Lowell is a city in Middlesex County in the US state of Massachusetts in the United States. The US The Census Bureau recorded a population of 115,554 as of the 2020 census.
The urban area was originally settled by Pennacook Indians.
In
June 1792, the Proprietors of Locks and Canals on Merrimack River
Company was founded with the mandate to build a navigable canal to
bypass Pawtucket Falls. The Merrimack River drops a good three feet at
Pawtucket Falls over a one-mile stretch. The more than a mile long
Pawtucket Canal with its four locks was completed in 1796. The canal
allowed lumber and other goods to be shipped from New Hampshire to the
shipyards in Newburyport. But just ten years later, the Pawtucket
Canal's business ended with the opening of the competing Middlesex Canal
as a direct link to Boston.
In 1821 the Boston Manufacturing
Company acquired the rights of the Proprietors of Locks and Canals and
incorporated them into the newly formed Merrimack Manufacturing Company.
In the early 1820s, textile mills settled along the Pawtucket Canal, and
the canal became an important part of the Lowell Power Canal System.
Named after Francis Cabot Lowell, a Boston entrepreneur, the city was
not founded until 1826 and included areas along the canal.
Around
1900, Lowell was referred to as the American Manchester. In 1900, it
produced $44,774,525 worth of goods in 981 factories employing 31,377
workers, mainly cotton fabrics (8 factories, 13,730 workers,
$17,038,576), hosiery (8 factories, 4,165 workers, 3,148. $110), woolen
goods (5 factories, 1,573 workers, $3,275,613), machinery and cast goods
(47 factories, 2,938 workers, $4,258,047). Lowell was also home to the
Lowell Textile School and a teacher training college. The University of
Lowell, the University of Massachusetts Lowell emerged from these
precursors in 1975.
The major factories closed between 1927 and
1932 due to more restrictive labor laws than in the Southern states,
which resulted in higher labor costs, leading to the city's economic
decline. In the 1960s, Lowell's unemployment rate was 15%. In the 1980s
there was an upswing, the Massachusetts Miracle. For example, Wang
Laboratories was based in Lowell from 1972 to 1992, but then went
bankrupt. Lowell was also the home of the world headquarters of Konarka
Technologies, Inc., a manufacturer of polymer thin film solar cells. The
Konarka core team came together in 2000 at the initiative of the US Army
to develop photovoltaic products for soldiers. In 2001, Konarka was able
to start as a commercial company and since then has established three
branches in Europe. This company also went bankrupt in 2012.
In
the mid-1980s, many of the old textile factories were demolished and the
remaining ones converted into residential buildings. The city center is
part of a National Historical Park designed to commemorate the textile
mills. This includes a fully furnished websall in the former Boot Cotton
Mill and a historic tram. Lowell is also home to the National Streetcar
Museum.
Among the many tourist sites, Lowell currently has 39 places listed
on the national register of historic places, including many buildings
and structures that are part of the Lowell National Historical Park.
Lowell National Historical Park: It maintains the history of Lowell as a
manufacturing and immigration town. Exhibits include weaving rooms, a
water power exhibit and trails along the 5.6 miles of extensively
restored canals.
Lowell-Dracut-Tyngsboro State Forest: Hiking, biking
and cross-country skiing trails in an urban forest.
University of
Massachusetts Lowell: State University
Vandenberg Esplanade: Walking,
biking, swimming and picnicking along the banks of the Merrimack River.
Contains the Sampas Pavilion.
Lowell High School: The first
desegregated and coeducational high school in the United States
Western Avenue Studios Studios: the largest artist studio complex in the
United States at 122 Western Avenue.
Place of birth of Jack Kerouac:
In the Centralville section of the city at 9 Lupine Road.
Armenian
Genocide Memorial: "A Mother's Hands" Monument at Lowell City Hall.
Bette Davis's birthplace: in the Highland section of the city at 22
Chester Street.
Rosalind Elias's birthplace: In the Acre neighborhood
at 144 School Street.
Lowell Cemetery: Burial site of many wealthy
Lowell industrialists from the Victorian era, as well as several members
of the US Congress, a governor of Massachusetts and a US senator, at 77
Knapp Avenue.
Edson Cemetery: the burial place of Jack Kerouac, John
McFarland, Passaconaway and William Preston Phelps, at 1375 Gorham
Street.
The Acre: the Lowell neighborhood, where waves of immigrants
have established their communities.
University of Massachusetts
Lowell Radiology Laboratory: the site of a small nuclear reactor at
school
Yorick Building: former residence of the gentlemen's club, the
"Yorick Club", currently a restaurant and a reception room.
Little
Cambodia: In 2010, the city began an effort to make it a tourist
destination.
From April 1 to 9, 2006, the Men's Curling World Championships were
held in Lowell.
The most famous sports club in the city were the
Lowell Devils (until 2005/06 Lowell Lock Monsters) from the (AHL).
The Lowell Spinners baseball club plays semi-professionally in the
Class A short season of minor league baseball as a farm team of the
Boston Red Sox.
According to the United States Census Bureau, Lowell has a total area of 37.62 km², of which 35.18 km² is land and (6.49%) 2.44 km² is water.
According to the 2010 census, there were 106,519 people residing in Lowell. The population density was 2,831.28 inhabitants/km². Of the 106,519 inhabitants, Lowell was made up of 60.31% white, 6.8% were African American, 0.27% were American Indian, 20.2% were Asian, 0.04% were Pacific Islander, 8.75% were of other races and 3.63% belonged to two or more races. Of the total population, 17.27% were Hispanic or Latino of any race.