It's no secret that Lowell of long ago was more rural, especially in its outskirts - which included the land where Cross Point, Showcase Cinema and Route 3 now sit today. As you drive along Lowell's Route 110 East today (also known as Chelmsford Street), you'll cross into Lowell just before you pass under Route…Read more Behind the White Fence: Lowell’s Poor Farm
Photographs capture a moment in time, a moment that begins evaporating just as soon as the shutter releases. Be it seconds, minutes, years, or decades later, that photograph cannot be recreated, because the moment is gone, replaced with the next, which itself disappears into another.
How you know Lowell's Rialto Building is largely determined by when you grew up. To the oldest among us, the Victorian-era building that has dominated Towers Corner for 140 years is the Rialto Theatre - famous for first trips to the movies, to movies that have long since become classics.
In November 2014, the inspiration came to Mark. He was listening to the 99% Invisible podcast, which was running a story on how the city of Portland, Oregon wanted to redesign its municipal flag. Proponents of the change complained that the city’s flag was, basically, a city seal on a bed sheet. Mark thought about that, and wondered what Lowell’s flag looked like.
An article by Lowell Historical Society Curator Ryan W. Owen appears in the May/June 2016 issue of Merrimack Valley Magazine, which hits Greater Lowell newsstands soon. Lowell has lots to see, and do! Some of Lowell's best history-related points of attraction are featured in the article, A Peek into Lowell's Past. The list includes the downtown…Read more Merrimack Valley Magazine Feature! A Peek into Lowell’s Past
At the Lowell Historical Society, we run across some interesting items in our collection of historical artifacts. Recently, we came across this pocketwatch, dated 1900, with its old-timey reference tag still attached.
At the Lowell Historical Society, we get to see and study some really interesting artifacts, like the wooden stake from the Central Bridge fire of 1882 or the Hi Hat Guy from Lowell's Hi-Hat Rollaway, or even the Box of Cinders from the Pollard's Department Store fire of 1926. A lot of these, we inherited from long…Read more Among the Artifacts: Merrimack Mills Employee Badges from Long Ago
