The Center for Lowell History has created this central hub for Lowell atlases, maps, and plans drawn from its holdings as well as the cartographic resources of other repositories.
The collection is arranged by creation year beginning with the 1794 plans of the town of Chelmsford and an 1821 rendering of its eastern section, Sundry Farms Patucket, where the town of Lowell would be established in 1826 and incorporated as a city in 1836. Subsequent maps and atlases document Lowell’s expansion into the abutting towns of Dracut and Tewkesbury, showing the development of buildings, mill yards, and related housing, and illustrating the core downtown at its peak of development in the 20th century. Some years are represented with more than one iteration of a map or atlas.
The 2022 page includes links to the City of Lowell Map Library which contains maps and related publications, most of which have been created using Lowell's Geographic Information Systems (GIS), ESRI ArcGIS Online, and Google. The GIS Hub Page includes a wide array of interactive maps with themes ranging from Historic Review and Zoning maps to cultural attractions, restaurants, etc.
The 2022 page also includes the UMass Lowell Campus Map site which provides up to date locations for the university's Academic Departments, Buildings, Campus Dining, Parking, Residence Halls, Research Centers, and more.
External cartographic resources include the Library of Congress, Harvard University, the Norman B. Leventhal Map Center Collection at the Boston Public Library, and the Massachusetts Archives.
If you have questions, feedback, or suggestions for additional resources please send them to: archives@uml.edu
