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The Town & the City: Lowell before and after The Civil War

Originally created to be a digital archive for Lowell documents from 1826 to 1861, this website has grown to cover many periods and events in Lowell's history.

Writings about early Lowell

No part of the earth's service is more worthy of study, for us, than that on which we live. No part can boast a history more replete with the elements of poetry and romance, — what she has done for the advancement of the mechanic arts, — what she has contributed to the comfort and well-being of civilized mankind, — what her citizens have done, and are now doing, for the preservation of the unity and nationality of America, — the world well knows.
Charles Cowley, 1862
 

[Lowell, Massachusetts] is in many ways a cosmopolis - the whole universe is represented there in a fourteen-square-mile municipality. And it is possible that by studying Lowell one might see the entire range of human experience and come away with a truer understanding of history.
Mehmed Ali, 2006

Observations of Lowell