History

Earlier this week the Boston Globe reported that the U.S. Department of the Interior is providing funds to restore the historic monument on Dorchester Heights. (“Dorchester Heights monument in South Boston to undergo multi-million dollar restoration”). The monument commemorates the action by the colonial army under the command of George…

Just in time for St. Patrick’s Day! Two hundred years ago Hugh Cummiskey, an Irish immigrant living in Charlestown, Massachusetts, led a group of his countrymen on a 30 mile walk along the Middlesex Canal to the sparsely settled farming community of East Chelmsford. Cummiskey had heard that a group…

In 1976, President Geral Ford officially proclaimed February to be Black History Month in the United States. The connection between Black History and February extends back to the early 20th century. As the country approached the 50th anniversary of the passage of the 13th Amendment and the Constitutional abolition of…

Lowell received its town charter in 1826 which means the city’s bicentennial is rapidly approaching, especially when you acknowledge that the founding of Lowell as an industrial center occurred several years before that. It just took the official town charter a couple of years to catch up. In honor of…

Contemporary readers might be surprised to learn that of the 47 individuals who have served as President of the United States, at least 15 of them have visited Lowell. Below is my list of the names and dates of these visits. If anyone knows of anymore, please let us know…

From the Pollard Memorial Library’s “Library History” webpage: Lowell’s public library was founded on May 20, 1844 by an enactment of the Lowell City Council. At the time, the idea of “free” public libraries supported by solely by municipalities was a relatively new one, but the leaders of Lowell clearly…