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The following originally appeared in part in the 2022 book, Lowell Irish 200. It was also distributed last Sunday as my Substack newsletter on Lowell politics. In the state election held on November 4, 1942, Lowell residents voted to change the city’s charter. By a vote of 16,477 in favor to…
Read More »Besides our own Lowell, Massachusetts, here’s a list of other places in the US that share the name: Lowell, Arkansas – Benton County. Population 9839 in 2020. Incorporated in 1881. Lowell, California – An unincorporated community in Napa County. In 1992, Lowell annexed into American Canyon. Lowell, Florida – An…
Read More »A Lowell Evolution By Steve O’Connor “I can’t wait to get the f*** out of Lowell.” How many times did I hear those words spoken in the smoke-filled bars of my youth? How many times did I say them myself? Even then I saw the setting sun that spread roses…
Read More »SCHEDULE NOTE. I’ll be reading poems in the famous Moses Greeley Parker Lectures series on Saturday, April 29, AT 12 NOON (NOT 2 PM), at the Pollard Memorial Library, 401 Merrimack St, next to Lowell City Hall. The menu will include oldies and new work from books like “Union River”…
Read More »Laid Off By Paul Marion The following story by Paul Marion originally appeared on paulmarion.com with the title, “Laid Off,” a chapter from “Do You Think You’ll Ever Go Back?” (a memory book in progress). ONE OF MY PRE-SCHOOL MEMORIES is a composite of scenes with my father during the…
Read More »Who dropped a whole truckload of fizzies into the varsity swim meet? Who delivered the medical school cadavers to the alumni dinner? Every Halloween, the trees are filled with underwear. Every spring, the toilets explode. Dean Wormer Animal House Back in 1978 when I first saw the movie Animal House,…
Read More »In view of the foregoing facts I find myself compelled to report to your Honorable Board my firm conviction that there is danger, both constant and grave, in the water of the Merrimack River at Lowell.” William T. Sedgwick Professor of Biology at MIT Biologist to State Board of Health…
Read More »Mark Cote, a regular contributor to this website, recently shared the following essay which he wrote 23 years ago when he served as the Chair of the city of Lowell’s Hunger/Homeless Commission. The essay originally appeared in the Lowell Sun on December 21, 2000, under the title, “Real tragedy of…
Read More »When Lowell received its town charter in 1826, the “domestic” water needs of most people – water for drinking, cooking, and washing – were met by wells that were scattered throughout the area. Also, anyone living near a river, a stream, or even a canal, could and did draw water…
Read More »Dancing at Holy Ghost Park By Susan April Can’t dance. Never could. First school dance, September, 1969, I tried. Thank God, the lights in the gym were dim. Every boy who asked me ended up shuffling over to a different dance partner, leaving me alone. What was wrong? Were my…
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