Author Archive

Richard Howe newsletter: Jan 21, 2024

Tuesday’s Lowell City Council meeting featured City Manager Tom Golden’s “State of the City” address. There’s nothing in the City Charter or the Council Rules that requires such a speech, but back in the 1990s City Managers began delivering them and that has continued. At first, the State of the…

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Happy Birthday, Mr. Poe

Happy Birthday, Mr. Poe By David Daniel On this day, sir, in 1809, you were born in Boston, a child of actors. Before long, your father split to chase his own dreams and your mother continued acting to support herself and you—performing the roles of young women—Ophelia, Juliet … young…

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Living Madly: Dearest Winter

Living Madly: Dearest Winter By Emilie-Noelle Provost My husband, Rob, and I collect landscape paintings. We have several hanging in our house. Some of our paintings were created by local artists, but we also own many by national and even international painters. I’m not an art expert. I most often…

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So many beginnings . . .

“So many beginnings…” (PIP #15) By Louise Peloquin I make so many beginnings there never will be an end.  – Louisa May Alcott *********      2024 has begun and is well under way. Will the new year’s resolutions, expectations, aspirations, ambitions, contentions, dissensions, cooperations, evolutions and all of the other…

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Richard Howe Substack: Jan 14, 2024

January 14, 2024 The Lowell City Council met Tuesday night in the aftermath of Sunday’s big 17-inch snowstorm. Predictably, Councilors talked a lot about snow removal. That’s a topic that everyone has an opinion on; Councilors especially so. City Manager Tom Golden explained that it’s been a while since the…

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Lowell 1926: City Government

Here is another in my series of excerpts from the 1926 Lowell City Directory. This post lists the job titles of Lowell city officials and the names of those who fill them: Mayor – John J. Donovan (salary $5,000) Councilors-At-Large (salary $500 each; two-year terms) James J. Gallagher (president) John…

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Richard Howe Substack: Jan 7, 2024

On Tuesday, January 2, 2024, at 10 am, the newly elected Lowell City Council took the oath of office at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium. City Clerk Michael Geary chaired the event until the new Mayor was elected. Geary explained that the inauguration ceremony had been moved to the Auditorium when…

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“Lowell is a Great City” – 1926

“Lowell is a Great City” (in 1926) On March 1, 1826, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts granted the town of Lowell its initial charter. Consequently, the city of Lowell will soon begin celebrating its bicentennial. I have occasionally posted items about Lowell’s founding, and will continue to do so, but I…

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