Black Friday’s Unlikely History
What is the history behind Black Friday? How long has it existed? Where did it come from?
Read MoreCategory: Massachusetts
Trolley Parks: The Merrimack Valley’s First Amusement Parks
Trolley car companies boosted weekend ridership on their trolley cars with trolley parks. Trolley parks gave people a place to picnic or walk around in nature, away from cities.
Read More1918: Spanish Influenza invades Massachusetts
You could’ve easily missed the signs that Spanish Flu was coming back for a second wave at the end of summer in 1918. In mid-August, New York City had suffered a scare when a Norwegian steamship arrived in port with many suspected cases. Even before the city’s health department confirmed any cases of Spanish Flu […]
Read MoreOld Group Photos: Someone Else’s Ancestors
Maybe you love to stare into the faces of those captured in long-ago photographs and search for a lost image of a long-dead ancestor. Maybe you just like old photos. In our family, we’ve had an old group photograph from 1924 for … well, since it was taken in 1924. The story behind the photograph […]
Read MoreLowell’s Early History, Hidden in Plain Sight.
Where would you find the site of Lowell’s first kindergarten, first day nursery, first night school, and first foray into community education? Where would find one of the city’s few buildings remaining from the 1820s? Would you go to one of the city’s downtown parking garages? Probably not, but that’s just where you’d see all […]
Read MoreHenry David Thoreau, at 200: A Genius Old Sixpence whose Influence still Resonates Today
Whether you’re looking for inspiration for fighting an unjust government, evidence for climate change, or a role model for living a more deliberate life, all those roads can lead to Henry David Thoreau, born 200 years ago on July 12. Born in Concord, Thoreau had Merrimack Valley ties, living several years in Chelmsford as a […]
Read MoreBehind the White Fence: Lowell’s Poor Farm
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 MoreThe Birth of a Chelmsford Landmark
The story of those fritters at Skip’s was also the story of John Kydd, a blacksmith at Lowell’s Boott Mills who wanted a career change 90 years ago.
Read MoreGroton’s Castle of Broken Dreams – Bancroft Castle on Gibbet Hill
As far as hiking trails go in Eastern Massachusetts, Groton’s Gibbet Hill offers an interesting story, as well as spectacular views. Pronounced “jib-bet” and meaning ‘gallows,’ the name for the hill off Groton’s Route 40 comes from another hill in England and was named by Groton’s English settlers when they first came to the area in the 17th […]
Read MoreLike Lazarus, the Rialto Rises from the Verge of Oblivion
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.
Read More