There’s a Lot to Like About Lowell
The Old Surf Hotel
I took a short photo walk through the downtown of my city of origin, Lowell, Massachusetts on Saturday. The reason for the visit was a lunch and business meeting of sorts with my great friend and author, Fran Coughlin. The business part of the day entailed some discussion around his new and first website, which I am designing — someone has to drag him into the 21st Century. His site is in need of some photographs of Lowell, which I am happy to provide for a modest fee of a pint and a sandwich.
I never strayed far from Lowell and, with family there and near, visit often. Every drive through the city evokes mostly fond memories — I’ve blocked most of the bad ones. Its like I never left, and in many ways, I haven’t. But for some reason, since leaving the city over 40 years ago, I have only occasionally gone there with photographic purpose.
Boot Mill and Canal
Lowell is defined by its many textile mills which produced much of the nations textiles from the mid 19th to the mid 20th century. It is one of several cities in the area, mostly along the Merrimack River, claiming to be the “birthplace of the Industrial Revolution in America.” Growing up in Lowell, we believed Lowell was THE birthplace. Because of the lobbying of the late Massachusetts Senator and Lowell native, Paul Tsongas, Lowell is the only mill city in the area that boasts an actual National Park. As National Parks go, it is no Yellowstone or Yosemite, but it well worth a visit.
City Hall from St. Ann’s Church
Walking through my childhood stomping grounds is different than driving through. When I drive through, I mostly see the macro view. I see the things that have remain largely unchanged over my 67(!!) years. But walking through, I tune into the micro view. I see little changes. What is now corner store used to be a taxi stand. Across the street is Conlon’s Liquors, where I’m sure I purchased beer as a high school senior — the drinking age was 18 then. It is still liquor store, but is now Highland Liquors, although one of the signs still says Conlon’s.
Speaking of high school, although I believe it is mostly an administrative building, the original Lowell High School building looks exactly the same as it did when both Fran and I were members of the its Class of 1976. The Lowell High School Clock, gift of the class of ‘37, ‘38, and ‘39, is still the building’s centerpiece and icon. I can still hear hallway combatants’ invitations to finish their fight after school: “Meet me under the clock at 3:30! We’ll finish this!” With a teacher usually within earshot, those rendezvous almost never happened.
Meet Me Under the Clock
The view of City Hall from St Anne’s is completely unchanged as well. Lowell’s City Hall is a beautiful piece of architecture, as is St. Anne’s Episcopal Church, which is as old as the city itself.
Boot Mill from the Canal was a very familiar view for me. Through college, I drove a truck for the local newspaper, The Lowell Sun. The building on the left of the canal was the Lowell Sun building. The alley between the canal and building was where loaded the trucks with bundles of papers before departing for all corners of Middlesex County. Don’t recall anyone falling into the canal, but I’m betting it happened.
My favorite thing that hasn’t changed, but has changed is the featured image: The Surf Hotel. The building was originally a boarding house for the Mill Girls — the young women who flocked to Lowell to work in the textile mills. When I was in high school, it was the Surf Hotel. Not a 5-star hotel, to be kind, but a hotel just the same. Today, with its architectural character unchanged, The former boarding house turned hotel appears to be low income apartments.
Looks like some of its tenants can afford AC. Some can’t.