This Guide aims to bring together publications, reports, and archival materials created by the City of Lowell Department of Planning and Development.
The Building Book, Lowell The Sign Book, and the Chapel Hill exist in hard copy within the UMass University Library Center for Lowell History holdings but are available here in digital form for convenient access.
The Planning and Development Reports are comprised of photographs and brief descriptions of Lowell buildings as they existed in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Over three thousand of these building reports were digitized through a 2016 Lowell Community Cultural grant. These Dept. of Planning and Development works have been uploaded to the Internet Archive as a single pdf, indexed by street.
We hope to make additional DPW materials available in the future.
From the Lowell DPD website:
"The Department of Planning and Development staff considers it an honor to serve the City of Lowell, a city with a great American past and a bright future. We are working continuously with the help of the public, City Hall, the private sector, and other partners, to create a “lifetime city” for people of various backgrounds to live and work in.
Through Community Development, Developmental Services, Economic Development, Housing and Energy, Lead Paint Abatement, Traffic and Transportation, and our various Planning Projects and other Department Services and financial assistance programs, we hope to plan and develop a city that will bring pride to Lowellians. We are committed to preserving and enhancing the quality of community life, as well as natural and built environments in Lowell through the evaluation of land-development and use proposals for adherence to the goals and objectives of the City's Master Plan and Zoning Code."
