Lowell People

Patrick Tracy Jackson (1780-1847), born in Newburyport, was a brother-in-law of Francis Cabot Lowell. In 1813, he agreed to move to Waltham to set up and run the Boston Manufacturing Company where he developed the Waltham System of textile production and marketing. He remained there until 1825 when he moved…

Maurice Cohen, the co-founder and former owner of radio station WCAP, died recently at age 100. In the August 2, 2021, Lowell Sun, Barry Scanlon wrote an excellent appreciation of Maurice’s life. In 2012 while writing “Legendary Locals of Lowell,” I interviewed Maurice. He shared a number of photographs with…

Donald Arcand (1946-1965) was the first resident of Lowell to die in the Vietnam War. Arcand was born on February 13, 1946, and lived at 130 Ford Street in the city’s Little Canada neighborhood. After graduating from St. Joseph’s High School, he worked in a shoe factory until he enlisted…

In 1831, brothers John and Thomas Nesmith purchased 150 acres in Tewksbury from Judge Edward Livermore for $25,000. The following year, the brothers hired Alexander Wadsworth, a landscape architect from Boston who was the cousin of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and also the designer of Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, to…

Nancye Tuttle shares with us the following remembrance of the late Lowell native Olympia Dukakis who passed away on May 1, 2021. Nancye’s story was first published in the Lowell Sun on May 5, 2021, and may be viewed here. Remembering Olympia Dukakis By Nancye Tuttle An interview with Olympia…

Gustavus Vasa Fox (1821-1883) was born and raised in Massachusetts and spent much of his life in Lowell. He was a graduate of the United States Naval Academy and served as an officer in the Navy from 1841 to 1856. After his resignation from the service, he returned to Massachusetts…