Twenty-six miles northwest from Boston, on the banks of the Merrimack at
its confluence with the Concord, is situated the city of Lowell,--the
Spindle City, the Manchester of America. The Merrimack, which affords
the chief water-power that gives life to the thousand industries of
Lowell, takes its rise among the White Mountains, in New Hampshire, its
source being in the Notch of the Franconia Range, at the base of Mount
Lafayette. For many miles it dashes down toward the sea, known at first
as the Pemigewasset, until finally its waters are joined by the outflow
from Lake Winnipiseogee, and a great river is formed, which, in its fall
of several hundred feet, offers immense power to the mechanic. Past
Penacook the river glides, its volume increased by the Contcocook;
through fertile intervales, over rapids and falls, past Suncook and
Hooksett, it comes to the Falls of Amoskeag, where Lowell's fair rival
is built; thence onward past Nashua, to the Falls of Pawtucket, where
its waters are thoroughly utilized to propel the machinery of a great
city.
The men are still living who have witnessed the growth of Lowell from an
inconsiderable village to a great manufacturing city, whose fabrics are
as world-renowned as those of Marseilles and Lyons, or ancient Damascus.
[Illustration: LOWELL AS IT APPEARED IN 1840.]
With the dawn of American history, the Penacooks, a tribe of Indians,
were known to have occupied the site of Lowell as their favorite
rendezvous. Here the salmon and shad were caught in great abundance by
the dusky warriors. Passaconaway was their first great chief known to
the white man, and he was acknowledged as leader by many neighboring
tribes. He was a friend to the English. Before the coming of the
Pilgrims a great plague had swept over New England, making desolate
the Indian villages. Added to the terrors of the pestilence, which was
resistless as fate to the children of the forest, was the fear and dread
of their implacable enemies, the fierce Mohawks of the west. The spirit
of the Indian was broken. In 1644, Passaconaway renounced his authority
as an independent chief, and placed himself and his tribe of several
thousand souls under the protection of the colonial magistrates. The
Indian villages at Pawtucket Falls, on the Merrimack, and Wamesit Falls,
on the Concord, the Musketaquid of the aborigines, were first visited in
1647 by the Reverend John Eliot, the Apostle to the Indians. In 1652,
Captain Simon Willard and Captain Edward Johnson made their tour up the
Merrimack Paver to Lake Winnipiseogee, and marked a stone near the Weirs
as the northern boundary of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The following
year the work of settlement swept onward, crowding in upon the
cornfields of the red men; and Eliot, caring for his charges, procured
the passage of an act by the General Court reserving a good part of the
land on which Lowell now stands to the exclusive use of the Indians.
[Illustration: MERRIMACK RIVER BELOW HUNT'S FALLS.]
The towns of Chelmsford and Billerica were incorporated May 29, 1655.
In 1656, Major-General Daniel Gookin was appointed superintendent of all
the Indians under the jurisdiction of the Colony. By his fair dealing he
won their entire confidence. They had good friends in Judge Gookin and
the Apostle Eliot, who were ever ready to protect them from
encroachments of their neighbors.
In 1660, Passaconaway relinquished all authority over his tribe,
retiring at a ripe old age, and turning over his office of sachem to his
son Wannalancet, whose headquarters were at Penacook. Numphow, who was
married to one of Passaconaway's daughters, was the chief for some years
of the village of Pawtucket. In 1669, Wannalancet, in dread of the
Mohawks, came down the river with his whole tribe, and located at
Wamesit, and built a fortification on Fort Hill in Belvidere, which was
surrounded with palisades. The white settlers of the vicinity, catching
the alarm, took refuge in garrison-houses.
[Illustration: OLD BRIDGE OVER PAWTUCKET FALLS.]
In 1674, there were at Wamesit fifteen families, or seventy-five souls,
enumerated as Christian Indians, aside from about two hundred who
adhered to their primitive faith in the Great Spirit. Numphow was their
magistrate as well as chief, his cabin standing near the Boott Canal.
The log chapel presided over by the Indian preacher, Samuel, stood at
the west end of Appleton Street near the site of the Eliot Church. In
May of each year came Eliot and Gookin; the former to give spiritual
advice; the latter to act as umpire or judge, having jurisdiction of
higher offences, and directing all matters affecting the interests o£
the village. Wannalancet held his court, as sachem, in a log cabin near
Pawtucket Falls.
[Illustration: SAINT ANNE'S CHURCH, 1850.]
King Philip's War broke out in 1675. Wannalancet and the local Indians,
faithful to the counsels of Passaconaway, took sides with the settlers,
or remained neutral. Between the two parties they suffered severely.
Some were put to death by Philip, for exposing his designs; some were
put to death by the colonists, as Philip's accomplices; some fell in
battle, fighting for the whites; some were slain by the settlers, who
mistrusted alike praying and hostile Indians.
During the following year, 1676, the able-bodied Indians of Wamesit and
Pawtucket withdrew to Canada, leaving a few of their helpless and infirm
old people at the mercy of their neighbors. Around their fate let
history draw the veil of oblivion, lest the present generation blush for
their ancestors. The Indians of those days, like their descendants, had
no rights which the white men were bound to respect.
During the war the white settlers were gathered for protection in
garrison-houses. Billerica escaped harm, but Chelmsford was twice
visited by hostile bands and several buildings were burned. Two sons of
Samuel Varnum were shot while crossing the Merrimack in a boat with
their father.
In April, 1676, Captain Samuel Hunting and Lieutenant James Richardson
built a fort at Pawtucket Falls, which, with a garrison, was left under
command of Lieutenant Richardson. A month later it was reinforced and
the command entrusted to Captain Thomas Henchman. This proved an
effectual check to the incursions of marauding Indians.
[Illustration: RUINS OF A CELLAR, BELVIDERE.]
When the war was over, Wannalancet returned with the remnant of his
tribe, to find the reservation in possession of the settlers. The tribe
was placed on Wickasauke Island, in charge of Colonel Jonathan Tyng,
where they remained until their last rod of land had been bartered away,
when they retired to Canada and joined the St. Francis tribe. Colonel
Tyng and Major Henchman purchased of the Indians all their remaining
interest in the land about Pawtucket Falls.
[Illustration: OLD BUTMAN HOUSE, BELVIDERE.]
During the nine years of King William's War, which followed the English
Revolution of 1688, the people of Chelmsford and neighboring towns again
took refuge in forts and garrison-houses. Major Henchman had command of
the fortification at the Falls. August 1, 1682, a hostile raid was made
into Billerica and eight of the inhabitants were killed. August 5, 1695,
fourteen inhabitants of Tewksbury were massacred. Colonel Joseph Lynde,
from whom Lynde Hill in Belvidere derives its name, was in command of a
force of three hundred men who ranged through the neighboring country to
protect the frontier.
The town of Dracut was incorporated in 1701. It contained twenty-five
families, and was set off from Chelmsford.
The Wamesit purchase was divided into small parcels of land and sold to
settlers. Samuel Pierce, who had his domicile on the Indian reservation,
was elected a member of the General Court, in 1725, but was refused his
seat on the ground that he was not an inhabitant of Chelmsford.
Accordingly the people of the reservation refused to pay taxes to the
town of Chelmsford until an act was passed legally annexing them to the
town. The place was afterward known as East Chelmsford.
The year 1729 is memorable for the great earthquake which occurred on
October 29, and did considerable damage in the Merrimack valley.
Tewksbury was incorporated in 1734, its territory before having been
included in Billerica.
At the battle of Bunker Hill two companies of Chelmsford men were
present, one under command of Captain John Ford, the other under Captain
Benjamin Walker; and one company composed largely of Dracut men was
under Captain Peter Colburn.
[Illustration: FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, 1840.]
Captain Ford had served previously at the siege and capture of
Louisburg, in 1745. When the first man in his company fell at Bunker
Hill, an officer prevented a panic by singing Old Hundred. When closely
pressed by the British, and the ammunition had been exhausted, Captain
Colburn, on the point of retreating, threw a stone at the advancing
enemy and saw an officer fall from the blow.
Colonel Simeon Spaulding, of Chelmsford, was an active patriot during
the Revolution and did good service in the Provincial Congress.
During Shays' Rebellion, in 1786, a body of Chelmsford militia under
command of General Lincoln served in the western counties.
The people of Chelmsford, from the earliest settlement, gave every
encouragement to millers, lumbermen, mechanics, and traders, making
grants of land, and temporary exemption from taxation, to such as would
settle in their town. It became distinguished for its sawmills,
gristmills, and mechanics' shops of various kinds. Billerica, Dracut,
and Tewksbury gave like encouragement. About the time of the Revolution
a sawmill was built below Pawtucket Falls and owned by Judge John Tyng.
[Illustration: PAIGE-STREET FREEWILL BAPTIST CHURCH, 1840.]
Toward the close of the last century the lumbering industry on the
Merrimack grew into prominence; and, in 1792, Dudley A. Tyng, William
Coombs, and others, of Newburyport, were incorporated as "The
Proprietors of the Locks and Canals on Merrimack River." This canal,
which was demanded for the safe conduct of rafts by the Falls, was
completed in 1797, at an expense of fifty thousand dollars. The fall of
thirty-two feet was passed by four sets of locks.
The first bridge across the Merrimack was built, in 1792, by Parker
Varnum and associates; the Concord had been bridged some twenty years
earlier.
[Illustration: DAM AT PAWTUCKET FALLS.]
In 1793, the proprietors of the Middlesex Canal were incorporated.
Loammi Baldwin, of Woburn, superintended the construction. The canal
began at the Merrimack, about a mile above Pawtucket Falls, extended
south by east thirty-one miles, and terminated at Charlestown. It was
twenty-four feet wide and four feet deep and was fed by the Concord
River. It cost $700,000, and was completed in 1804,--the first canal
in the United States opened for the transportation of passengers and
merchandise. For forty years it was the outlet of the whole Merrimack
valley north of Pawtucket Falls.
The first boat voyage from Boston, by the Middlesex Canal and the
Merrimack River, to Concord, New Hampshire, was made in 1814; the first
steamboat from Boston reached Concord in 1819.
The competition of the Middlesex Canal ruined the Pawtucket Canal, as it
in turn, in after years, was ruined by the Boston and Lowell Railroad.
Navigation finally ceased on its waters in 1853, since which date its
channel has been filling up and its banks have been falling away.
In 1801, Moses Hale, whose father had long before started a fulling-mill
in Dracut, established a carding-mill on River Meadow Brook,--the first
enterprise of the kind in Middlesex County.
In 1805, the bridge across the Merrimack was demolished and a new bridge
with stone piers and abutments was constructed. It was a toll-bridge as
late as 1860.
The second war with England stimulated manufacturing enterprises
throughout the United States; and several were started, depending upon
the water-power of the Concord River. In 1813, Captain Phineas Whiting
and Major Josiah Fletcher erected a wooden cotton-mill on the site of
the Middlesex Company's mills, and were successful in their enterprise.
John Golding, in the same neighborhood, was not so fortunate.
[Illustration: JOHN-STREET CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH.]
The year 1815 is memorable for the most disastrous gale that has
devastated New England during two centuries; it was very severe in
Chelmsford.
The sawmill and gristmill of the Messrs. Bowers, at Pawtucket Falls, was
started in 1816. The same year Nathan Tyler started a gristmill where
the Middlesex Company's mill No. 3 now stands. Captain John Ford's
sawmill stood near the junction of the Concord and Merrimack Rivers.
In 1818, Moses Hale started the powder-mills on Concord River. The
following year Oliver M. Whipple and William Tileston were associated
with him in business. In 1821, the firm opened Whipple's Canal. The
business was enlarged from time to time and was at its zenith during the
Mexican War, when, in one year, nearly five hundred tons of powder were
made. The manufacture of powder in Lowell ceased in 1855. In 1818, also,
came Thomas Hurd, who purchased the cotton-mill started by Whiting and
Fletcher and converted it into a woolen-mill. He soon enlarged his
operations, building a large brick mill near the other. He was the
pioneer manufacturer of satinets in this country. His mill was destroyed
by fire and rebuilt in 1826. About this time he built the Middlesex
(Mills) Canal, which conveyed water from the Pawtucket Canal to his
satinet-mills, thus affording additional power. His business was ruined
in 1828 by the reaction in trade; and two years later the property
passed into the hands of the Middlesex Company.
[Illustration: FREE CHAPEL, 1860.]
The year 1818 also brought Winthrop Howe to town. He started a mill for
the manufacture of flannels at Wamesit Falls, in Belvidere, and
continued in the business until 1827, when he sold out to Harrison G.
Howe, who introduced power-looms, and who, in turn, sold the property to
John Nesmith and others in 1831. In the year 1819 a new bridge across
the Concord River was built to replace the old one built in 1774. About
this time the dam across the Concord at Massic Falls was constructed,
and the forging-mill of Fisher and Ames was built. The works were
extended in 1823, and continued by them until 1836, when the privilege
was sold to Perez O. Richmond.
[Illustration: KIRK BOOTT.
Born in Boston, October 20, 1790. Died in Lowell, April 21, 1837.]
In 1821, the capabilities of Pawtucket Falls for maintaining vast
mechanical industries were brought to the attention of a few successful
manufacturers, who readily perceived its advantages and hastened to
purchased the almost worthless stock of the Pawtucket Canal Company. In
November, Nathan Appleton, Patrick Tracy Jackson, Kirk Boott, Warren
Dutton, Paul Moody, and John W. Boott, visited the canal, which they
now controlled, perambulated the ground, and planned for the future.
February 5, 1822, these gentlemen and others were incorporated as the
Merrimack Manufacturing Company, with Warren Dutton as president.
The first business of the new company was to erect a dam across the
Merrimack at Pawtucket Falls, widen and repair Pawtucket Canal, renew
the locks, and open a lateral canal from the main canal to the river,
on the margin of which their mills were to stand. Five hundred men were
employed In digging and blasting, and six thousand pounds of powder were
used. The canal, as reconstructed, is sixty fee wide and eight feet
deep. The first mile of the company was completed and started September
1, 1823. The first treasurer and agent was Kirk Boott, a man of great
influence, who left his mark on the growing village.
[Illustration: SECOND UNIVERSALIST CHURCH, SHATTUCK STREET.]
Paul Moody settled in the village in 1823, and took charge of the
company's machine-shop, which was completed in 1826. Ezra Worthen was
the first superintendent. The founders of the Merrimack Company
contemplated from the first the introduction of calico-printing. In this
they were successful, in 1826, when John D. Prince, from Manchester,
England, took charge of the Merrimack print-works. Mr. Prince was
assisted by the chemist, Dr. Samuel L. Dana; and together they made the
products of the mills famous in all parts of the globe.
[Illustration: APPLETON-STREET PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.]
In 1825, the old Locks and Canals Company of 1792 was re-established as
a separate corporation, with the added right to purchase, hold, sell, or
lease land and water-power, and the affairs of the company were placed
in the hands of Kirk Boott.
In 1820, there were in the villages of East Chelmsford, Belvidere, and
Centralville, about two hundred and fifty inhabitants. Whipple's
powder-mills and Howe's flannel-mill were then in operation, and there
were several sawmills and gristmills. Ira Frye's Tavern stood on the
site of the American House. There was Hurd's mill, a blacksmith shop at
Massic Falls, a few other such establishments as a country village
usually affords, and several substantial dwelling-houses, farmhouses,
and cottages, conspicuous among which was the Livermore House in
Belvidere.
[Illustration: ROGERS HOMESTEAD, BELVIDERE.]
The operations of the Merrimack Company soon attracted settlers. In
1822, a regular line of stages was established between East Chelmsford
and Boston. In 1824, the Chelmsford Courier was established, and
became at once the organ of the growing community. The next year a
militia company was organized; the Fourth of July was celebrated with
appropriate ceremonies; the Middlesex Mechanics' Association and the
Central Bridge Corporation were incorporated; the Hamilton Manufacturing
Company was established; and the inhabitants of the village of East
Chelmsford petitioned to be incorporated. The petition was granted, and
Lowell became a town March 1, 1826, with a population of about two
thousand. The name of the town was adopted in honor of Francis Cabot
Lowell, a business associate of Nathan Appleton, and a promoter of the
manufacture of cotton goods in this country.
The years of 1827 and 1828 were marked by great depression in the
commercial and manufacturing circles of the country, but Lowell had
a good start, and her prosperity was assured. The Lowell Bank, the
Appleton Company, and the Lowell Manufacturing Company, were established
in 1828,--the year the first ton of coal was brought to town. The coal
was used for fuel in the law office of Samuel H. Mann.
In 1829, the Lowell Institution for Savings was incorporated, and
William Livingston established himself in trade. For a quarter of a
century Mr. Livingston was one of the most active, most enterprising,
and most public-spirited citizens of Lowell. Much of the western portion
of the city was built up by his instrumentality.
[Illustration: WORTHEN-STREET OR SECOND BAPTIST CHURCH.]
The Middlesex Company was established in 1830, as was the Lowell fire
department. The Town Hall was also built; and Lowell numbered sixty-four
hundred and seventy-seven inhabitants.
[Illustration: CENTRAL METHODIST CHURCH.]
In 1830, Mr. Jackson undertook to connect Boston and Lowell with a
railroad. A macadamized road had been surveyed, when this new road was
projected; and it was a part of the original plan to have the cars
drawn by horses. The successful operation of Stephenson's Liverpool and
Manchester Railroad was known to Mr. Jackson, and he was encouraged
to persevere. The road was completed at a cost of $1,800,000 and was
opened to the public, July 4, 1835. The cars and locomotive would be a
curiosity to-day. The former, resembling Concord coaches, were divided
by a partition into two compartments, each entered by two doors,
on the sides. The interiors of the compartments were upholstered with
drab-colored cashmere, and each accommodated eight passengers. The
conductor and engineer had each a silver whistle. After the former
had ascertained the destination of each passenger and collected the
necessary fare, he would close the car doors, climb to his place in a
cab at the top of the coach, and whistle to the engineer as a signal for
starting. The engineer, who was protected by no cab, would respond with
his whistle, when the train would dash out of the station. The brakes
were such as are used on a coach, and it was a scientific matter, when
the engineer gave his warning-whistle to break up a train on arriving at
a station. The rails were secured to granite ties, by means of cast-iron
plates, and the road was very, _very_ solid. Frost soon rendered it
necessary to introduce wooden ties, and nothing has yet been discovered
which can be used as a substitute for them.
[Illustration: JOHN NESMITH.
Born in Londonderry, New Hampshire, August 3, 1793.]
The Lowell Railroad was not the first opened in the United States, but
it was the first passenger road in successful operation in New England.
In 1831, the Railroad Bank was established.
In 1832, the Suffolk and Tremont Mills were established.
In 1833, the town felt the need of a police court, and one was
established. Joseph Locke was the first justice. During the same year
the Lawrence Mills were started; and the town was visited by President
Andrew Jackson and members of his Cabinet, and later by the great
statesman, Henry Clay.
In 1834, Belvidere was included in Lowell, and the town had the honor of
entertaining Colonel David Crockett, George Thompson, M.P., the English
abolitionist (not cordially), and M. Chevalier, the French political
economist.
In 1835, Joel Stone, of Lowell, and Joseph P. Simpson, of Boston, built
the steamboat Herald, for navigating between Lowell and Nashua, but the
enterprise proved a failure; the Nashua and Lowell Railroad Company
was incorporated; the Lowell Almshouse was started; the hall of the
Middlesex Mechanics' Association was built; and the Lowell Courier, the
oldest daily newspaper in Middlesex County, was established.
[Illustration: SUFFOLK-STREET ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH.]
In 1836, the population of Lowell was 17,633. During the year the Boott
Mills were started, and a city charter was adopted.
[Illustration: THE THIRD UNIVERSALIST CHURCH.
Now Barristers' Hall.]
Dr. Elisha Bartlett was elected first mayor of the city of Lowell. He
was succeeded, in 1838, by the Honorable Luther Lawrence; in 1840, by
the Honorable Elisha Huntington, M.D.; in 1842, by the Honorable
Nathaniel Wright; in 1844, by Dr. Huntington; in 1846, by the Honorable
Jefferson Bancroft; in 1849, by the Honorable Josiah B. French; in 1851,
by the Honorable J.H.B. Ayer; in 1852, by Dr. Huntington; in 1853, by
the Honorable Sewall G. Mack; in 1855, by the Honorable Ambrose
Lawrence; in 1856, by Dr. Huntington; in 1857, by the Honorable Stephen
Mansur, the first Republican mayor; in 1858, by Dr. Huntington, for his
eighth term; in 1859, by the Honorable James Cook; in 1860, by the
Honorable Benjamin C. Sargent; in 1862, by the Honorable Hocum Hosford;
in 1865, by the Honorable Josiah G. Peabody; in 1867, by the Honorable
George F. Richardson; in 1869, by the Honorable Jonathan P. Folsom; in
1871, by the Honorable Edward F. Sherman; in 1872, by the Honorable
Josiah G. Peabody; in 1873, by the Honorable Francis Jewett; in 1876, by
the Honorable Charles A. Stott; in 1878, by the Honorable John A.G.
Richardson; in 1880, by the Honorable Frederic T. Greenhalge; in 1882,
by the Honorable George Runels; in 1883, by the present mayor, the
Honorable John J. Donovan.
The young city met with a serious loss April 11, 1837, in the sudden
death of Kirk Boott.
A county jail was built in 1838, and the Nashua and Lowell Railroad was
opened for travel.
Luther Lawrence was killed, April 17, 1839, by a fall into a wheel-pit.
He was serving his second term as mayor of the city at the time of the
accident. His residence was bought by the corporations and converted
into the Lowell Hospital.
[Illustration: WILLIAM LIVINGSTON.
Born April 12, 1803. Died March 17, 1855.]
In 1840, the Massachusetts Mills were established; and the South Common,
of about twenty acres, and the North Common, of about ten acres, were
laid out. During this year appeared the Lowell Offering, a monthly
journal, edited by Miss Harriet Farley and Miss Hariot Curtiss, two
factory girls. The journal was praised by John G. Whittier, Charles
Dickens, and other gifted writers, for its intrinsic merits.
Lowell is largely indebted to Oliver M. Whipple for its cemetery, which
was consecrated June 20, 1841. It contains about forty-five acres, and
has near the centre a small gothic chapel.
In January, 1842, Charles Dickens made a flying visit to Lowell, and has
left on record in American Notes his impressions of the city.
During this period the court-room of the city was occasionally graced by
the presence of Daniel Webster and Rufus Choate.
The City Library was instituted in 1844.
The Stony Brook Railroad Company was incorporated in 1845.
The Honorable Nathan Crosby was appointed justice of the police court in
1846, and still continues in office. The Lowell and Lawrence Railroad
was incorporated this year, and the population of Lowell numbered
29,127.
[Illustration: SAINT ANNE'S CHURCH, 1840.]
President James K. Polk visited Lowell in 1847; and the city met with
the loss of Patrick Tracy Jackson, a man whose name should be always
honored in Lowell. The great Northern Canal was completed this year by
James B. Francis, the most distinguished hydraulic engineer in the
United States. It was a stupendous work and stands a monument to the
genius of its constructor. Daniel Webster, in company with Abbott
Lawrence, rode along its dry channel, before the water was admitted, and
fully appreciated the immense undertaking.
The Salem and Lowell Railroad was incorporated in 1848, and was opened
for travel two years later.
The reservoir on Lynde's Hill was constructed in 1849.
Gas was introduced, and the Court House on Gorham Street built, in 1850.
In 1851, Centralville, previously a part of Dracut, was included within
the city limits, and the Lowell Reform School was established.
In 1852, George Wellman completed his first working model of his self
top card stripper--one of the most valuable inventions of the present
century; Louis Kossuth, the Hungarian patriot, visited Lowell; and the
Legislature of Massachusetts enacted the first prohibitory liquor law.
The City Hall was reconstructed in 1853. The Lowell Jail was built in
1856. Thomas H. Benton visited Lowell in 1857. Washington Square was
laid out in 1858.
[Illustration: OLIVER M. WHIPPLE.]
During the dark days of the Rebellion, Lowell responded loyally to the
appeal for soldiers and money, and of her young men many of the best
were sacrificed to preserve the Union.
The fall of Fort Sumter produced a profound sensation in Lowell. Four
companies from the city hastened to join their regiment: the Mechanic
Phalanx, under command of Captain Albert S. Follansbee; the City Guards,
Captain James W. Hart; the Watson Light Guard, Captain John F. Noyes,
and the Lawrence Cadets (National Grays), Captain Josiah A. Sawtelle.
They assembled at Huntington Hall, the day after President Lincoln's
call for troops, and were mustered into the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment
under command of Colonel Edward F. Jones. They at once proceeded to
Boston and were joined at Faneuil Hall by the other companies of the
regiment and the next day were on their way to the seat of war. A
detachment of the regiment had to fight their way through a mob in
Baltimore, and four of the Lowell City Guards were the first to lay down
their lives in the great drama of war known as the Rebellion. Addison
O. Whitney and Luther C. Ladd, of Lowell, were the first martyrs; their
last resting-place is commemorated by a monument in a public square of
the city. The regiment arrived at Washington, were quartered in the
Senate Chamber, and formed the nucleus of the rapidly gathering Northern
army. The Hill Cadets, under Captain S. Proctor, and the Richardson
Light Infantry, Captain Phineas A. Davis, were formed the day after the
Baltimore riot. The company known as the Abbott Grays, under Captain
Edward Gardner Abbott, was organized five days later. That called the
Butler Rifles was organized May 1, by Eben James and Thomas O'Hare.
[Illustration: FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, 1860.]
While these active preparations for war were progressing, Judge Crosby
called a public meeting, April 20, at which the Pioneer Soldiers' Aid
Association, the germ of the Sanitary Commission, was formed. The city
government was liberal, too, in its appropriations for the families of
absent soldiers. In September, Camp Chase, a military rendezvous, was
established at Lowell.
[Illustration: KIRK-STREET CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, 1840.]
Among the first, and most distinguished, of the citizens of Lowell to
offer his services to the general government at this crisis, was General
Benjamin F. Butler, already a lawyer and orator of great reputation, who
had previously held high rank in the militia. Six companies from Lowell
joined his expedition to the Gulf.
Early in 1862, the Sixth and Seventh Batteries, mostly Lowell men, were
organized. In response to the President's call in July, 1862, three
companies joined the Thirty-third Regiment. In August, the Sixth
Regiment again entered the field for a campaign of nine months.
[Illustration: FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 1840.]
In February, 1863, Lowell sent to the war the Fifteenth Battery, in
command of Captain Timothy Pearson and Lieutenant Albert Rowse. During
this month the ladies of the city raised about five thousand dollars for
the Sanitary Commission by a Soldiers' Fair--the second held in the
Northern States. In July, 1863, the "draft" called for over four hundred
additional soldiers from Lowell; less than thirty were forced into the
service. These were the palmy days for the substitute brokers and
bounty-jumpers. In July, 1864, the Sixth Regiment again responded, and
served one hundred days.
In 1865, came the close of the war and the return of the battle-scarred
veterans. During the long struggle more than five thousand citizens of
Lowell were in the army and navy of the United States, and the city
expended over $300,000 in equipment and bounties.
The Lowell Horse Railroad Company and the First National Bank were
incorporated in 1864. The French-Canadians began to settle in Lowell
just after the war.
[Illustration: ST. PETER'S ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, 1860.]
In October, 1866, Dr. J.C. Ayer presented the city with the statue of
Victory which stands in Monument Square.
The Old Ladies' Home was dedicated July 10, 1867. St. John's Hospital
was completed and opened in 1868. It occupies the site of the old yellow
house built in 1770 by Timothy Brown. In November of the same year the
first meeting of the Old Residents' Historical Association of Lowell was
held at the store of Joshua Merrill; in December, the city was visited
by General Grant.
In 1869, the city authorities undertook a system of water-supply works
which was completed four years later; the Lowell Hosiery Company was
incorporated in May. The Thorndike Manufacturing Company commenced
operations in June, 1870.
The fire-alarm telegraph was introduced in 1871; in August, trains on
the Lowell and Framingham Railroad commenced running; in November, the
new iron bridge across the Merrimack was finished; during the year, the
city suffered severely from the scourge of small-pox.
The boundaries of Lowell were extended, in 1873, to include Middlesex
Village, taken from Chelmsford, and a part of Dracut and Tewksbury. A
new railroad by the way of Andover connected Lowell with Boston in 1874.
[Illustration: OLD FIRST UNIVERSALIST CHURCH,
Which stood on site of the Boston and Maine Railroad Station.]
The city celebrated the semi-centennial of its incorporation, March 1,
1876.
The Emperor Dom Pedro of Brazil visited the city in June of the same
year.
The Lowell Art Association was formed in May, 1878. In December of that
year the waters of the Merrimack rose nearly eleven feet on Pawtucket
Dam; in the same month the Merrimack Company introduced the electric
light.
[Illustration: JOHN DYNELY PRINCE.
Born in England, 1780. Died January 5, 1860.]
Merrimack Company introduced the electric light.
In August, 1880, Boston and Lowell were connected by telephone.
As one glances over the history of Lowell, he recognizes the fact that
the city has gained its prominence, its wealth, and its population,
chiefly through the great corporations, and the wisdom of their early
managers; accordingly the record of these corporate bodies is intimately
connected with the annals of the city. The reader has noted the fact
that the first impetus was given to the place by the acts of the
Merrimack Manufacturing Company. This company was incorporated February
5, 1822; and the first mill was started the following year. The company
is not only the oldest in the city but is the largest, employing the
most operatives and producing the most cloth; their chimney, two hundred
and eighty-three feet high, is the tallest in the country.
Ezra Worthen, the first superintendent of the mills, died, suddenly,
June 18, 1824, and was succeeded by Warren Colburn, the author of the
popular arithmetic. Mr. Colburn died September 13, 1833, and was
succeeded by John Clark, who held the office until 1848. Mr. Clark was
succeeded by Emory Washburn, afterward Governor of Massachusetts, by
Edward L. Lebreton, and from 1850 to 1865 by Isaac Hinckley, now
president of the Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore Railroad. John
C. Palfrey was superintendent from 1865 to 1874, when Joseph S. Ludlam
was appointed. The print-works were in charge of Kirk Boott in 1822;
after him was Allen Pollock, 1823 to 1826; John D. Prince, 1826 to 1855;
Henry Barrows, 1855 to 1878; James Duckworth, 1878 to 1882; Robert
Latham, since 1882. The treasurers of the company have been Kirk Boott,
Francis C. Lowell, Eben Chadwick, Francis B. Crowinshield, Arthur T.
Lyman, Augustus Lowell, and Charles H. Dalton.
[Illustration: UNITARIAN CHURCH, 1845.]
The property of the company occupies twenty-four acres of land. They
have five mills besides the print-works, 153,552 spindles, 4,465 looms,
and employ 3,300 operatives. They use up 18,000 tons of coal. The prints
made at this establishment, are marked "Merrimack," and are too well
known to require description.
The Hamilton Manufacturing Company was incorporated in 1825. The
treasurers have been William Appleton, 1825; Ebenezer Appleton, 1830;
George W. Lyman, 1833; Thomas G. Cary, 1839; William B. Bacon, 1859;
Arthur T. Lyman, 1860; Arthur L. Devens, 1863; Eben Bacon, 1867; Samuel
Batchelder, 1869; George R. Chapman, 1876;
[Illustration: FIRST UNIVERSALIST CHURCH, HURD STREET.]
James A. Dupee, since 1870. The agents have been Samuel Batchelder,
1825; John Avery, 1831; O.H. Moulton, since 1864. The superintendents
of print-works have been William Spencer, 1828; William Hunter, 1862;
William Harley, 1866; Thomas Walsh, 1876. The company manufactures
flannels, prints, ticks, stripes, drills, and sheetings.
The Appleton Company was incorporated in 1828. The treasurers have been
William Appleton, 1828; Patrick T. Jackson, 1829; George W. Lyman, 1832;
Thomas G. Cary, 1841; William B. Bacon, 1859; Arthur T. Lyman, 1861;
Arthur L. Devens, 1863; John A. Burnham, 1867; George Motley, 1867;
James A. Dupee, since 1874. The superintendents have been John Avery,
1828; George Motley, 1831; J.H. Sawyer, 1867; Daniel Wright, 1881. The
company manufactures sheetings, drillings, and yarn.
[Illustration: NATHAN CROSBY.
Born in Sandwich, New Hampshire, February 12, 1798.]
The Lowell Manufacturing Company was incorporated in 1828. The
treasurers have been Frederick Cabot, 1828; George W. Lyman, 1831;
Nathaniel W. Appleton, 1841; William C. Appleton, 1843; J. Thomas
Stevenson, 1847; Israel Whitney, 1848; Charles L. Harding, 1863; David
B. Jewett, 1865; Samuel Fay, 1874; George C. Richardson, 1880; Arthur T.
Lyman, 1881. The superintendents have been Alexander Wright, 1828;
Samuel Fay, 1852; Andrew F. Swapp, 1874; Albion C. Lyon was appointed
June 1, 1883. The company makes ingrain, Brussels, and Wilton carpets.
[Illustration: FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH.]
The Middlesex Company was incorporated in 1830. The treasurers have
been William D. Stone, 1830; Samuel Lawrence, 1840; R.S. Fay, 1857;
George Z. Silsbee, 1882. The agents have been James Cook, 1830; Nelson
Palmer, 1845; Samuel Lawrence, 1846; O.H. Perry, 1848; William T. Mann,
1851; Josiah Humphrey, 1852; James Cook, 1858; O.H. Perry, 1858;
G.V. Fox, 1869; William C. Avery, 1874; O.H. Perry, from June, 1882.
O. Saunderson, superintendent. The company makes indigo blue coatings,
cassimeres, police, yacht, and cadet cloth, ladies' sackings, beavers,
and shawls.
The Suffolk Manufacturing Company was incorporated January 17, 1831. The
proprietors of the Tremont Mills were incorporated March 19, 1831. The
two were consolidated in 1871. The treasurers of Suffolk Manufacturing
Company were John W. Boott, 1831; Henry Hall, 1832; Henry V. Ward, 1857;
Walter Hastings, 1865; William A. Burke, 1868; James C. Ayer, 1870. The
treasurers of the proprietors of the Tremont Mills were William
Appleton, 1831; Henry Hall, 1832; Henry V. Ward, 1857; Walter Hastings,
1865; William A. Burke, 1868; James C. Ayer, 1870. The treasurers of
Tremont and Suffolk Mills have been James C. Ayer, 1871; John C.
Birdseye, 1872. The agents of Suffolk Manufacturing Company were Robert
Means, 1831; John Wright, 1842; Thomas S. Shaw, 1868.
[Illustration: WORTHEN-STREET METHODIST CHURCH.]
The agents of the proprietors of the Tremont Mills were Israel Whitney,
1831; John Aiken, 1834; Charles L. Tilden, 1837; Charles F. Battles,
1858; Thomas S. Shaw, 1870. The agent of Tremont and Suffolk Mills is
Thomas S. Shaw, appointed August 19, 1871. These mills make jeans,
cotton flannels, drillings, sheetings, shirtings and print cloth.
The Lawrence Manufacturing Company was incorporated in 1831. The
treasurers have been William Appleton, 1831; Henry Hall, 1832; Henry V.
Ward, 1857; T. Jefferson Coolidge, 1868; Lucius M. Sargent, 1880. The
agents have been William Austin, 1830; John Aiken, 1837; William S.
Southworth, 1849; William F. Salmon, 1865; Daniel Hussey, 1869; John
Kilburn, 1878. The company makes shirtings, sheetings, cotton flannels,
and cotton and merino hosiery.
[Illustration: GEORGE WELLMAN.
Born in Boston, March 16, 1810. Died April 4, 1864.]
The Boott Cotton Mills were incorporated in 1835. The treasurers have
been John Amory Lowell, 1835; J. Pickering Putnam, 1848; T. Jefferson
Coolidge, 1858; Richard D. Rogers, 1865; Augustus Lowell, 1875. The
agents have been Benjamin F. French, 1836; Linus Child, 1845; William A.
Burke, 1862; Alexander G. Cumnock, 1868. The company makes sheetings,
shirtings, and printing cloth.
The Massachusetts Cotton Mills were incorporated in 1838. The treasurers
have been John Amory Lowell, 1839; Homer Bartlett, 1848; George
Atkinson, 1872. The agents have been Homer Bartlett, 1840; Joseph White,
1848; Frank F. Battles, 1856. The mills turn out sheetings, shirtings,
and drillings.
[Illustration: LEE-STREET UNITARIAN CHURCH.
Now French Catholic. Enlarged and rebuilt.]
The Lowell Machine Shop was incorporated in 1845. The treasurers have
been J. Thomas Stevenson, 1845; William A. Burke, from 1876. The agents
have been William A. Burke, 1845; Mertoun C. Bryant, 1862; Andrew Moody,
1862; George Richardson, 1870; Charles L. Hildreth, 1879. The company
makes all kinds of machinery for mills.
The Proprietors of Locks and Canals on Merrimack River were incorporated
in 1792. The treasurers have been Joseph Cutler, 1792; W.W. Prout,
1804; Samuel Cutler, 1809; Samuel Tenney, 1817; Kirk Boott, 1822; Joseph
Tilden, 1837; P.T. Jackson, 1838; John T. Morse, 1845. The agents have
been Kirk Boott, 1822; Joseph Tilden, 1837; William Boott, 1838; James
B. Francis, 1845, to present date.
[Illustration: PRESCOTT-STREET CHURCH.]
The Winnipiseogee Lake Cotton and Woolen Manufacturing Company was
incorporated in 1831. The presidents were Abbott Lawrence, from August,
1846, to July, 1850; Henry Hall, to June, 1856; Francis B. Crowinshield,
to August, 1857; John Amory Lowell, to June, 1864; J. Thomas Stevenson,
to June, 1877; Richard S. Fay, until his decease, March 7, 1882. The
treasurers were James Bell, from 1845 until his decease, in May, 1857;
Francis B. Crowinshield, to October, 1861; J. Thomas Stevenson, to June,
1864; Homer Bartlett, to June, 1872; Charles S. Storrow, to June, 1878;
James A. Dupee, to June, 1882. Directors, 1883: Charles Storrow,
president; James A. Dupee, Augustus Lowell, Howard Stockton, George
Atkinson. Clerk of corporation, Augustus T. Owen; treasurer, George
Atkinson; agent, T.P. Hutchinson. The company guards the storage of
water at Lake Winnipiseogee.
[Illustration: LOWELL MACHINE SHOP About 1860.]
[Illustration: APPLETON MILLS. 1845.]
Nor would a sketch of Lowell be complete without mention of the firm of
J.C. Ayer and Company. Dr. J.C. Ayer started the business in 1837, when
he offered to physicians the prescription of cherry pectoral. It soon
became a very popular remedy, and he was soon embarked in the enterprise
of manufacturing it. Liter he added to the list of his proprietary
medicines cathartic pills, sarsaparilla, ague cure, and hair vigor. He
died July 3, 1878, after having accumulated a princely fortune. His
brother, and partner, Frederick Ayer, conducts the business. The firm
occupy several large buildings and employ three hundred people. The
world demands fifteen tons of Ayer's pills yearly. They publish thirteen
million almanacs, in ten languages, issuing twenty-six editions for
different localities, keeping several large presses constantly at work.
[Illustration: HIGH-STREET CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH.]
C.J. Hood and Company also make sarsaparilla and other proprietary
medicines. They employ seventy-five operatives.
E.W. Hoyt and Company employ twenty hands, and make two million bottles
of German cologne.
There are numerous other manufactories in the city, of more or less
extent. Their products consist of porus and adhesive plasters, lung
protectors, sulphuric, hydrochloric, and nitric acids, and other
chemicals and dye-stuffs, belting, paper stock, yarns, shoulder-braces,
suspenders, shoe-linings, elastic webbing, sackings, rugs, mats, gauze
undergarments, looms, harnesses, felting, hose, bunting, seamless flags,
awning stripes, reeds, braid, cord, chalk-lines, picture cords, twines,
belts, fire hose, leather, bolts, nuts, screws, washers, boilers,
tanks, kettles, presses, fire-escapes, water-wheels, wire-heddles,
card-clothing, wood-working and knitting machinery, cartridges,
chimney-caps, stamps, tools, lathes, files, wire-cloth, scales, steel
wire, paper boxes, music stands, mouldings, carriages, sleighs,
shuttles, doors, sashes, blinds, furniture, asbestos covering, blotters,
crayons, drain-pipe, glue, lamp-black, machine brushes, matches, croquet
sets.
[Illustration: MERRIMAC HOUSE.
Built in 1833, rebuilt in 1873. Henry Emery proprietor since 1845.]
Proper attention has always been paid to education in Lowell, In 1822,
there were two schoolhouses within the territory, one near the pound,
the other near the stone house at Pawtucket Falls. The Merrimack Company
soon after its organization built a schoolhouse on Merrimack Street and
paid the teacher. The Reverend Theodore Edson had charge of the school.
Joel Lewis was the first male teacher. Alfred V. Bassett was the second.
In 1829, the school had one hundred and sixty-five pupils. In 1834, the
school was divided. The High School building on Kirk Street was erected
in 1840, and remodeled in 1867. Charles C. Chase was teacher from 1845
to 1883. He was succeeded by Frank F. Coburn, the present teacher.
[Illustration: SOLON A. PERKINS.
Born in Lancaster, N.H., December 6, 1836. Killed in Louisiana,
June 3, 1863.]
After the log chapel presided over by the Indian Samuel had fallen into
decay, a century and a half passed before another place of worship was
erected within the limits of Lowell. In December, 1822, a committee was
appointed by the Merrimack Corporation to build a suitable church, and
in April, 1824, the sum of nine thousand dollars was appropriated for
the purpose. The church was organized February 24, 1824, as "The
Merrimack Religious Society," and the Episcopal form of worship was
adopted. The first religious services were conducted by the Reverend
Theodore Edson, on Sunday, March 7, 1824, in the schoolhouse. The church
edifice is known as St. Anne's, and was consecrated by Bishop Griswold,
March 16, 1825. The Reverend Dr. Edson was the first rector. After a
pastorate of over half a century, he died in 1883. In the tower of St.
Anne's is a chime of eleven bells, mounted in 1857, and weighing five
tons.
[Illustration: Bvt. Brig. Gen. HENRY LIVERMORE ABBOTT.
Born in Lowell, January 21, 1842. Killed in battle of the
Wilderness, May 6, 1864.]
[Illustration: Major EDWARD GARDNER ABBOTT.
Born in Lowell, September 29, 1840. Killed at the battle
of Cedar Mountain, August 9, 1862.]
The First Baptist Church was organized February 8, 1826. The church
edifice, built the same year, occupied land given to the society by
Thomas Hurd. It was dedicated November 15, 1826, when the Reverend John
Cookson was installed as pastor. He was dismissed August 5, 1827, and
was succeeded, June 4, 1828, by the Reverend Enoch N. Freeman, who died
September 22, 1835. The Reverend Joseph W. Eaton was ordained pastor,
February 24, 1836, and dismissed February 1, 1837. The Reverend Joseph
Ballard was installed December 25, 1837, and dismissed September 1,
1845. The Reverend Daniel C. Eddy was ordained January 29, 1846, was
speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1855, was
chaplain of the Senate in 1856, and was dismissed at the close of 1856.
The Reverend William H. Alden was installed June 14, 1857, and dismissed
in April, 1864. The Reverend William E. Stanton was ordained November 2,
1865, and resigned June 30, 1870; the Reverend Norman C. Mallory was
settled September 14, 1870, and resigned June 30, 1874; the Reverend
Orson E. Mallory was settled March 24, 1875, resigned February 28, 1878;
the Reverend Thomas M. Colwell was settled May 4, 1878.
[Illustration: NORTHERN RAILROAD STATION.]
The First Congregational Church was organized June 6, 1826. The church
edifice was built, in 1827, on land given by the Locks and Canals
Company. The Reverend George C. Beckwith, the first pastor, was ordained
July 18, 1827, and dismissed March 18, 1829. The Reverend Amos
Blanchard, D.D., was ordained December 5, 1829, and dismissed May 21,
1845, when he became pastor of the Kirk-street Church. The Reverend
Willard Child was installed pastor, October 1, 1845, and dismissed
January 31, 1855. The Reverend J.L. Jenkins was ordained October, 17,
1855, and dismissed in April, 1862. The Reverend George N. Webber was
installed in October, 1862, and dismissed April 1, 1867. The Reverend
Horace James was installed October 31, 1867, and dismissed December 13,
1870. The Reverend Smith Baker was installed September 13, 1871.
[Illustration: BLOCK AT CORNER OF CENTRAL AND MIDDLE STREETS, 1848.]
The Hurd-street Methodist Episcopal Church dates from 1826; the church
edifice was built in 1839. The Reverend Benjamin Griffin was pastor in
1826; the Reverend A.D. Merrill, in 1827; the Reverend B.F. Limbert, in
1828; the Reverend A.D. Sargent, in 1829; the Reverend E.K. Avery, in
1830 and 1831; the Reverend George Pickering, in 1832; the Rev. A.D.
Merrill, in 1833 and 1834; the Reverend Ira M. Bidwell, in 1835; the
Reverend Orange Scott, in 1836; the Reverend E.M. Stickney, in 1837 and
1838; the Reverend Orange Scott, in 1839 and 1840; the Reverend Schuyler
Hoes, in 1841 and 1842; the Reverend W.H. Hatch, in 1843 and 1844; the
Reverend Abel Stevens, in 1845; the Reverend C.K. True, in 1846 and
1847; the Reverend A.A. Willets, in 1848; the Reverend John H. Twombly,
in 1849 and 1850; the Reverend G.F. Cox, in 1851 and 1852; the Reverend
L.D. Barrows, in 1853 and 1854; the Reverend D.E. Chapin, in 1855; the
Reverend George M. Steele, in 1856 and 1857; the Reverend H.M. Loud, in
1858 and 1859; the Reverend William R. Clark, in 1860 and 1861; the
Reverend Daniel Dorchester, in 1862 and 1863; the Reverend Samuel F.
Upham, in 1864, 1865, and 1866 (during the year 1865 he was chaplain of
the Massachusetts House of Representatives); the Reverend S.F. Jones,
in 1867. The church is known as St. Paul's, and the Reverend Hiram D.
Weston is the present pastor.
[Illustration: COUNTY COURT HOUSE, GORHAM STREET, 1860.]
[Illustration: LOWELL SKATING RINK, GORHAM STREET.]
The First Universalist Church was organized in July, 1827. The following
year they built their church on Chapel Street, but removed it in 1837
to Central Street. The Reverend Eliphalet Case was pastor from 1828 to
1830; the Reverend Calvin Gardner, from 1830 to 1833; the Reverend
Thomas B. Thayer, from 1833 to 1845; the Reverend E.G. Brooks, in 1845;
the Reverend Uriah Clark, from 1846 to 1850; the Reverend Thomas B.
Thayer, from 1851 to October, 1857; the Reverend J.J. Twiss, from 1859
to January 1, 1872; the Reverend G.T. Flanders was settled in 1872; the
Reverend George W. Bicknell was settled December 21, 1880.
The South Congregational (Unitarian) Church was organized November 7,
1830, and the edifice was dedicated December 25, 1832. The Reverend
William Barry was pastor from 1830 to 1835; the Reverend Henry A. Mills,
D.D., from 1836 to 1853; the Reverend Theodore Tibbetts, in 1855 and
1856; the Reverend Frederick Hinckley, from 1856 to 1864; the Reverend
Charles Grinnell was settled February 19, 1867; the Reverend Henry
Blanchard was ordained January 19, 1871; the Reverend Josiah Lafayette
Seward was ordained December 31, 1874.
[Illustration: DANIEL LOVEJOY AND SON'S MACHINE KNIFE WORKS.]
The Appleton-street (Orthodox) Congregational Church was organized
December 2, 1830; their edifice was built the following year. The
Reverend William Twining was pastor from 1831 to 1835; A.C. Burnap,
from 1837 to 1852; the Reverend George Darling, from 1852 to 1855; the
Reverend John P. Cleaveland, D.D., from 1855 to 1862, when he became
chaplain of the Thirtieth Massachusetts Regiment in the Department of
the Gulf; the Reverend J.E. Rankin, from 1863 to 1865; the Reverend A.P.
Foster, was settled October 3, 1866, resigned October 17, 1868; the
Reverend J.M. Green was installed July 30, 1870.
The Worthen-street Baptist Church was organized in 1831. The edifice
known as St. Mary's Church was built for this society. Their present
edifice was built in 1838. The Reverend James Barnaby was pastor from
1832 to 1835; the Reverend Lemuel Porter, from 1835 to 1851; the
Reverend J.W. Smith, from 1851 to 1853; the Reverend D.D. Winn, from
1853 to 1855; the Reverend T.D. Worrall, from 1855 to 1857; the Reverend
J.W. Bonham, from 1857 to 1860; the Reverend George F. Warren, from 1860
to 1867; the Reverend F.R. Morse, from 1867 to 1870; the Reverend D.H.
Miller, D.D., from 1870 to 1873; the Reverend E.A. Lecompte, in 1873.
The present pastor is the Reverend John C. Emery.
[Illustration: HOYT & SHEDD'S BLOCK, MIDDLESEX STREET.]
In 1831, the St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church was erected, but was
replaced in 1854 by the present more spacious edifice. The church was
consecrated October 29, 1854, by Bishop Fitzpatrick, of Boston, and
Bishop O'Riley, of Hartford. The pastors have been the Reverend John
Mahoney, the Reverend Peter Connelly, the Reverend James T. McDermott,
the Reverend Henry J. Tucker, and the Reverend John O'Brien.
In 1833, a free church of the Christian denomination was organized under
the ministry of the Reverend Timothy Cole. The experiment proved a
failure and the building was afterwards converted to the uses of an
armory.
The Freewill Baptist Church was organized in 1834, and in 1837 a
spacious edifice was erected. Through mismanagement the society came to
grief and the building was used for commercial purposes. In 1853, the
society built another edifice on Paige Street. The pastors of this
church have been the Reverend Nathaniel Thurston, the Reverend Jonathan
Woodman, the Reverend Silas Curtis, the Reverend A.K. Moulton, the
Reverend J.B. Davis, the Reverend Darwin Mott, the Reverend George W.
Bean, the Reverend J.B. Drew, the Reverend D.A. Marham, the Reverend
J.E. Dame, and the Reverend E.W. Porter.
[Illustration: CHALIFOUX BLOCK.]
The Second Universalist Church was organized in 1836, and their house
was built the following year. The pastors of this church have been the
Reverend Z. Thompson, from 1837 to 1839; the Reverend Abel C. Thomas,
from 1839 to 1842; the Reverend A.A. Miner, D.D., from 1842 to 1848; the
Reverend L.J. Fletcher; the Reverend L.B. Mason, from 1848 to 1849; the
Reverend I.D. Williamson, from 1849 to 1850; the Reverend N.M. Gaylord,
from 1850 to 1853; the Reverend John S. Dennis; the Reverend Charles
Cravens; the Reverend Charles H. Button; the Reverend L.J. Fletcher,
from 1859 to 1862; the Reverend F.E. Hicks, from 1862 to 1866; the
Reverend John G. Adams, from 1866; the Reverend R.A. Greene, from 1877.
The John-street (Orthodox) Congregational Church was organized May 9,
1839. The house was dedicated January 24, 1840. The Reverend Stedman W.
Hanks, the first pastor, was ordained March 20, 1840, and dismissed
February 3, 1853. He was succeeded by the Reverend Eden B. Foster, D.D.,
who resigned his charge in 1861, but resumed it in 1866. During his
absence the Reverend Joseph W. Backus was pastor. The Reverend J.B.
Seabury was installed as associate pastor in 1875. The present pastor is
the Reverend Henry T. Rose.
[Illustration: FIVE CENTS SAVINGS BANK.]
In 1840, the Third Baptist Church was organized. In 1846, the edifice,
afterwards occupied by the Central Methodist Church, was built for this
society. The pastors were the Reverend John G. Naylor, the Reverend Ira
Person, the Reverend John Duncan, the Reverend Sereno Howe, the Reverend
John Duer, and the Reverend John Hubbard. The church was disbanded in
1861.
The Worthen-street Methodist Episcopal Church was organized October 2,
1841, and the edifice was erected the following year. The succession of
pastors has been the Reverend A.D. Sargent, the Reverend A.D. Merrill,
the Rev. J.S. Springer, the Reverend Isaac A. Savage, the Reverend
Charles Adams, the Reverend I.J.P. Collyer, the Reverend M.A. Howe, the
Reverend J.W. Dadmun, the Reverend William H. Hatch, the Reverend A.D.
Sargent, the Reverend L.R. Thayer, the Reverend William H. Hatch, the
Reverend J.O. Peck, the Reverend George Whittaker. The present pastor
is the Reverend Nicholas T. Whittaker.
[Illustration: APPLETON BLOCK, CENTRAL STREET.]
The St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church was gathered on Christmas, 1841.
The Reverend James Conway, the first pastor, was succeeded in March,
1847, by the Reverend Peter Crudden. The present rector is the Reverend
M. Ronan, assisted by the Reverends John D. Colbert and Thomas F.
McManus.
In 1843, the Lowell Missionary Society was established. The Reverend
Horatio Wood officiated in the ministry and labored in free evening
schools and Sunday mission schools, successfully.
The Kirk-street Congregational Church was organized in 1845; the edifice
was built in 1846. The Reverend Amos Blanchard was installed the first
pastor and continued to his death, January 14, 1870. He was succeeded by
the Reverend C.D. Barrows. The present pastor is the Reverend Charles A.
Dickinson.
The High-street Congregational Church was organized in 1846. Their
edifice was built by the St. Luke's Episcopal Church, which was formed
in 1842 and was disbanded, in 1844, under the ministration of the
Reverend A.D. McCoy. The Reverend Timothy Atkinson was pastor from 1846
to 1847; the Reverend Joseph H. Towne, from 1848 to 1853; the Reverend
O.T. Lanphier, from 1855 to 1856; the Reverend Owen Street, from
September 17, 1857.
St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church was originally built for the Baptists,
but was purchased in 1846 by the Reverend James T. McDermott, and
consecrated March 7, 1847.
[Illustration: SCENE BELOW HUNT'S FALLS.]
The Third Universalist Church was organized in 1843, and the edifice
known as Barristers' Hall was built for its use. It was disbanded after
a few years. The pastors were the Reverend H.G. Smith, the Reverend John
Moore, the Reverend H.G. Smith, and the Reverend L.J. Fletcher. The
Central Methodist Church occupied the edifice for a time, before they
secured the building of the Third Baptist Society. The Society was
gathered in 1854. The pastors have been the Reverend William S. Studley,
the Reverend Isaac S. Cushman, the Reverend Isaac J.P. Collyer, the
Reverend Chester Field, the Reverend Lorenzo R. Thayer, the Reverend
J.H. Mansfield, the Reverend Andrew McKeown, in 1865 and 1866, the
Reverend William C. High, in 1867. The Reverend Isaac H. Packard is the
present pastor.
[Illustration: FISKE'S BLOCK, CENTRAL STREET.]
In 1850, a Unitarian Society, organized in 1846, built the Gothic Chapel
on Lee Street, and occupied it until 1861, when it passed into the hands
of a society of Spiritualists. The Unitarian pastors were the Reverend
M.A.H. Niles, the Reverend William Barry, the Reverend Augustus
Woodbury, the Reverend J.K. Karcher, the Reverend John B. Willard, and
the Reverend William C. Tenney. It became the property of the St. Joseph
(French) Roman Catholic Church.
On July 5, 1855, the stone church on Merrimack Street was dedicated as a
Methodist Protestant Church. There preached the Reverend William Marks,
the Reverend Richard H. Dorr, and the Reverend Robert Crossley. The
building passed into possession of the Second Advent Society, which had
been organized as early as 1842.
[Illustration: LOWELL MACHINE SHOP.]
St. John's Episcopal Church was erected in 1861, and consecrated by
Bishop Eastburn, July 16, 1863. The Reverend Charles W. Homer was the
first rector. He was succeeded by the Reverend Cornelius B. Smith, in
1863, who, in 1866, was succeeded by the Reverend Charles L. Hutchins.
The present pastor is the Reverend Leander C. Manchester.
There are in Lowell thirty edifices exclusively devoted to public
worship.
[Illustration: EDSON BLOCK MERRIMACK STREET.]
We have followed the course of events which have developed the city of
Lowell from a small, scattering settlement to an important city, with an
area of nearly twelve square miles, occupied by more than sixty thousand
inhabitants. The daily life of its continually changing population has
not been dwelt upon. In the early days the projectors of the city cared
for the religion, the education, and the savings of those whom they
employed. New England farms contributed their fairest children to the
mills. The field was open to the world, and from every section flocked
those seeking honest employment. First in great numbers came the people
from England and Ireland, and, later, the thrifty French, Germans,
Swedes, and Canadians. All nations have contributed to the advancement
of Lowell, each adding of his labor or thought to the improvement of the
city.
Lowell is laid out with a certain irregular regularity. The mills came
first: the business came afterward; and one finds canals, business
blocks, and mills built close together. Only an intelligent study of a
map of the city will give one an idea of its plan. It was not modeled
after the city of Philadelphia.
[Illustration: A PLAN of SUNDRY FARMS &c. PATUCKET in the town of
CHELMSFORD. MDCCCXXI.]
Over seventeen millions of dollars are invested in manufacturing. There
are one hundred and fifty-three mills, over eight hundred thousand
spindles, and twenty thousand looms. The mills give employment to
thirteen thousand female operatives and ten thousand male operatives.
Two hundred million yards of cotton goods are yearly sent from Lowell to
clothe the world. Of woolen goods, more than eight million yards. Nearly
three million yards of carpeting are made in the city every year, and a
fabulous number of shawls. Thirteen million pairs of stockings were the
last year's product. The Southern States contribute yearly thirty-four
thousand tons of cotton, which is here made into the most delicate
fabrics. The calico and printed goods made in Lowell in the year 1882
would twice encircle the earth at the equator--and then all would not be
used to do it.
[Illustration]