Lowell, Massachusetts, USA
1895 - Lowell

Lowell, a city of Massachusetts, and one of the capitals of Middlesex co., is situated on the Merrimac River, at the mouth of the Concord, 25 miles N. by W. of Boston, Lat. 42° 38'46" N.; lon. 71°19' 2" W. It is the third city of the state in population. The site is uneven and picturesque, and "from the heights of Belvidere, on the right bank of the river, the whole panorama of the city, the long, curving line of the Merrimac, the distant peaks of Wachusett, and the New Hampshire mountains, come grandly into view." The city is chiefly on the S. side of the Merrimac though some large establishments are situated on the N. The streets are regularly laid out and well paved; the city is lighted chiefly by electric lights. The principal public institutions and edifices are a new city hall (18'), erected at a cost of $300,000; a memorial building ($150,000), a new high-school building ($150,000), a court-house: 43 churches, a free library and reading-room with 40,000 volumes, a mechanics' association library with 20,000 volumes, 7 national banks with an aggregate capital of $2,500,000, 7 savings-banks, 3 hospitals, 2 orphanages, a home for aged women, and water-works constructed at a cost of $1,265,000. Six daily and 5 weekly newspapers are published here, and here also is the site of the Ayer Home for young women and children, endowed by Mrs. J.C. Ayer.

The prosperity of Lowell is mainly derived from manufactures of cotton and woollen goods and the immense hydraulic power afforded by the Merrimac, which here falls 33 feet. The water-power is owned by a corporation chartered as "The Proprietors of the Locks and Canals on Merrimac River." As given in the United States census, Lowell had in 1890 a capital of $40,457,399 invested in manufactures employing 28,086 operatives, the annual product aggregating a value of $39,638,062; the wages paid having increased from $5,996,591 in 1880 to $10,695,543 in 1890. Here are 9 large corporations, which employ, in addition to the water-power, 50 steam-engines, and own nearly 80 mills and over 600,000 spindles. Among these corporations are the Merrimac Manufacturing Company (capital, $2,500,000), the Hamilton Manufacturing Company (capital, $1,500,000), and the Massachusetts Cotton-Mills (capital, $1,800,000). These corporations produce cotton sheetings, shirtings, prints, drillings, flannels, carpets, cassimeres, shawls, hosiery, beavers, &c. Lowell has also manufactures of machinery, boilers, paper, chemicals, edge-tools, elastic goods, files, screws, bolts, patent medicines, carriages, furniture, sash and blinds, turbine-wheels, pumps, hydraulic presses, bobbins,and machinists tools. The Lowell Bleachery has a capital of $300,000, employs about 400 operatives and dyes 15,000,000 yards per annum. This city is at the convergence of 7 railroads, named the Boston & Lowell, the Lowell & Nashua, the Lowell & Lawrence, the Stony Brook, the Lowell & Framingham, the Lowell & Andover and the Salem & Lowell. There are several public squares in one of which a monument has been erected to the memory of Ladd and Whitney, who were killed in Baltimore by a mob April 19, 1861. The assessed valuation of property for 1890 was $62,046,799. Lowell was incorporated as a city in 1836. Pop. in 1840, 20,796; in 1860, 36,827; in 1875, 49,688; in 1880, 59,475; in 1890, 77,696.

Lippincott's Gazetteer of the World: A Complete Pronouncing Gazetteer Or Geographical Dictionary of the World Containing Notices of Over One Hundred and Twenty-five Thousand Places ... Joseph Thomas January 1, 1895 J.B. Lippincott

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