Lowell

/loh"euhl/, n.

1. Abbott Lawrence /ab"euht/, 1856-1943, political scientist and educator: president of Harvard University 1909-33.

2. his sister, Amy, 1874-1925, U.S. poet and critic.

3. James Russell, 1819-91, U.S. poet, essayist, and diplomat.

4. Percival, 1855-1916, U.S. astronomer and author (brother of Abbott Lawrence Lowell and Amy Lowell).

5. Robert, 1917-77, U.S. poet.

6. a city in NE Massachusetts, on the Merrimack River. 92,418.

7. a male given name: from a Germanic word meaning "little wolf."

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I

City (pop., 2000: 105,167), northeastern Massachusetts, U.S. Settled in 1653 as East Chelmsford, it became a major centre of cotton-textile manufacturing in the 19th century.

It was renamed for industrialist Francis Lowell and was incorporated as a city in 1836. In the 20th century it began losing textile manufacturing to southern states, and it diversified into other industries. The Lowell National Historical Park (established 1978) commemorates the Industrial Revolution in the U.S. It is the birthplace of the artist James McNeill Whistler and the seat of the University of Massachusetts-Lowell.

II

(as used in expressions)

Lowell Amy

Lowell Francis Cabot

Lowell James Russell

Lowell Percival

Lowell Robert

Thomas Lowell Jackson

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▪ Massachusetts, United States

      city, Middlesex county, northeastern Massachusetts, U.S. It lies at the junction of the Concord and Merrimack (Merrimack River) rivers, 25 miles (40 km) northwest of Boston. It was the nation's first planned industrial town. The site was originally settled in 1653 as a farming community known as East Chelmsford. Beginning in the early 19th century, this village grew to become a major cotton- textile-manufacturing centre because of an abundance of waterpower from the Merrimack's Pawtucket Falls (32 feet [10 metres]) and the completion of the Middlesex Canal link to Boston in 1803. By 1824 the locality was crisscrossed by a canal system that served numerous cotton-textile mills along the Merrimack River. The community was incorporated as a town in 1826 and was named for Francis Cabot Lowell (Lowell, Francis Cabot), a pioneer textile industrialist who was influenced by the organizational reforms of Robert Owen (industrial relations). (See also Factory life and rules at Lowell (Factory life and rules at Lowell, Massachusetts, U.S.).) The town's growth was further sustained by the completion of the Boston and Lowell Railroad in 1835.

      By the mid-19th century Lowell had become one of the nation's major industrial cities; it was called the “spindle city” and the “Manchester of America” because of its large textile industries. As such it aroused the interest of such European writers as Charles Dickens and Anthony Trollope, who recorded their impressions of it. Its peak as a textile centre was reached about 1924. Following a period of decline and eventual relocation of the textile mills to Southern states, the city's economy became more diversified and now includes the manufacture of electronics, chemicals, and textiles. Health care, higher education, and other services also are important.

      The birthplace of the artist James Abbott McNeill Whistler (Whistler, James McNeill) is preserved as an art gallery. Lowell has a campus of Middlesex Community College (1969). The University of Massachusetts (Massachusetts, University of) Lowell, formerly the University of Lowell, originated in the 1890s; it obtained university status in 1975 and took its present name in 1991. Lowell National Historical Park, commemorating the first American textile mills, was established in 1978. Inc. city, 1836. Pop. (1990) city, 103,439; Lowell PMSA, 280,578; (2000) city, 105,167; Lowell PMSA, 301,686.

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