Lowell Historical Society

Lowell History Chronology

Bust of Benjamin Franklin Butler, Civil War General, Congressman, and Governor

1635	First English settlements on the Merrimack River; and also on the Concord River.
1643	County of Middlesex created.
1644	Passaconaway, Sachem of the Merrimack Valley Indians, submits to John Winthrop, the English Governor.
1647	John Eliot, the Apostle of the Indians, first preaches at Wamesit (now in Lowell)
1653	Town of Chelmsford is founded.
1656	General Daniel Gookin is appointed Superintendent of Indians.
1660	Passaconaway resigns the Sachemship to his son, Wannalancit.
1665	The Indian Ditch is opened around the Wamesit Indian Reservation.
1669	Indian fort built on Fort Hill.
1675	King Philip's War. Nov. 15, butchery of Wamesit Indians by ruffians from Chelmsford.
1676	Fortifications against hostile Indians are erected at Pawtucket Falls.
1686	The Wamesit and Pawtucket Indians retire to Canada and join the tribe of St. Francis, selling their lands to the English settlers.
1695	King William's War. Colonel Joseph Lynde fortifies Lynde's Hill.
1701	Dracut is incorporated
1726	Wamesit annexed to Chelmsford
1734	Tewksbury is incorporated
1792	Proprietors of Locks and Canals incorporated to construct the Pawtucket Canal. Also the Proprietors of the Middlesex Merrimack River Bridge at Pawtucket Falls.
1796	Pawtucket Canal opens
1801	The first carding machine in Middlesex County is used by Moses Hale, at East Chelmsford (now in Lowell)
1803	Germans are recruited to work at Gore & Hunnewell Glass Manufactory in Middlesex Village.
	Middlesex Canal opens
1807	Pentucket Lodge of Free Masons is instituted.
1813	Phineas Whiting & Josiah Fletcher open a cotton mill near present day Lower Locks.
1816	Bowers' saw mill and grist mill are erected.
1817	September 2, Francis Cabot Lowell dies.
1818	Gun Powder is manufactured by Moses Hale; satinets by Thomas Hurd; flannel by Winthrop Howe.
1821	Merrimack Manufacturing Company founded in East Chelmsford by Patrick Tracy Jackson, Nathan Appleton, Kirk Boott and others.
	Thomas Hurd builds a new mill at Lower Locks, incorporates power looms into his business.
	September 11, General Joseph Bradley Varnum dies in Dracut
1822	Hugh Cummiskey's Irish laborers march to Lowell from Charlestown. Irish work gangs are recruited to dig the first power canals along with Yankee workers.
	Revolutionary War hero John Ford dies from injuries sustained during a fight with Irish canal workers.
1823	Merrimack Manufacturing Company recruits Yankee women to work in its textile mills.
1824	St. Anne's Church is established by Merrimack Religious Society.
	The first newspaper, the Journal issued.
	June 18, Ezra Worthen of Merrimack Company dies.
1825	Completion of the Merrimack Company's Machine Shop.
	Hamilton Manufacturing Company is incorporated.
	Reorganization of Proprietors of Locks & Canals.
	Middlesex Mechanics Association incorporated.
1826	Lowell is incorporated as a town March 1, population 2,500
	Edward Everett is Representative in Congress. Daily stage coaches run between Lowell and Boston.
1827	Father John Mahoney celebrates first mass in the Merrimack Company's school house.
1828	Kirk Boott representing the textile corporations, meets with Catholic Bishop Fenwick to donate company land for the construction of a Catholic Church.
	Scottish carpet weavers are recruited from Medway, Mass. by the Lowell Manufacturing Company.
	Lowell Manufacturing Company is incorporated and names its first Agent, Scottish immigrant Alexander Wright.
	Appleton Manufacturing Company is incorporated.
	Lowell Bank incorporated; Death of Moses Hale
1829	Lowell Institution for Savings is founded.
	Hurd's Mills fail, are re-incorporated as Middlesex Manufacturing Company.
	First Odd Fellows' Lodge, the Merrimack, is organized.
1830	Lowell population 6,477
	Boston & Lowell Railroad is incorporated.
	Middlesex, Tremont, and Suffolk Manufacturing Companies are established
	Fire Department is established
1831	Lowell High School opens.
	St. Patrick's Church is dedicated.
	Battle of the Stone Bridge - open hostility between the Irish and the Yankee workers.
	Lawrence Manufacturing Company is incorporated.
	Railroad Bank incorporated.
	July 5, Paul Moody dies.
1832	Public school controversy: Rev. Theodore Edson vs. Kirk Boott
	The Lowell Bleachery is incorporated; District schools abolished; Sept. 15, Judge Livermore dies.
1833	Lowell Irish Benevolent Society is started.
	Police Court is established.
	June 26, President Jackson visits
	September 13, Warren Colburn dies
	October 25, Henry Clay's visit
1834	"mill girls" strike
	Belvidere annexed from Tewksbury
	Belvidere Manufacturing Company is formed
	Visits of David Crockett, George Thompson, Michel Chevalier, and Daniel Webster
1835	Town of Lowell supports the creation of separate Catholic schools.
	Boston & Lowell Railroad is started.
1835	Boott Cotton Mills is incorporated.
1835	Tri-Weekly Courier is published
1835	Almshouse established
1835	Death of Rev. Enoch W. Freeman and Captain Phineas Whiting.
1836	April 1, Lowell is incorporated as a city.
	Batting is manufactured at Massic Falls by Perez O. Richmond
	Caleb Cushing is Representative in Congress
	Death of Elisha Glidden
	"mill girls" strike
	Lowell Dispensary founded (early health services)
	Lowell population 17,663, among which 2,661 are listed as "aliens" and 44 "colored."
1836–37	Elisha Bartlett, Mayor
1837	April 11, Kirk Boott dies, after carriage tips on corner Merrimack and Dutton Streets.
	Middlesex Manufacturing Company recruits British workers from Gloucestershire.
	British immigrant James B. Francis becomes Chief Engineer of the Proprietors of Locks and Canals.
	Market House is built
1838–39	Luther Lawrence, Mayor
1839	Lowell Corporation Hospital opens.
	Massachusetts Mills incorporated.
	April 17, Mayor Luther Lawrence dies by a fall into a wheel pit.
	Whitney Mills incorporated
	Charles P. & Thomas Talbot manufacture chemicals, etc.
	Death of Father Mahoney and Samuel H. Mann
1839–41	Elisha Huntington, Mayor
1840	North and South Commons laid out
	Lowell population 20,981
	Moses Kimball founds the Lowell Museum
	First issue of the Lowell Offering is published.
1840s	Ten Hour Movement
	Irish workers begin to find employment in the textile mills.
1841	Louis Bergeron family become the first recorded French-Canadian family to settle in Lowell.
	Lowell Cemetery is established
	"Vox Populi", newspaper, issued
1842	Charles Dickens visit.
1842–43	Nathaniel Wright, Mayor
1843	Hugh Cummiskey, Irish immigrant, is elected to the Common Council.
	Establishment of Dr. J. C. Ayer's laboratory.
	April 1, Dr. William Graves dies.
	June 19, President Tyler's visit
	The Missionary Association is formed
1844	City paves streets at public expense
	Lowell Female Labor Reform Association is formed.
	The City Library opens.
	February 16, Zadock Rogers dies.
1844–45	Uriah Boyden and James B. Francis develop inward-flow turbine. Turbines quickly replace breastwheels in Lowell's mills.
	Elisha Huntington, Mayor
1845	Proprietors of Locks & Canals is reorganized
	Incorporation of Lowell Machine Shop.
	Stony Brook Railroad is incorporated
	Middlesex North District Medical Society organized.
	Daily Courier is published
	Pentucket Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons re-organized, eleven years after the surrender of its charter under the pressure of the anti - Masonic movement.
	British utopian Robert Owens visits.
	Whittier's "Stranger in Lowell" and Miles' "Lowell as It Was and as It Is," are published.
Late 1840s	Ben Butler begins his political career; supported by Irish Democrats.
1846	Lowell population 29,127
	The Lowell and Lawrence Railroad is incorporated.
	Nathan Crosby succeeds Judge Locke in the Police Court
1846–48	Jefferson Bancroft, Mayor
1847	"Mill girls" donate clothing and the City raises $1990.00 for Irish famine relief.
	St. Mary's church dedicated March 7.
	June 30, President Polk's visit.
	September 12, Patrick T. Jackson dies
	The Appleton Bank is incorporated
	Northern Canal is completed on Thanksgiving Day.
1848	The Salem and Lowell Railroad is incorporated
	September 16, Abraham Lincoln's visit.
	Death of John R. Adams
1849	Battle of Suffolk Bridge - fighting between Irish from Cork and Connaught with those from northern Irish counties.
	The Lynde Hill Reservoir of Locks And Canals, is constructed in Belvidere
	November 19, death of Edmund Lee Breton
1849–50	Josiah B. French, Mayor
1850	Annual production of 50,000 miles of cloth makes Lowell the largest industrial center in the US. Population of 33,000 is second largest in Massachusetts.
	Gas is introduced
	County Court House is erected
	Prescott Bank is incorporated
1850s	Arrival of Jews from Germany
1851	Centralville annexed to Lowell
	The Daily News is published
	April 21, death of Dr. Abner H. Brown
	September 16, first fair of the Middlesex Mechanics Association
	James H. B. Ayer, Mayor
1852	Nativists attack Irish girls' school in Lowell
	May 6, Kossuth's visit
	June, death of Alexander Wright and Otis H. Morrill
	Elisha Huntington, Mayor
	First big flood after Great Gate was completed. Gate was dropped to save the city.
1853	St. Patrick's Church rebuilt.
	Belvidere Woolen Company is organized.
	Successful strike at Lowell Machine Shop
	July 12, Samuel Appleton dies.
	Wamesit Bank incorporated
	Huntington Hall is built
	November 10, Judge Locke dies.
1853–54	Sewall G. Mack, Mayor
1854	Know Nothing Party candidate is elected mayor on an anti-foreigner ticket. Disbands the Jackson Musketeers (Ben Butler's militia)
	Natives of Maine living in Lowell hold their first social reunion.
	Merchants Bank incorporated
	Death of Rev. U. C. Burnap, Zaccheus Shedd, and P.O. Richmond.
1855	Irish constitute 27.6% of Lowell's population.
	J. Hiss & "Snelling Committee" investigate Sisters of Notre Dame
	Middlesex North Agricultural Society incorporated.
	Death of Rev. Timothy O'Brien, Dr. Elisha Bartlett, and Abbott Lawrence
	Ambrose Lawrence, Mayor
1856	The Jail is built.
	The Daily Citizen is published
	November 17, Judge Hopkinson dies>
	Elisha Huntington, Mayor
1857	Economic depression
	January 16, Thomas H. Benton's visit.
	September 10, second fair of Middlesex Mechanics Association
	Stephen Mansur, Mayor
1858	November 5, Nathaniel Wright dies.
	Elisha Huntington, Mayor
1859	Death of John Adams, Alanson J. Richmond, Jane E. Locke, Samuel W. Browne, and Samuel J. Varney.
	James Cook, Mayor
1860	Lowell population 36,827
	January 12, Joseph Butterfield dies
	March 30, Rhoda M. Wilkins dies by poison
	June 19, murder of Elizabeth A. Moore by Bryant Moore
	July 14, Nicholas G. Norcross dies
	July 26, General Butler is silenced in a Democratic caucus in Huntington Hall on returning from the Charleston Convention.
1860–61	Benjamin C. Sargeant, Mayor
1861–65	Recruitment of Irish and other foreign-born Americans by the Union Army. Cotton mills sell cotton and close for long periods; mills rebuilt and expanded; mill operatives out of work.
1861	Hospice begun to provide health care for the Irish.
	April 6, Captain G. V. Fox of Lowell attempts to relieve Fort Sumter.
	April 19, collision between the Lowell Militia and the Secessionists in Baltimore, in which Ladd, Whitney, Needham, and Taylor are killed, first Civil War casualties
	April 20, Soldier's Aid Association formed - the first in the United States
	July 14, Nathan Appleton dies
	September 24, visit of Prince Jerome Napoleon and Princess Clotilde.
1862	April 3, death of Surgeon E. K. Sanborn
	May 24, death of Z. B. Caverly
	August 9, Captain E. G. Abbott and seven of his company killed in the battle of Cedar Mountain
	August 29, Lieutenant J. R. Darracott killed at the second Bull Run
	October 5, death of Captain T. A. Crowley
	November, death of I. W. Beard and Charles L. Tilden
	December 13, Lieutenant Thomas Claffey killed before Petersburg
1862–64	Hocum Hosford, Mayor
1863	Incorporation of the Lowell Horse Railroad
	January 12, return of General Butler from New Orleans and reception in Huntington Hall
	February 25, Soldier's Fair
	April 2, death of Stephen Mansur
	April 30, Captain George Bush killed at Chancellorsville
	May 1, Captain Salem S. Marsh killed at Chancellorsville
	June 3, Lieutenant Solon A. Perkins killed at Clinton, Louisiana
	July 3, Captains John Murkland and David W. Roche killed at Gettysburg
	October 6, Judge Advocate A. W. Farr and seventy-seven others captured and put to death by Quantrell's guerrillas in Kansas
1864	January 8, death of Dr. John C. Dalton
	April 14, Lieutenant Charles B. Wilder of the navy killed in the Nansemond River, Virginia.
	May 6, Major H. L. Abbott killed at the battle of the Wilderness.
	May 31, Captain L. C. Mumford killed at Cold Harbor.
	June 7, death of J. H. B. Ayer
	July 8, death of John Avery
	October 20, death of John P. Robinson
	First National Bank incorporated.
1865	Samuel P. Marin is employed by the textile companies to recruit French-Canadians.
	January 28, final return of General Butler from duty in the army. He "rises to explain" in Huntington Hall.
	June 17, dedication of the monument to Ladd and Whitney.
	June 22, death of Joshua Mather
	December 11, death of Dr. Elisha Huntington.
1865–66	Josiah G. Peabody, Mayor
1866	Music Hall opened
	February 13, death of Dr. James Thompson
	July 2, death of Horace Howard
1867	St. John's Hospital is founded, in part as a response to the health needs of the immigrant population.
	Celina Lavallee, composer of Canadian national anthem, married in Lowell.
	July 4, Statue of Victory erected
	Death of Samuel A. Brown, John Aiken, Dr. Benjamin Skelton, Ransom Reed, Dr. J. M. Allen, Joshua Swan, David Hyde, Abner W. Buttrick, Caleb Crosby, S. S. Seavey and Charles A. Babcock.
	Young Men's Christian Association organized.
	Old Ladie's Home established
	September 10, third fair of the Middlesex Mechanics Association
	October 8, General Sheridan's visit.
1867–68	George F. Richardson, Mayor
1868	Scottish immigrant Alexander Cumnock becomes Agent of the Boott Mills
	Old Residents' Historical Association is formed, signaling a growing interest in local history.
	Lucien Lager and Father Andre Marie Garin of Quebec arrive in Lowell, April 18
	St. Joseph's Church is founded to serve the growing French-Canadian community.
	First Lowell celebration of St. Jean-Baptiste Day; musical soiree in cellar of St. Joseph's.
	B. F. Butler Post, No. 42, G. A. R. established
	Cowley's History of Lowell published
	Memorial Day first observed in Lowell
	December 4, General Grant's visit
	Death of Dr. Samuel L. Dana, Samuel Burbank, Adam Putnamand Silas Tyler, Jr.
1869	St. John the Baptist Benevolent Society of Lowell (French Organization giving death benefits to members of family.)
	Lowell chapter of the Ancient Order of Hibernians is founded.
	Lowell Hosiery Company incorporated
	Death of John Nesmith, John Wright, Dr. George A Whitmore, James G. Carney, Joseph Tapley, J. R. V. Coburn, and John Sullivan (aged 102)
1869–70	Jonathan P. Folsom, Mayor
1870	Lowell's first French language play, "Le Proscrit," is performed at Huntington Hall.
	United States Cartridge Company opens
	Death of Thomas Nesmith, Rev. Amos Blanchard, Linus Child, B. C. Sargent, Dr. J. P. Jewett, John F. Rogers, Jesse Fox, Charles F. Bassett, H. G. F. Corliss, Charlotte Butler and Ellen Tague (aged 102)
1871	Hugh Commiskey dies, at his home on Adams Street, at age of 82, December 12.
	Small pox epidemic, causing 178 deaths and 580 cases
	Central Savings Bank organized
	Fire Alarm Telegraph established
	Framingham Railroad opened for travel
	Death of Sidney Spaulding
	Dec. 9, Grand Duke Alexis' visit
	Edward F. Sherman, Mayor
1871–77	Father Garin supervises construction of Immaculate Conception Church.
1872	People's Club organized
	Japanese Embassy's visit
	Pawtucket Bridge finished
	Water Works established
	Death of William North, E. F. Sherman, George Brownell, and Oliver M.Whipple.
	Josiah G. Peabody, Mayor
1873	Morning Times issued, morning edition
	Young Women's Home, later the Ayer Home for Young Women and Children established
	Death of Fisher A. Hildreth and Dr. John W. Graves.
1873–75	Francis Jewett, Mayor
1874	Samuel P. Marin is elected to the City Council, the first French-Canadian to reach public office.
	Fiftieth anniversary of organization of St. Anne's celebrated
	Fire at Wamesit Mills, loss $40,000.
	G. A. R. Hall dedicated
	Pawtucketville and Middlesex Village annexed to Lowell
	Kitson Machine Company incorporated
	Lowell and Andover Railroad opened for travel
	Death of Rev. John O'Brien and Homer Bartlett
1875	Strike by male mule spinners is unsuccessful when they refuse to make alliance with immigrant and women workers.
	French-Canadian immigrant Joseph L. Chalifoux opens his first clothing store. his family would later open the Chalifoux Block, then Lowell's largest department store.
	Samuel P. Marin builds the first tenement block in what will become Little Canada.
	Knights of Pythias dedicate new hall.
	King Kalakaua's visit
	Death of Tappan Wentworth
1876	First Portuguese boardinghouse in Lowell.
	Fiftieth anniversary of First Congregational Church
	Fiftieth anniversary of First Baptist Church
	Semi-centennial celebration of Lowell as a town.
	June 8, Emperor Dom Pedro's visit.
	Reform Club formed
	Death of Albert Wheeler and Josiah B. French
1876–77	Charles A. Stott, Mayor
1877	The French Congregational Church is founded.
	Fiftieth anniversary of Universalist Church celebrated
	Shaw Stocking Company formed.
	Death of Jonathan Tyler, Artemas L. Brooks and Drs. Harlan Pillsbury, David Wells, and D. P. Gage.
	J. C. Ayer Company incorporated.
1877–79	Benjamin Butler Representative in Congress
1878	Lowell Sun founded; originally the voice of the Irish community.
	Lowell Art Association formed, primarily by Yankees
	First annual regatta of Vesper Boat Club held.
	Electric light in Merrimack Mills.
	Lowell District Telephone Company formed.
	Cowley's History of the County of Middlesex published in the Middlesex County Manual.
	July 3, James C. Ayer died.
1878–79	John A. G. Richardson, Mayor
1879	Morning Mail issued
	Unitarian Church celebrates fiftieth anniversary
	Death of Samuel Batchelder
	United States Cord Company established
1880s	United Cartridge Company recruits Swedish workers.
	Arrival of the first Greek and Polish immigrants in Lowell.
1880	Lowell population 59,485; 39% are foreign born.

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