RichardHowe.com – Voices from Lowell & Beyond

“That is what matters most”

“That is what matters most” – (PIP #97)

By Louise Peloquin

Over the past four weeks, our “peeks into the past” have focussed on Lowell’s centennial.

The following “PIP” shows Lowell officials putting final touches to the city’s hundredth birthday party, the March 1 afternoon program and an example of a local business advertisement.

 The editorial below highlights the importance of transmitting to schoolchildren a love of history and a profound respect for all the diligent, tireless, and, alas, sometimes overlooked workers who so greatly contributed to fashioning the city. It underlines the importance of cultivating a “patriotic spirit” and nurturing “fond recollections” of the place called home.

L’Etoile’s team demonstrated the special bond with the city they chose to love and to serve. That is precisely why front pages and headlines prioritized local news.

As Lowell celebrates its bicentennial this year, may everyone everywhere with “a Lowell connection” be inspired by this simple editorial.

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L’Etoile – February 27. 1926 editorial

THE CENTENNIAL

 Without donning the splendor and solemnity that some had wished for, it is nevertheless certain that Lowell’s centennial will not go unnoticed. And it remains a memorable event if indeed, as the City Council has so often repeated, our finances do not allow doing more.

     Under the circumstances, it was especially important to give our schoolchildren the opportunity to participate in the celebration. At the very start of their planning, the Centennial Committee included this aspect into the program.

     Like all self-respecting cities, ours should instill into the children the utmost respect for those whose work, perseverance and energy contributed to make Lowell what it is now. The “canal builders”, referred to lately with a certain contempt, possessed noble qualities to be recognized and honored. And what better occasion to do so than on next Monday’s anniversary?

     Once again, if it is really impossible to find within the City Hall coffers enough money to celebrate Lowell’s centennial with great pomp and circumstance, may our sincerity, our fond recollections and our patriotic spirit largely compensate the real or imagined absence of funds.

     After all, that is what matters most.

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L’Etoile – February 27, 1926 front page

EVERYTHING IS READY FOR MONDAY’S FETE

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The official program of Monday’s events is announced – A celebration like Lowell has rarely seen – Symphony orchestra of 45 instruments and a grand choir of 400 voices – Bleachers in the hall.

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AN ENORMOUS CAKE ILLUMINATED WITH 100 CANDLES ON STAGE

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     After a six-hour session yesterday, the Centennial Committee directors announced the details of next Monday’s official program. It is sure to be one of the most magnificent commemorative celebrations that Lowell has ever seen. The program will honor the generosity of the person who made it all possible, the late Hapgood Wright, that good Lowellian whose portrait will be on the program distributed to attendees.

     A general focus on the evening ball tends to make us forget the afternoon ceremony. The program we are publishing here will be a revelation for many. Among the afternoon’s highlights is a choir of 400 voices and a concert performed by Boston Symphony Orchestra musicians.

     Arthur C. Spalding, president of the committee who organized the choir, said that Lowell will hear what it has never heard before. Mr. Spalding was filled with enthusiasm at the idea of an unprecedented musical triumph. The heart of the choir is composed of quartets from Lowell churches completed by the Masonic Choir, former members of the Lowell Choral Society and individual singers.

     Two stages have been built. An eighteen-inch platform directly facing the actual stage, will seat guests. Then, the day’s speakers will be seated on another, higher platform directly below the stage, just above the special guests.

     Still slightly higher, the symphony orchestra will play on the second special platform while the choir will be on the permanent stage behind. The general visual effet will be that of a grand staircase where the governor’s aide-de-camp uniform and the gala attire will stand out.

     Arrangements for radio broadcasting were minutely prepared. A monitor will be installed in the rear of the hall for A.F. Edes’s program.

     The directors inform the public that almost half of the hall will be open to the public without tickets. Doors will open on time. Ticket holders will use the main entrance. As clearly indicated on each ticket, at 1:45, vacant seats will be left for those without tickets.

     Regarding the ceremony, several banquets are being organized for special guests and centennial directors. Afternoon guests will be hosted by the Centennial Committee in Memorial Auditorium Veterans room. Members of the Centennial Executive Committee will have tables reserved at Marie’s Restaurant  between the afternoon ceremonies and the evening ball. Finally, members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra will dine on the Auditorium lower floor.

     The centennial program will have an excellent portrait of Hapgood Wright, one of the first Lowell businessmen who left a bequest whose interest serves to finance this year’s celebration. The program will also include the following official list of centennial organizers:

Honorary President, Mayor John J. Donovan; president Frank K. Stearns; treasurer Fred H. Rourke; committee secretary William Trottier; Board of Directors, Frank K. Stearns, president; Joseph A. Gagnon; George M. Harrigan; John A. Hunnewell; Charles L. Marren; Ralph E. Runnels and John J. Walsh.

     Executive Committee: William P. Morrissey, secretary; Councilors James J. Gallagher; Daniel J. Cosgrove; Frank J. Hubin; John J. McFadden; Richard F. Preston; Robert R. Thomas; Francis J. Haggerty; John E. O’Brien; Frank F. MacLean; Edward T. Balley; Joseph A.N. Chrétien; Joseph F. Montminy; Arthur Genest; Abel R. Campbell; Thomas F. Inglis; Walter J. Cleary; John R. Higgins; Charles E. Anderson; George E. Barnett; John H. Beaulieu; George Bowers Jr.; Philip F. Breen; Edward B. Carney; Arthur B. Chadwick; Joseph P. Cryan; Royal K. Dexter; David Dickson; Charles A. Donohue; Eugene F. Fitzgerald; Frederick A. Flather; Joseph A. Gagnon; Joseph H. Guillet; George M. Harrigan; James F. Hennessey; Charles H. Hobson; John A. Hunnewell; Patrick Keyes; Richard J. McCluskey, M.D.; Thomas McFadden; Frank P. McGilly; Elmore I. MacPhie; Arthur McQuaid; Charles L. Marren; Joseph A. Molloy; George E. Murphy; Parker F. Murphy; Patrick Nestor; John P. O’Connell; William F. O’Connell; James O’Sullivan; Franklin B. Pevey; Harry G. Pollard; John E. Regan; John J. Riley; Stanley Robinson; Fred H. Rourke; Ralph E. Runels; Frederick A. Sadlier; Arthur T. Stafford; Alfred P. Sawyer; Frank K. Stearns; Joseph E. Sullivan; William Trottier; Jude C. Wadleigh; and John J. Walsh.

     Commemorative pins will be distributed to all schoolchildren next Monday morning. Schools which have received too many will have to return the surplus to the School Committee supplies office at City Hall. Schools which have not received enough will merely have to go to this same office to collect all they need.

     At Monday evening’s ball, one of the most beautiful decorations will be the gigantic birthday cake placed on the main hall stage. The vast Auditorium and Liberty hall will both be open for dancing. The cake, illuminated by 100 candles, will be six feet high and proportionately wide.

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L’Etoile – February 27, 1926 front page

THE CENTENNIAL

AFTERNOON PROGRAM

Wagner’s prelude to the Third Act of Lohengrin – Symphony Orchestra

Prayer – Rev. Appleton Grannis, Rector of Saint Ann Church

Opening speech – Honorable John J. Donovan, Mayor of Lowell

Speech – His Excellence Alvin T. Fuller, Governor of Massachusetts

Handel’s Alleluia choir – Lowell Centennial Choir

Speech – Frank K. Stearns, President of the Centennial Committee

Tchaikovski’s Fourth Symphony finale – Symphony Orchestra

Congratulations Message – His Eminence Cardinal O’Connell

Gounod’s Faust Choir of Soldiers – Lowell Centennial Choir

Male Masonic Choir – a. – Father’s Sunday song – Kreutzer

1. – Home Sweet Home – Geibel

Anniversary poem – Ralph H. Shaw

George W. Chadwick’s The Pilgrims – Centennial Choir directed by the composer

George W. Chadwick’s Anniversary Overture – Symphony Orchestra directed by the composer

Speech – Hugh J. Molloy, Superintendent of Lowell schools

Herbert’s American Fantasy Finale  – Symphony Orchestra

(The Star Spangled Banner will be sung by the audience after this finale.)

Blessing – Rev. Father John J. McGarry, D.L.C.

N.B. – The Symphony Orchestra will be composed of 45 Boston Symphony Orchestra musicians conducted by A. Jacchia. The Masonic Choir is composed of 75 singers under the direction of Ferdinand Lehnert the 2nd. The grand Centennial Choir of Lowell will be directed by Eusebius G. Hood.

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L’Etoile – March 1, 1926

Congratulations Lowell!

On this occasion of the 100th anniversary of Lowell, we offer our congratulations and express the firm hope that each day in future years will bring the most flourishing health, happiness and prosperity to all.

By the Bakers of

20TH CENTURY BREAD (1)

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1) Translations by Louise Peloquin.

Why it’s us versus them by Marjorie Arons-Barron

The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons-Barron’s own blog.

Paper Girl: a Memoir of Home and Family in a Fractured America by journalist Beth Macy is a perfect complement to my just-reviewed Buckeye by Patrick Ryan. Think of Paper Girl as small-town Ohio, part 2, the contemporary, non-fiction version.

Macy grew up in Urbana, Ohio, graduating from high school in 1982. Though four generations of her family suffered from addiction, abuse, teen pregnancy and poverty-related struggles. Beth herself had been an unruly teenager, yet she still responsibly delivered newspapers on her bike, played in the high school marching band, finished high school, graduated from college and got a job writing for the Urbana Daily News, the same paper she had delivered to her neighborhood as a youngster.

Eventually, she moved elsewhere for jobs with bigger papers, returning home only rarely to visit her mother. Over several decades, she came to discover that “something was rotting beneath the surface” of her “postcard-cute” hometown.  She decided to return regularly to Urbana for two years to dig deeper and deeper into the shocking changes she observed. What she discovered became this powerful fact-based memoir that helps the reader understand more viscerally the huge divide that poisons America today.

Urbana could well be what Ryan’s fictional town of Bonhomie would become today. Interestingly, Urbana is just a little over an hour’s drive from J.D. Vance’s birthplace in Middletown, Ohio. Macy responded one way by documenting systemic failures. Vance (and Trump) respond to the same issues by opportunistically blaming liberals, immigrants, minorities and the deep state for the despair experienced by frustrated whites.

Under the pressure of globalization and the offshoring of jobs, the decline of unions, inroads of technology into job availability, Urbana’s middle class had been hollowed out.  There were huge wealth gaps between the few remaining factory owners and bankers and the growing tranche of poor, who had become mired in hopelessness and resentment.

Public schools are failing. Third graders are failing miserably at reading and math. Absenteeism is endemic. Parents distrustful of public schools’ wokism are homeschooling their kids, supplementing that often-flawed education with rigid Bible-based “character-building” courses. Classic books have been banned. College has become out of reach due to disinvestment by federal and state governments in both liberal arts and vocational education. Those few who managed to start higher ed have typically not finished but are still saddled by student debt. The American Dream of home ownership is a mirage.

Worse, since substantive local journalism (once “society’s glue”) went away, overshadowed by misinformation on the internet and social media, conspiracy theories have become widely regarded as truth. (Springfield, Ohio,  home of Trump’s fabricated Haitian dog-eating story, is less than 14 miles away.) Internet outrage, Macy writes, has become the reigning religion of America. Macy’s own sister (Cookie) and Beth became estranged. Cookie, stuck in a toxically abusive marriage, became increasingly imbued with Christian nationalism fueled in her own church,  and  comfortable with white supremacist rants. For reporter Macy, the despair and alienation are, in her own family, the lived experience.

Disclosures from the Epstein files about the sordid behavior of degenerate wealthy elites at wild parties with underage girls sadly gives oxygen to Qanon conspiracy beliefs widely held in Urbana.  Qanon obsessions are just a small slice of Macy’s memoir, which my friend Paul, who recommended the book, says should be required reading for any Democrat, or anyone else concerned about our toxic polarization.

Macy is short on prescriptions, except for urging readers trying to bridge he divide to find common ground on neutral topics (Sports? Recipes? Grandkids?) and build relationships from there. But she concedes that such approaches, while effective, are not easily scalable. (See my review of How Minds Change, by David McRaney.)

Though her memoir is rich with data, Macy weaves her own personal difficulties in and out of what could have become just another sociological tract. In the process, she humanizes the huge challenges we face as a nation.

In the wake of Donald Trump’s clearcut win in 2024,  Paper Girl could serve as a primer for those getting out of their bubbles and going into the ’26 mid-terms and the ’28 Presidential race beyond.

Lowell Politics: February 15, 2026

To help commemorate Lowell’s bicentennial, I’ve written a new book. Lowell: A Concise History tells the city’s story from the arrival of the first English explorers in the early 1600s up to the present day with a focus on immigration and industrialization. It’s a short volume for the casual reader but it also includes data about the city’s geography, population growth, forms of government and much else.

A print copy of the book may be purchased from Lulu Press, a print on demand company, at this link.

You may also download a full PDF version of the book for free at this link.

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The highlight of the Lowell City Council meeting of Tuesday, February 10, 2026, was City Manager Tom Golden’s “2025 in Review” presentation. The core of that was a 12-minute video that was well-produced with narration by a cohort of city department heads.

The opening line, from Chief Financial Officer Conor Baldwin, was “Good financial management is the cornerstone of effective government.” He then cited the highest bond rating and the biggest stabilization fund balance in decades as evidence of the city’s fiscal strength.

Moving on, the video observed that 2025 saw the full impact of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), the Biden-era federal initiative that poured billions of dollars into American communities to help recover from the Covid pandemic. Lowell received more than $76 million in ARPA funding with $10 million spent on replacing the entire Lowell Fire Department fleet with all-new vehicles and nearly $1 million that was spent on festivals and support to small businesses. Millions more were committed to upgrading nearly a dozen city parks, and many expensive infrastructure and building repair tasks were also financed by ARPA.

In all, the city spent $23 million – not all ARPA funds – on infrastructure improvements, mostly in the form of street and sidewalk repaving. Also, with funding support from the Massachusetts School Building Authority, the city has undertaken eleven renovation projects at seven schools, mostly for HVAC and accessibility improvements.

The presentation then cited the importance of education: “As we look ahead, we’re aligning our education and workforce strategies with the future of our economy. Through our partnership with UMass Lowell, Middlesex Community College, and the Lowell Public Schools, we are building a pipeline from pre-K to Ph.D., one that connects students to opportunities in biotech, robotics, clean energy, and advanced manufacturing. This is how we prepare our residents not just for jobs, but for careers that will define the next generation of Lowell’s growth.”

In the economic development review, the highlight was the many new projects and housing developments underway in the city. Then there was this: “Perhaps no area saw more transformation than the Hamilton Canal Innovation District. Thanks to the tireless work of DPD and with the full support of the city council, we successfully renegotiated a development agreement in the HCID.” I take this as a reference to the Lupoli project although I’m not sure the verbiage used in this video accurately captures what really happened. For instance, here’s what I wrote about that “transformation” in my own Year in Review article last month:

“Hamilton Canal Innovation District – In March, the city council enacted a controversial amendment to a Land Disposition Agreement relative to the use of several HCID lots between the city and the Lupoli Companies. Originally, the Lupoli Companies had promised to construct a 12 to 14-story mixed-use building; a second building of 50,000 square feet on an adjacent lot; and a privately owned parking lot on a third parcel. However, in 2024, the Lupoli Companies returned to the council to request permission to scale back the high rise building to a smaller, wood frame residential apartment building. Although most of the discussion took place in executive session, enough was said in public to know several councilors opposed the requested modification and preferred declaring a default in performance. However, the city administration and most councilors concluded that the modified deal was the best the city could get so the council endorsed the amended plan.”

The video concluded with a mention of the global recognition granted to Lowell with its designation as a Front Runner city and closed with this: “Partnering with our nonprofit sector, our universities, and our residents, we will build a more resilient, inclusive, and sustainable Lowell. One that will serve as a model for cities across the country and across the world.”

Unless I missed it, there was no direct mention of the Lowell Innovation Network Corridor (LINC) project. That’s primarily a UMass Lowell initiative but it is also a partnership with many private sector entities, the Commonwealth, and the city. This video’s embrace of the city’s educational opportunities as a way of preparing the youth of Lowell for the jobs of tomorrow is terrific, but those bright, well-educated young people will go where the jobs are. If they are not in Lowell, they will move elsewhere. When it comes to a coherent strategy on how to create those jobs within the city limits, LINC seems to be the only game in town. That it was not mentioned in this presentation is baffling.

The presentation is available for viewing on the city’s YouTube channel at this link.

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I was amused by a recent Lowell Sun story by Melanie Gilbert that appeared on February 9, 2026. The headline, “Lowell tops state’s list of approved ADUs: 26 units approved in 2025; city ranks 4th in Mass,” says it all. (The top three communities were Plymouth, Lawrence and Nantucket.)

Recall that beginning in 2022, the Lowell City Council engaged in a multi-year legislative process regarding accessory dwelling units (ADUs) that moved from an initial embrace as an innovative way to address the high cost and inadequate amount of housing in the city, to a contentious rejection of a proposed local ordinance after politically powerful constituencies in the city condemned ADUs as a threat to the “character” of the city’s single family neighborhoods. Shortly after that a new state law that allowed ADUs as a matter of right superseded the city’s decision.

But for this Sun story, I would have guessed that not a single ADU had been built in Lowell since our neighborhoods have yet to descend into the chaos many predicted would result if ADUs were allowed in the city.

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In this week’s Seen & Heard column, I reviewed the Winter Olympics and the Super Bowl and promised to explain the “Lowell connection” to Bad Bunny’s halftime performance. Here is the story of Charles Herbert Allen.

Throughout the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, Puerto Rico and Cuba were Spanish colonies. However, by the late 1800s, the once-mighty Spanish Empire was disintegrating. Longtime residents of both islands were increasing their efforts to gain independence, often through armed conflict.

At the time, sugar was a lucrative crop in both locations, dominated largely by American companies. These business leaders viewed the burgeoning independence movements as both a threat to their investments and an opportunity to shed the remaining colonial control exercised by Spain. Because the McKinley Administration was deeply committed to advancing the interests of “Big Business,” it took up the cause of Cuban independence—though many historians argue this was a pretense for pursuing economic objectives.

When the US battleship Maine exploded and sank in Havana Harbor on February 15, 1898, the United States blamed Spain without evidence and invaded both Cuba and Puerto Rico. The war lasted only 90 days. Under the Treaty of Paris, signed on December 10, 1898:

• Spain relinquished all claims to Cuba, which became a US protectorate.
• Spain ceded Guam and Puerto Rico to the US, making them US territories.
• Sovereignty of the Philippines was transferred to the United States.

Charles Allen of Lowell, Massachusetts, was appointed the first US civil governor of Puerto Rico. Born in Lowell in 1848, Allen was the son of a lumber magnate whose company was in the lower Highlands, near the Pawtucket Canal and Clemente Park. After a stint in the family business, Allen entered politics, serving on the Lowell School Committee before becoming a state representative, a state senator, and eventually a US Congressman in 1885.

When William McKinley assumed the presidency, he selected another Massachusetts Congressman, John Long, as Secretary of the Navy. Theodore Roosevelt was chosen as Assistant Secretary. However, after the Maine exploded, Roosevelt impetuously issued orders to the US Pacific Fleet without coordinating with Long or the President. He was quietly eased out of the role and formed the “Rough Riders” volunteer regiment, eventually winning fame at the Battle of San Juan Hill.

Seeking a more cooperative replacement, Long selected his former colleague, Charles Allen, despite Allen having no naval or nautical experience. As soon as the war ended, President McKinley appointed Allen to the Puerto Rican post.

As governor of Puerto Rico, Allen raised taxes on residents and froze funding for schools and public buildings. He diverted those funds to US companies to improve the island’s railroads and port facilities, making it cheaper for American sugar producers to export their goods.

After one year, Allen resigned and moved to New York to become president of the American Sugar Refining Company, which eventually controlled more than 90% of sugar processing in the US. Today, we know that company as Domino Sugar.

Allen eventually retired to Lowell, where he purchased a stately brick house overlooking the Merrimack River. He spent his final years painting landscapes and still lifes. His home is now part of the UMass Lowell South Campus; still known as The Allen House, it features several of his paintings on display. Allen died in 1934 and is buried in Lowell Cemetery.

In her Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Cuba: An American History (2021), Ada Ferrer documents how US sugar companies forced farmers to devote their land almost exclusively to sugar. The same thing occurred in Puerto Rico. This deprived both islands of a diversified agricultural sector that could have generated more local wealth. The economic consequences of this monoculture are still felt in the poverty experienced on the islands today.

So, when Bad Bunny began his performance with a rhythmic walk through a sugarcane field, my mind went immediately to Charles Allen of Lowell and the enduring influence he left on Puerto Rico.

Small town America: Is it what we think it is? by Marjorie Arons-Barron

The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons-Barron’s own blog.

Buckeye by Patrick Ryan is a beautifully written novel about a fictional town in Ohio (Bonhomie), not far from Toledo.  If you’ve ever lived in a small town, it may feel like home to you. The span is immediate pre-World War II through the 1970’s, and the focus is on three generations of each of two families.  What a reader might assume to be a paean to America in a simpler time – a goal of “Make America Great Again?” – evolves to display all the underlying fissures and dysfunction that were glossed over or repressed in mid-20^th century America and became increasingly manifest as the years passed.

Both of the families have secrets, lies which damage them before and after their revelation. There was family dysfunction with grandparents modeling behavior with negative effects on their children. And those children who, as adults, individually seek to mitigate those effects on their own children or, in at least one case, replicate wrongs visited upon them. As members of wartime generations (post WWI, WWII and the Vietnam War), there are tragedies and losses. There are stigmas from physical disability and repressed homosexuality. The two families that Ryan focuses on are intriguingly revealed to have one secret that is shared between the two, a buried scandal that is key to driving the narrative.

Most importantly, perhaps, this story is told with empathy, each character made understandable and relatable in the most human ways.  The author, who spent eight years on this book,  explores the many ways that love expresses itself, the wounds that we inflict on each other, the growth of understanding, compassion and forgiveness.  Buckeye has an epic sweep to the narrative but is intimate in a most profound way, and all of this is set against a magnificent re-creation of what life looked like in small-town America in the 20^th century, details rendered in a most comprehensive and painterly way.  Buckeye is one of those special books that, when the last page is turned, you want to savor longer.