Governor Patrick gave a succinct state of the state speech this evening. He spoke mainly about the importance of upgrading our transportation and education systems and said that “since we all have a stake in the future, we should all be willing to invest in it now.” To fund that…
On January 7, 1889, Mayor Charles D. Palmer delivered his inaugural address to the two branches of the City Council (the Common Council and the Board of Aldermen). The Mayor covered many topics in his remarks, from city finances (cash in the treasury as of Dec. 31, 1888: $59,265.27 [a…
In a ceremony on Thursday, October 1, 1942, at 3 p.m., Rear Admiral W. J. Carter, (S.C.) U.S. Navy, presented to F. A. Flather of the Boott Mills a red, white, and blue pennant representing the Army-Navy Production Award for high achievement in the production of military material needed for…
I was late getting home tonight so I missed the first 45 minutes of the Lowell City Council meeting and I was pulled away from the TV shortly after 9 pm, but the portion of the meeting I watched for nearly two hours was quite a change from what I…
If you haven’t visited Western Avenue Studios, mark your calendar with the first Saturday in February (Feb 2) for Open Studios when artists throughout the complex open their spaces and sell their art to visitors. On that day, or on any Wednesday thru Saturday after January 30, pay a visit…
UMass Lowell professor Bob Forrant kindly brought the following quote to our attention on the occasion of the birthday of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, January 15, 1929. “The labor movement was the principal force that transformed misery and despair into hope and progress. Out of its bold struggles,…
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court issued a new foreclosure decision yesterday in the case of HSBC Bank vs. Matt. But the SJC stated emphatically that it was not a foreclosure case. Except it was. The following is my explanation of the case and its significance. It’s a long explanation, but…
This is an excerpt from The Big Move: Immigrant Voices from a Mill City (Loom Press, 2011), edited by UMass Lowell history professors Bob Forrant and Christoph Strobel. The book includes nine interviews, selected from the many conducted by the historians and their team for an ethnographic study of Lowell commissioned…
A recent view of the under-construction Richard P. Howe Sr. bridge which will connect University Ave and Merrimack Street. The photo, by Tony Sampas, is taken from the UMass Lowell North Campus, looking east towards downtown.
John Edward, a resident of Chelmsford who earned his master’s degree at UMass Lowell and who teaches economics at Bentley University and UMass Lowell, contributes the following column. The result was as expected. The government averted the fiscal cliff, for now. However, they did not solve the budget problem. Spending…