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White tips on the close-cropped sloping lawns of the Common this morning before the sun is full up. Trees coming to total change, some of them most of the way there. Saturated crimson crown near the corner of Thorndike and Highland. Big honking candy-corn orange maple blasts color near the…
Read More »My book “Mill Power: The Origin and Impact of Lowell National Historical Park” begins with a chapter that offers the reader historical background for the late 20th-century story about to be told. I wanted to provide context for readers unfamiliar with Lowell and to set the stage for the enormous…
Read More »From the Pacific Rim Desk of the RichardHowe.com blog comes a new poem by our far-flung correspondent Tom Sexton, who recently traversed North America lengthwise to open shop for several months Down East. We welcome Tom and his wife, Sharyn, back to New England for a spell. This is Tom…
Read More »For those able to attend the Lowell Plan’s annual breakfast yesterday at the UMass Lowell Inn & Conference Center, a person would have to be pretty hard-hearted not to have come away feeling better about the city and more optimistic about what’s over the wooded horizon. The 300 people in…
Read More »Grand Opening, 2.30 pm, Today University Crossing will serve as a hub for the UMass Lowell campus, at the crossroads of North, East and South campuses and the community. The 230,000-square-foot University Crossing student engagement center will celebrate its grand opening on Tuesday, Sept. 16 at 2:30 p.m. Students, faculty,…
Read More »The following is an excerpt from Mill Power: The Origin and Impact of Lowell National Historical Park, my book just published last week by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. This passage is the conclusion of Chapter Five, “The Economics of Heritage,” which spells out the economic benefits that have been derived…
Read More »Since the mid-1970s, Lowell has been the subject of many regional, national, and global media reports (newspaper, magazine, radio, TV, and web) because of its distinctive national park and award-winning urban revitalization rooted in the preservation and celebration of its industrial, architectural, natural, and cultural heritage. The late Dr. Patrick…
Read More »I’m late in posting, or re-posting, this sketch that I wrote in 1991 and which has appeared a few times on this blog. The loosestrife shows up in high summer along the rivers and in wetlands all over the region. This past week in local vacation travels I noticed patches…
Read More »Who wins with this resolution of the Demoulas drama? Out of the gate, it looks like everyone wins after six weeks of pain. As a lot of us in this region go back to Market Basket as full- or part-time shoppers and/or employees, let’s hope that the “more” in “More…
Read More »For the downtown narrative: Rosemary and I last evening ate supper at the Viet-Thai Restaurant across from City Hall. At 6.30-7 pm, there were 30 people in the place. We had cashew chicken and shrimp pad thai with spring rolls to start. Everything very good and modestly priced (appetizer: $3).…
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