Lowell Historical Society

🔊Save the Date!

A Portrait & Mausoleum Tour will be held Sunday, September 15, 10:00 a.m. – 12 p.m. The self-guided tour (map provided) starts at the Knapp Ave. entrance. Admission is free. The event is in partnership with the Lowell Historical Society, the Pollard Memorial Library, and the Whistler House Museum of Art.

Come to the Lowell Cemetery and visit more than two dozen grave sites and several of the rarely accessible mausolea. Do you know about the Atkinson or Birmingham families? How about the Lawsons, the Stickneys, the Parkers, the Stones (no, not the Rolling ones!🙃) or the Mitchells? Each stop will not only have an interpreter to provide background on each person at rest, but also include an image to put “faces to the names.”

Save the date!

🔊Save the Date!

A Portrait & Mausoleum Tour will be held Sunday, September 15, 10:00 a.m. – 12 p.m. The self-guided tour (map provided) starts at the Knapp Ave. entrance. Admission is free. The event is in partnership with the Lowell Historical Society, the Pollard Memorial Library, and the Whistler House Museum of Art.

Come to the Lowell Cemetery and visit more than two dozen grave sites and several of the rarely accessible mausolea. Do you know about the Atkinson or Birmingham families? How about the Lawsons, the Stickneys, the Parkers, the Stones (no, not the Rolling ones!🙃) or the Mitchells? Each stop will not only have an interpreter to provide background on each person at rest, but also include an image to put “faces to the names.”

Our friends at the Lowell Cemetery providing a veteran's tour.

To honor those who served in America’s armed services throughout this country’s history, the Lowell Cemetery will host a guided tour of selected graves and monuments tomorrow, Saturday, May 18, at 10 a.m. and will start at the Knapp Ave. entrance. The 90-minute tour of selected graves and monument will last 90 minutes and will be led by historian and Cemetery Trustee, Richard Howe, Jr.

Our friend and Past President Martha Mayo!

Alumni Spotlight: Martha Mayo '92 When she was still a high school student in Falmouth, Maine, Martha Mayo ’92 paid $2.50 for a print by a then-unknown artist in Portland, Jon Legere. She paid another $2.50 to frame it.

If you haven't been on a tour you are missing out!

Save the dates! The Lowell Cemetery Spring Tour Weekend is Saturday, April 20 and Sunday, April 21 at 10 a.m. Lowell Cemetery Trustee and Registrar of Deeds Richard Howe, Jr., will lead walking tours focused on stories of history, monuments, and the lives of those buried here. Both tours will begin at the Lawrence Street gate.

While the Lowell Cemetery is a final resting place for the deceased, it is also an open-air museum and sculpture park. Join us to enjoy an example of a very sad lion, an Egyptian Revival Receiving Tomb, and the splendor of a Victorian armchair. Thanks to Kevin Harkins for the photo!

Sure sign spring is here!

Sign up before it is full!

Great book by Cliff & Linda Hoyt. Cliff is a past president of the LHS.

A Century of Cures: Dr. J.C. Ayer & Co., Lowell, Mass., U.S.A. A Century of Cures: Dr. J.C. Ayer & Co., Lowell, Mass., U.S.A.

Our long time treasurer was our first member representing the society on the Lowell Historic Board. Forty years ago. Time flies!

Article from the March 1, 1984 edition of the Lowell Sun that documents the first Lowell Historic Board meeting held the day before on February 29. Four of the nine Board members shown, left to right, are Fred Faust (representing the Lowell Historic Preservation Commission), John Perry (representing the Chamber of Commerce), Lew Karabatsos (representing the Lowell Historical Society), and Jim Milianazzo (Planning and Development Director).

(Photo – Pollard Memorial Library)

Another great discovery by Walter Hickey!

Don't miss our latest Local History blog!

From the archive...
Dick Howe remembers Lowell that day in December, 1941 in remarks given a few years ago...

"Sunday, December 7, 1941, several thousand people crowded into this building [Lowell Memorial Auditorium] to hear another group sing. It was a Moses Greeley Parker lecture. Admission was free, doors opened at 2:15 pm, and the event began at 3 pm. The performers that day were the Trapp Family Singers, the same group that is familiar to us from the movie, The Sound of Music." Of course, the concert was overshadowed in fact and in memory by the attack on Pearl Harbor...
https://richardhowe.com/2017/12/09/pearl-harbor-day-remarks/?fbclid=IwAR39-fL4kPr21DP_Zy8dcyl0b8-ndRZw2KhQvIeshq1dUaGVBP8PG0_0fdg

Pearl Harbor Day Remarks - RichardHowe.com On Thursday, December 7, 2017, I was one of the speakers at the Greater Lowell Veterans Council Pearl Harbor Day remembrance ceremony held at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium. Also speaking were Mayor Ed Kennedy and State Representative Dave Nangle. The choir from the Butler School attended and sang a...

https://www.lowellhistoricalsociety.org/lowell-squares-in-1914/
Lowell Parks and Squares in 1914

If you missed the recent tour of the Hildreth Family Cemetery you can still have a chance to see this private burial ground this Sunday and honor General Benjamin Butler of Lowell.

"The Department of Massachusetts, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War will conduct a memorial ceremony honoring Union General Benjamin Franklin Butler at the Hildreth Family Cemetery, 270 Hildreth Street, Lowell, Massachusetts, at 11:00 AM on Sunday, November 5, 2023.

The memorial ceremony will echo the original Grand Army of the Republic ritual of rededication, and will include Civil War era uniformed members conducting the commemoration, prayers and the reading of a brief biography of General Butler at his grave site. There will be a rifle squad to perform a salute, as well as a bugler to play "Taps".

It is fitting and proper that Benjamin Butler's amazing life and historic deeds be honored and celebrated, and that his memory and legacy be passed on to succeeding generations. The ceremony will be open to the public and last about an hour."

Lowell Historical Society Hildreth Family Cemetery Tour - Harkins Photography Last Sunday the Lowell Historical Society tour of the Hildreth Family Cemetery was conducted by board member Kim Zunino. This Cemetery is opened only once a year to honor its most famous resident, Civil War General Benjamin Butler. I was particularly taken with Butler’s 15-foot granite monument wi...

Check out the Center for Lowell History....

There are so many amazing things you may not know about the University Library! Many of our students don't realize that the Center for Lowell History is part of the library. Located in Downtown Lowell, right by Boott Mills, you can make an appointment to visit during the week. Since they're open this Saturday, we want to make sure you know how to get there.
Alas, no campus shuttle stops there right now, but it's a nice walk from East Campus. Walk towards the Tsongas Center and keep going. It's on 40 French Street. Your maps app will be you great walking directions.
We hope you'll visit this year and see our amazing historical collections about Lowell and UML.

This event is being co-sponsored by the Lowell Cemetery and the Pollard Memorial Library. Sign up before the chapel is full.

Boston Harbor Islands Adventure Author Talk at Lowell Cemetery What happens when four women from Lowell society decide to leave their restrictive 19th-century lives behind and escape to a remote island in Boston Harbor for 17 days? In her new book, Boston Harbor Islands Adventure: The Great Brewster Journal of 1891, Boston-based author Stephanie Schorow, brings...

The Sad Story of USS S-4 Navy Submarine & US Coast Guard Destroyer Paulding On December 17, 1927 the USS S-4 (SS-109) Submarine was doing some test runs off the coast of Provincetown, MA. The US Coast Guard Destroyer...

We remember our greater Lowell heros today and their sacrifice for our freedom. Thank you is not enough.

Remembering the allied invasion today and our Greater Lowell Heros.

Lowell Mayors - New blog post

https://www.lowellhistoricalsociety.org/list-of-lowell-mayors-with-burial-locations/

Save the Date: Self-Guided Tour of Veterans' Graves: Civil War to Gulf War on Saturday, May 20, 10am-noon. Start is at the Knapp Ave. Gate. The event is free and open to the public; no reservations are required.

Participants will receive a tour map at the Knapp Ave. Gate and then proceed at their own pace to the designated graves. Cemetery volunteers will be at each of the graves to tell the veterans stories and answer questions about the cemetery. As part of this event, the Lowell Historical Society will display military artifacts from its collection in the Cemetery's Talbot Chapel. Special access to the Shedd and Moses Greeley Parker mausoleums will be provided. Please join us for this memorial event.

Self-Guided Tour of Veterans’ Graves: Civil War to Gulf War

On Saturday, May 20, 2023, from 10 am to noon, the Lowell Cemetery will host a free self-guided tour of selected graves of veterans.

Participants may begin the tour at either cemetery entrance (Knapp Ave or Lawrence Street) where they will receive a tour map and then proceed at their own pace to the designated graves.

Cemetery volunteers will be at each of the graves to tell the stories of the veteran buried there and to answer questions about the cemetery.

As part of this event, the Lowell Historical Society will display within the cemetery military artifacts from its collection.

For more information, please the Lowell Cemetery office at 978-454-5191

The Middlesex Canal Museum and Visitors Centre is presenting this event -
Zoë Lawson answers the question, Why was Lowell considered a utopia? View the video, Spinning as Industry, recorded at the Charles River Museum, , and
come with your questions for an expert on cloth making before Lowell and the power loom.
The winter meeting of the Association, a few minutes, will precede the conversation.
Snow announcement at the museum, 978-670-2740.
Public Meeting
Sunday, Feb 19, 1 P.M.
Middlesex Canal Association,
71 Faulkner St, Billerica

Mill Talk: Spinning as “Industry” presented by Zoë Lawson Visit us online: https://www.charlesrivermuseum.org​. Support us by becoming a member: https://bit.ly/CRMIIMemMill Talk: Spinning as “Industry” presented by ...

The Lowell Historical Society was happy to assist in the making of "SLATERSVILLE: America's First Mill Village"! Although the docuseries focuses on Slatersville, Rhode Island, Lowell plays a major role in its story! Information about Dr. Elisha Bartlett, an interview with historian Richard Howe, Jr., and images from our archives all appear in SLATERSVILLE Episode 3: "The Great Change." The episode will air live starting at 8 PM on Rhode Island PBS, and it will be streamable from anywhere in the world as of 9 PM tonight. You can visit watch.ripbs.org to stream. To learn more about SLATERSVILLE, we invite you to visit www.firstmillvillage.com. Check it out!

Thursday, April 21 at 7:00-8:30 PM at the Pollard Memorial Library. Either in person or via zoom. Registration required. Follow the link to our co-sponsor below:

Author Talk: James Turcotte "Four Brothers from Lowell" Join us a special author talk with James Turcotte, author of Four Brothers from Lowell.  Four Brothers from Lowell tells the harrowing true life tale of the four Turcotte boys from Lowell, Massachusetts, who served in the United States Navy during WWII.…Learn More . Registration required.

Lowell Historical Society updated their business hours.

https://loucraft.blogspot.com/2021/11/major-general-ernest-n-harmon-lowells.html

Major General Ernest N Harmon - Lowell's Own "Hell on Wheels" Ernest Nason Harmon was born in Lowell, Massachusetts on February 26, 1894 to Ernest Josiah and Junietta (Spaulding) Harmon. The family live...

Here is the recorded presentation from today's Virtual Lowell Politics & Elections with Richard Howe.

Lowell City Hall Elections

Don’t miss this. Always interesting!

ST. PATRICK CEMETERY WALKING TOUR: Saturday, OCTOBER 2 @ 10 am. Meet at the chapel. Join us for our annual tour. This year will include a special exhibit of early 20th cent. photos of the cemetery. The tour will last about an hour. If you are new to the area, St. Patrick's Cemetery is located at 1251 Gorham St. in Lowell, MA 01852 www.stpatrickcemetery.com