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There was no Lowell City Council meeting this week, so today’s newsletter contains Part II of my biographical sketches of past mayors of Lowell. Today we start in 1883 with the first mayor of Irish Catholic heritage and go until 1943, with the last mayor elected prior to the city’s…

Time of the End of the Season Part V By Bob Hodge Bob Hodge grew up in Lowell and went on to graduate from Lowell High (1973) and University of Lowell (1990). He was (and still is) one the greatest runners to come out of this region. He’s also a…

Dogs I Have Known By Leo Racicot I didn’t always like dogs. When I was 8 or 9, I was walking through North Common when a big German Shepherd began following me, barking its head off, baring its teeth viciously. It chased me onto a bench where I stood for…

A weekly report on things I’ve read, heard and seen since last Wednesday. Book Review: Isola, by Allegra Goodman. I recall reading a Times review of this book when it was first published last November. It caught my attention. It’s the story of a young French noblewoman was dependent on…

Streetwise – (PIP #108) By Louise Peloquin       Several “peeks into the past” have demonstrated how L’Etoile made use of the tiniest of column spaces. (1)      The following article could have been a dispatch provided by the Associated Press or by France’s oldest news agency, l’Agence Havas, founded in…

The Lowell City Council met on Tuesday, June 16, 2026. The substantive portion of the meeting led off with a motion by Councilor Rita Mericer asking the city manager to provide “a monthly report to the council as to the overtime spending in the fire department.” In speaking on her…

Gates Block Garden By Leo Racicot Every year, I can hardly wait to shake off the ice and snow of winter and head down to Gates Block Garden on Market Street to see what the soil has yielded. Gates Block Garden is an enchanting aerie located at 307 Market Street, sandwiched…

This post originally appeared on this site on June 18, 2023. Juneteenth traces its roots to June 19, 1865, when United States Army General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, to announce the emancipation of enslaved African Americans, a full two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation was…

Living Madly: Making Life “Easier” Won’t Make You Happier By Emilie-Noelle Provost Life can be a grind. Working, meal planning, cooking, grocery shopping, cleaning, laundry, paying bills—all of it wears me out sometimes. Even doing activities I enjoy often requires a fair amount of effort and planning. Hiking in the White…

Visited: Boott Cotton Mills Museum – With out of town guests expressing interest in Lowell’s history, we all headed to the Boott Cotton Mills Museum this week. Admission is $6 for adults and $4 for seniors. A demonstration in the weave room takes place every 30 minutes and lasts for…