Above: 211 Pawtucket Street, August 1978. The CMCA (Corporation of the Members of the Catholic Association) founded in 1878. Below: Staircase of 211 Pawtucket Street, November 22, 2011 Photos by Tony Sampas
At 10 p.m. last night, Twitter reported that the Canadian immigration website had crashed. It was time to go to bed. While the election outcome wasn’t final, by that point it was clear to me that Donald Trump would be the next president of the United States. I did go…
Moment of silence for Walter Bayliss, who passed away on November 1, 2016. Report on fees city charges. Manager Murphy highlights fee for registering foreclosed properties. It has been $100 per year. Proposes raising it to $1000 per year to create added incentive on banks to quickly sell foreclosed properties.…
On November 26, 2000, I wrote an account of that years presidential election – which had yet to be decided, so I added an epilogue on January 2, 2001. With tomorrow’s election looming, I decided to share my story from 16 years ago, with the hope that history does not…
Election Observations I heard someone say that the worst thing about turning back the clocks last night was that it inserted one more hour between us and the end of this year’s election. As I post this, the polls close in just 62 hours, but who knows when we will…
Seacoast Mortar, 1862, was used at Fort Pitt, Pennsylvania and believed to be one of only twenty-six such Civil War era artillery still in existence. It is installed on the grounds between Lowell City Hall and the Pollard Memorial Library. Congressman John Jacob Rogers presented it to the City of…
This past Tuesday, the Pawtucket Prism public artwork alongside the UMass Lowell Inn & Conference Center at the confluence of Pawtucket Canal and Concord River, was re-dedicated on Tuesday. Paul Marion was there and wrote a blog post about the event and its significance. Tony Sampas was also there with…
(I was unable to watch the meeting live on Tuesday but just caught an archival showing on LTC’s website; here are my notes). Parking Report Councilor Samaras asks if City’s Parking Director will speak about the three strategies in the report: (1) additional garages; (2) parking resource management (using existing…
Yesterday was the 13th annual Lowell High School Distinguished Alumni Award Reception at the school’s Cyrus Irish Auditorium. The hundreds of family members, friends, public officials, and students who filled the hall for the ceremony were entertained by the Lowell High Band while Air Force Junior ROTC cadets served as…
Western Avenue Studios is a small business incubator for Lowell and is said to be the biggest collection of artists in one location east of the Mississippi River. Located in the former Massachusetts Mohair Plush mill building alongside the Pawtucket Canal, Western Avenue Studios is just a short walk from…