An Historic Look at July 1st in Lowell and Elsewhere

July 1, 2010 by Marie Posted in Lowell, Politics, Culture, Education, Greater Lowell, History, City Council 4 Comments

July 1st – on this day in history in Lowell, the United States, Canada and elsewhere  as noted by AP and many other sources:

  • 1690 The Battle of the Boyne was waged in Ireland.
  • 1848 A new railroad station on Middlesex Street in Lowell owned by the Nashua and Lowell and the Lawrence and Lowell Railroads known as the “Northern Depot” opened for travel.
  • 1851  First refrigerated car in the U.S. carries eight tons of butter from Ogdensburg, NY to Boston on the Northern New York Railroad in a wooden boxcar insulated with sawdust.
  • 1853 Artist and craftsman Willard Leroy Metcaf was born in Lowell.
  • 1863 In the Civil War – the Battle of Gettysburg began.
  • 1867 The Canadian Confederation and the federal dominion of Canada is formed with Sir John MacDonld as the first Prime Minister of Canada.
  • 1870 The U. S. Department of Justice formally comes into existence.
  • 1873 Prince Edward Island becomes 7th Canadian Province.
  • 1891 Charles Henry Molloy – Catholic, Elk, city official and active Democrat – opened an undertaking establishment on Market Street in  Lowell
  • 1898 Teddy Roosevelt and his “Rough Riders” assaulted San Juan Hill in Cuba during the Spanish American War.
  • 1932 FDR chosen as Democratic nominee for President at Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
  • 1934 Jamie Farr American actor, Jean Marsh English actress and Sydney Pollack American film director were born.
  • 1936 John Quealey of Lowell was born.
  • 1941 Commercial television was authorized and within hours the first TV news show with Lowell Thomas and the first TV game show – Truth or Consequences were broadcast.
  • 1943 The U. S. “pay as you go” income tax withholding began.
  • 1952 Actor-comedian Dan Akroyd was born in Canada.
  • 1961 Diana Princess of Wales was born. 
  • 1963 The US Post Office introduces five-digit ZIP codes.
  • 1966 The US Medicare federal insurance went into effect.
  • 1972 President Nixon signed law creating automatic annual COLAs for Social Security recipients.
  • 1979 Sony introduced the Walkman device.
  • 1980 “O Canada” becomes the official Canadian national anthem.
  • 1997 Hong Kong reverted to Chinese control after 156 years as a British colony.
  • 2000 Civil unions law goes into effect in Vermont.
  • 2007 In England  smoking banned in all indoor public spaces.
   

4 Responses to An Historic Look at July 1st in Lowell and Elsewhere

  1. Bob Forrant says:

    On this day in history July 1, 2010 the University of Massachusetts Lowell ended the 14 year old Department of Regional Economic Development and scattered its faculty to several departments across the university, thus ending former Chancellor William Hogan’s establishment of a graduate level academic department devoted to research, teaching and serious engagement in the sustainable social and economic development of the region. The department produced a quite significant amount of academic research, its faculty published numerous well received books and faculty members brought in approximatelt $20M in grants and support for research, along with working with numerous commuity organizations over the years.

    As a founding member of this department I am saddened by its passing. You will now find me in UMass Lowell’s excellent history department.

  2. Bob Forrant says:

    As we approach Independence Day I have a book to mention on the revolution. It is titled American Insurgents, American Patriots: The Revolution of the People by T. H. Breen(2010) a historian at Northwestern University. The book focuses on how ordinary Americans, most of them farmers and small shopkeepers engaged in an insurgency against imperial British authority over two years in advance of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Much of the book focuses on Massachusetts and New England.

    Well written, well researched, and breaks new ground in terms of providing us with a deeper understanding of the role of the people in inspiring rebellion against one of the Super Powers of the day!

    Happy Fourth and happy reading!

  4. Bob Forrant says:

    Hi Deb:

    The administration offers a number of reasons for why they elininated the dept of regional development including the following: 1) we do not teach enough, 2) we lose money for the university, 3) we have inhibited interdisciplianry teaching on campus .

    We have rebutted each of these reasons with fact, including: 1) the fact that as a dept. we have brought on close to $20M in research grants to the university ourselves and in direct collaborations with other faculty and various organization in the region; 2) we indeed teach significant numbers of graduate and undergraduate students and that as primarily we are a graduate program our teaching averages will always be lower than dept’s with large undergraduate majors; 3) we have a strong record of research and publications, which is widely recognized by leading scholars in our fields; 4) we have a strong record of collaborations in Lowell and throughout the Merrimack Valley.

    They will in fact contnue to offer the degree we have been giving for 14 years but it will be run as a university degree by getting rid of the department and offering the degree as a university program. This, w ebelieve, is problematic, as absent a coherent core of faculty, as many outside academics who are criticizing this decision point out, it may well be difficult to offer a strong degree program, one attractive to the large numbers of students – esp. international students – we have attracted in the past. Only time will tell….

    For a longish examination of the issues from the dept’s point of view you can visit: restoreresd.org We have received over fifty letters of support for the dept. from leading scholars all over the world posted there, along with numerous letters from alums upset with the decision.

    Thanks for asking and happy fourth!