Lowell

What to do with the Smith Baker Center was back before the City Council on Tuesday in the form of a motion response from the city’s Department of Planning and Development. Here are the major points made in that report: A grant from the Massachusetts Historical Commission is not a viable option…

L’Etoile and Women – (PIP #22) By Louise Peloquin      On March 8th, International Women’s Day, we remember the women who shaped our lives. Here is an example, kindly provided by Bob Vandenbulcke, whose father worked at L’Etoile. (1)    Women were always an integral part of L’Etoile. PIP #10, posted on…

On Tuesday night, Assistant City Manager/DPD Director Yovani Baez-Rose made an excellent presentation to the City Council on Lowell Forward 2040, the city’s comprehensive master plan update that will now be considered by the Council. The executive summary and the full plan are online. At more than 200 pages, the…

Here is the legislative measure that created the town of Lowell in 1826. The language and punctuation is true to the original document. **** CHAP. CXII An Act to incorporate the town of Lowell. Sec. 1. BE it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and…

Helpful hints from La ménagère (1) – (PIP #21) By Louise Peloquin Among L’Etoile’s briefs were helpful hints for the homemaker – tips on cleaning, sorting, sewing, anything to facilitate household management. These appeared regularly for an all-inclusive target readership – from the Maman of a large family to the immigrant who crossed…

The continued existence of the Smith Baker Center was back before the Lowell City Council on Tuesday night. For several years, the demolition of this former church has seemed inevitable, but the Council struggles with making the formal decision to tear it down. As I wrote on this same topic back in…

One Man’s Trash Is A Young Boy’s Treat By Ed DeJesus It’s funny how certain things can trigger a series of memories. We live in a thirty-three-story high-rise in Florida and place our garbage down a trash chute—but haul recyclables down to our dumpsters on level one’s covered garage. I…

“Indifferent to the war” – (PIP #20) By Louise Peloquin      The Russian invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, 2022 and the war is about to enter its third year. The Hamas attack on Israel occurred over four months ago, on October 7, 2023, and the fighting continues. Conflicts…

The Lowell Senior Center came up at Tuesday’s Lowell City Council meeting. Councilor Erik Gitschier raised the topic and the discussion covered inadequate maintenance, slow repairs, responsibilities under the lease, and the longer-term ownership status of the facility. Because the Council meeting was otherwise brief, I decided to focus today’s…