the second plant. The creation of the canal did, however, provide Chelmsford with a convenient source of water for manufacturing purposes; a series of small cotton and gunpowder manufacturing businesses sprung up, using the canal as a water power source.[21]

Jackson and others founded the Merrimack Manufacturing Company to open a mill by Pawtucket Falls, breaking ground in 1822 and completing the first run of cotton in 1823.[22] Within two years a need for more mills and machinery became evident, and a series of new canals were dug, allowing for even more manufacturing plants.[23] With a growing population and booming economy, Lowell was finally spun off from Chelmsford. Named after Francis Cabot Lowell, it was officially chartered on March 1, 1826, with a population of 2,500.[24] Within a decade the population jumped from 2,500 to 18,000, and on April 1, 1836, the town of Lowell officially received a charter as a city, granted by the Massachusetts General Court.[25]

City of Lowell

Lowell's canal system - today

Lowell was only the third Massachusetts community to be granted city government, after Boston and Salem. The population at the time was 17,633, and soon, a court, jail, hospital, cemetery, library, and two town commons were established. The first museums and theatres opened around 1840. Lowell also began annexing neighboring areas, including Belvidere from Tewksbury in 1834, and Centralville from Dracut in 1851. Daniel Ayer started the satellite city of Ayer's City in South Lowell in 1847, and in 1874, Pawtucketville and Middlesex Village were annexed from Dracut and Chelmsford respectively, bringing the city close to its present borders.

Father John's Medicine

By 1850, Lowell's population was 33,000, making it the second largest city in Massachusetts and America's largest industrial center. The 5.6 mile long canal system produced 10,000 horsepower, being provided to ten corporations with a total of forty mills. Ten thousand workers used an equal number of looms fed by 320,000 spindles. The mills were producing 50,000 miles of cloth annually. Other industries developed in Lowell as well: The Lowell Machine Shop became independent in 1845, and patent medicine factories like Hood's Sarsaparilla Laboratory and Father John's Medicine opened. Tanneries, a bleachery, and service companies needed by the growing city were established. Moxie, an early soft drink, was invented in Lowell in the 1870s. Around 1880, Lowell became the first city in America to have telephone numbers.

Middlesex Village Marker- Annexed from Chelmsford in 1874.

Lowell continued to be in the forefront of new industrial technology. In 1828, Paul Moody developed an early belt-driven power transfer system to supersede the unreliable gearwork that was utilized at the time. In 1830, Patrick Tracy Jackson commissioned work on the Boston and Lowell Railroad, one of the Oldest railroads in North America. It opened five years later, making the Middlesex Canal obsolete. Soon, lines up the Merrimack to Nashua, downriver to Lawrence, and inland to Groton Junction, today known as Ayer (renamed after Lowell patent medicine tycoon Dr. James Cook Ayer), were constructed.

Uriah A. Boyden installed his first turbine in the Appleton Mill in 1844,[26] which was a major efficiency improvement over the old-fashioned waterwheel. The turbine was improved at Lowell again shortly thereafter by Englishman James B. Francis, chief engineer of Proprietors of Locks and Canals. Francis had begun his career with Locks and Canals working under George Washington Whistler, the father of painter James Abbott McNeill Whistler, and his improved turbine, known as the Francis Turbine, is still used with few changes today.

Francis also designed the Francis Gate, a flood control mechanism that provides a means of sealing the canal system off from the Merrimack River, and completed the canal system by adding the Northern Canal and Moody Street Feeder, both designed to improve efficiency to the entire system. To further improve the amount of year-round, day and night water power Lowell needed, Francis, along with engineers from Lawrence, were involved with The Lake Company, a corporation involved in building dams in the Lakes Region of Central New Hampshire. These dams, constructed and improved mid-century, allowed the cities on the Merrimack River to store and release water from the Merrimack's source, including Lake Winnipesaukee.[27]

In the late 19th century, new technologies changed Lowell. The electric streetcar allowed the city to expand creating new neighborhoods on the outskirts. Tyler Park and Lynde Hill in Belvidere were home to many of Lowell's wealthiest residents, who could now live away from the noisy and polluted downtown industrial area. The prosperous city built a massive new Romanesque city hall made of granite with a clock tower that could be seen from the millyards.

Steam power was first used to supplement the fully developed hydropower sources in Lowell in the 1860s, and by the mid-1870s, it was the dominant energy source. Electricity allowed the mills to run on hydroelectricity, instead of direct-drive hydropower. These improvements allowed Lowell to continue increasing its industrial output with a lesser increase in the number of workers. However, the move away from pure hydropower was leading to Lowell being eclipsed by cities with better locations for the new power sources. For example, in the 50 years after the Civil War, Fall River, Massachusetts and New Bedford, Massachusetts both became larger factory towns than Lowell based on output. The reason was largely because their seaport locations made the importation and exportation of goods and materials, and particularly coal, more economical than the considerably inland, and therefore only accessible by train, Lowell. By 1920, it was being seriously suggested that the Merrimack be dredged from Newburyport to Lowell so that barges could access the city.[28] However, the events of the 1920s ensured that would never happen.

In 1885 was founded the Lowell Co-operative Bank, today Sage Bank, one of the oldest still functioning banks in Massachusetts.[29]

Panorama of the city in 1918

Immigration

Being a booming city with many low-skilled jobs, waves of immigrants came into Lowell to work the mills. The original 30 Irish that came to help build the canals were led by Hugh Cummiskey along the Middlesex canal from Charleston to Pawtucket Falls on foot April 6, 1822. They were met by Kirk Boott and given a pittance for wages. No allowance was made for housing or other provisioning.[30] These were followed by a new group after the Irish Potato Famine, and later Catholic Germans. These Irish were herded onto land that was not under the control of the mills into an area now called "The Acre" - but at that point called "Paddy Camp Lands".[31] Ethnic tensions - sometimes stoked by mill companies seeking to use members of one community as strikebreakers against members of another - were not unheard of, and in the 1840s, the nativist, anti-Catholic American Party (often called the Know-Nothing Party) won elections in Lowell.[32] By the 1850s, industry competition increased as more manufacturing centers were built elsewhere, Lowell's mills employed increasing numbers of immigrant families, and the early "Lowell System" of Yankee women workers living in company boardinghouses was transformed. In its place, large, densely populated ethnic neighborhoods grew around the city, their residents more rooted in their churches, organizations, and communities than the previous era's company boardinghouse dwellers.

Of the many slaves that were shipped to Massachusetts, some of them were said to have been shipped to Lowell.

The American Civil War shut down many of the mills temporarily when they sold off their cotton stockpiles, which had become more valuable than the finished cloth after imports from the South had stopped. Many jobs were lost, but the effect was somewhat mitigated by the number of men serving in the military. Lowell had a small historical place in the war: Many wool Union uniforms were made in Lowell, General Benjamin Franklin Butler was from the city, and members of the Lowell-based Massachusetts Sixth—Ladd, Whitney, Taylor, and Needham—were the first four Union deaths, killed in a riot while passing through Baltimore on their way to Washington, DC. Ladd, Whitney, and later Taylor are buried in front of City Hall under a large obelisk.

After the war, mills returned to life. Recruiters fanned out all over New England for help. New mill hands were often new widows, mothers in single parent families. By August 1865, this source dried up.[33]

New immigrant groups moved into the city. In the 1870s and 1880s, French Canadians began moving into an area which became known as Little Canada. Later French Canadian immigrants included the parents of famed Beat generation writer Jack Kerouac, a native of the city. At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the early 20th century, Greeks moved into the sections of the old Irish Acre. Other immigrant groups came to work in Lowell and settled their own neighborhoods throughout the city. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, approximately 50 percent of Lowell's 110,000 residents were foreign born, coming from many different countries around the world.[34]

Decline

Commuters waiting for a bus, January 1941, at the old main train station, where the Lord Overpass is today.

By the 1920s, the New England textile industry began to shift South and many of Lowell's textile mills began to move or close. Although the South did not have rivers capable of providing the waterpower needed to run the early mills, the advent of steam-powered factories allowed companies to take advantage of the cheaper labor and transportation costs available there. Labor strikes in the North became more frequent, and severe ones like the 1912 Bread and Roses Strike in neighboring Lawrence were driving up costs for investors. Many textile companies changed to a policy of disinvestment, running the mills with no capital improvements until they were no longer capable of producing profit that could be used to build or improve new factories elsewhere. In 1916, the Bigelow Carpet Company, which had previously purchased the Lowell Manufacturing Company, left Lowell. This was the first of the major corporations to move operations to the South or go bankrupt. World War I briefly improved the situation, but from 1926 to 1929, most of the rest of the companies, including the Lowell Machine Shop (which had become the Saco-Lowell Shops) left the city: The Great Depression had come to Lowell early. In 1930, Lowell's population was slightly over 100,000, down from a high of 112,000 a decade earlier. The textile industry employed 8,000 in 1936, it had been 17,000 in 1900. By the onset of World War II, 40% of the city's population was on relief. World War II again briefly helped the economy, since not only did demand for clothing go up, but Lowell was involved in munitions manufacturing. After the war, things cooled again. In 1956, the Boott Mills closed, and after over 130 years, the Merrimack Manufacturing Company closed in 1958.

Bottoming out

View of the former "Mile of Mills" along the Merrimack River. From left to right, the white tower is the former Lowell Sun offices in Kearney Square, below that is Apartments at Massachusetts Mills. At the point where the smaller Concord River joins the Merrimack, these crumbling buildings formerly belonged to the Massachusetts Mills. Heading upriver, crossing the Merrimack is the Bridge Street Bridge, followed by the largely rehabilitated Boott Mills, then on the site where the Merrimack Manufacturing Company once stood are the River Place Towers. The Tsongas Arena is hidden next door, and in the distance, the smokestacks of the former Lawrence and Suffolk Manufacturing Companies.

By the mid-1970s, Lowell's population had fallen to 91,000, and 12% of residents were unemployed. The industrial economy of the city had been reduced to many smaller scale, marginal businesses. The city's infrastructure and buildings were largely over one hundred years old, obsolete and decaying, often abandoned and in foreclosure. Urban renewal demolished many historic structures in a desperate attempt to improve the overall situation in Lowell. In 1939, the Greek Acre was the first district in the nation to face "slum clearance" with Federal Urban Renewal money. In the late 1950s, Little Canada was bulldozed. In 1960, the Merrimack Manufacturing Company's millyard and boardinghouses were demolished to make way for warehouses and public housing projects. Other neighborhoods like Hale-Howard between Thorndike and Chelmsford Streets, and an area between Gorham and South Streets, were cleared as well. Arson became a serious issue, and crime in general rose. Lowell's reputation suffered tremendously.

As the car took over American life after World War II, the downtown, which already was facing problems due to a drop in expendable income, was largely vacated as business moved to suburban shopping malls. The theatres and department stores left, and much smaller enterprises moved in if anything. Many buildings were torn down for parking lots, and many others burned down, and were not replaced. Others had their top floors removed to reduce tax bills and many facades were "modernized" destroying the Victorian character of the downtown. Road widening and other improvements destroyed a row of business next to city hall, as well as the area that has become the Lord Overpass. The construction of the Lowell Connector around 1960 was surprisingly unintrusive for an urban interstate, but that was only because plans to extend it to East Merrimack Street by way of Back Central and the Concord Riverfront were cancelled. Talk began on filling in the canals to make more real estate.

Officials described the city as looking like Europe after World War II. However, the demolition and decay of much of what had made Lowell a vibrant city led some residents to begin thinking about saving the historical structures.

National Park

The Boott Mill complex now converted to a museum.

Main article: Lowell National Historical Park

Lowell, even as far back as the 1860s, was described[35] as a city with little civic pride. At the time, Cowley attributed it to a large percentage of the population being foreign born and therefore having no real roots there. Post its industrial collapse, that sentiment intensified, even if the reasons had changed. Many residents of Lowell viewed the city's industrial history poorly - the factories had abandoned their workers, and now sat empty and in disrepair. However, some city residents, such as educator Patrick J Mogan, viewed the city's history as something that should be preserved and capitalized on. In 1974, Lowell Heritage State Park was founded, and in 1978, Lowell National Historical Park was created as an urban national park, through legislation filed by Lowell native, congressman, and later senator Paul Tsongas. The canal system, many mills, and some commercial structures downtown were saved by the creation of the park and the visitors it brought.

The Massachusetts Miracle brought new jobs and money to the city in the 1980s. Wang Laboratories became a major employer, and built their world headquarters on the edge of the city. After the Vietnam War and the Khmer Rouge rule of Cambodia, many Southeast Asians, particularly Cambodians, moved into the city. Lowell became the largest Cambodian community on the east coast, and second nationally to Long Beach, California.[36] Combined with other immigrant groups, these newcomers brought the city's population back up to six figures. However, this prosperity was short-lived. By 1990, the Massachusetts Miracle was over, Wang had virtually disappeared, and even more of Lowell's long-established businesses failed. Around this time, the last large department store left downtown Lowell, largely blamed on suburban factors.[37]

Modern era

Aside from the National Historical Park, Lowell is a functioning modern city of over 100,000 residents. Numerous initiatives have taken place over the last fifteen years to re-focus the city away from manufacturing, and towards a post-industrial economy.

Community Development

New groups have moved into Lowell's neighborhoods, including Brazilians and Africans,[38][39] continuing Lowell's traditional role as a melting pot.

A project that will redevelop land once held by the Saco-Lowell Shops and the Hamilton and Appleton Mills was underway in 2009.[40] Numerous projects are being undertaken around the city, to beautify and redevelop decaying areas.[41]

Tourism and Entertainment

The Tsongas Center at UMass Lowell and LeLacheur Park were constructed in 1998. Lowell Devils hockey and Lowell Spinners baseball farm teams came to the city. National circuit entertainment is performed at the arena and at the old Lowell Memorial Auditorium. The Lowell Folk Festival, the largest free folk festival in the country, is an annual event.

The National Park has continued to expand; many buildings are still being rehabilitated.

After Massachusetts started offering a tax credit to those who film in the Commonwealth, a few movies have been made in Lowell. The Invention of Lying was released in September 2009, and shortly before, filming on The Fighter, about Lowell boxing legend Micky Ward and his older brother Dicky Eklund, was completed.

Education

The University of Massachusetts Lowell and Middlesex Community College are playing increasingly larger roles in the city. In 2009, UMass Lowell bought up the underutilized Doubletree hotel for use as a dormitory, increasing their presence in the city's downtown.[42]