Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1926-01-21
Dual Centennial
Celebration by
City of Lowell

Lowell, MASS, JdHudTy %O-NAIj
Lowell, which a French journalist
once described as "a city built by
Boston merchants as a speculation"
will have a dual celebration this
year of it's Tooth anniversary. There
will be an indoor observance on
March 1 and a week of outdoor
pageantry in June.
Governor Fuller, Congresswoman
Edith Nourse Rogers of this city and
Cardinal O'Connell, who is a native
of Lowell, will be the chief guests
on March J.. Hugh J. Molloy, sup
erintendent of schools here, will be
the orator of the day, Ralph Shaw
the poet and George B. Chadwick
will contribute an ode. The exer-
cises will be held in the Memorial
Auditorium and will include singing
by chorus of 500 voices.
An effort will be made to have
President Coolidge accept an invita-
ton to visit the city during the
pageant week in June. A pageant is
to be presented on the South Com
mon depicting the history of Lowell,
with 200 persons participating.
Lowell, originally part of
Chelmsford, was incorporated as a
town in 1926. 1t became a city in
1886. the third in the state, Boston
having taken on the status of a city
in 1922 and Salem less than a month
before Lowell.
When the white man first came to
Massachusetts this region at the con-
f1uence of the Merrimack and Mus
ketaquid (now Concord) rivers was
a favorite gathering place for the
Pawtucket or Penacook Indians.
T'harn Tndion
villages. one at Pawtucket Falls on
the Merrimack and the other at
Wamesit Falls on the Musketaquid.
In the spring thousands of Indians
came from other parts of New Eng
land to participate in the excellent
fishing for salmon, sturgeon, shad,
cells, alewiveS and other fish.
From the first these Indians were
friendly to the English colonists.
John Eliot, preacher to the Indians,
converted many of them to Christ
ianity. During King Philips War.
although most of them continued
either friendly or neutral, they fell
under the suspicion of the settlers
and the colony here rapidly
dwindled.
The founding of Lowell as an in
dustrial town was due to the fore
sight of a group of Boston manu-
facturers. In 1892 there had been
Incorporated 1.-THE Proprietors of
LOCKS and Canals on the Merrimack
RIVER" for the purpose of building
a canal 90 feet wide from point
above Pawtucket Falls for a distance
OF a mile and half to the mouth
OF the Concord River. The first boat
went through this canal in 1897 and
thriving canal industry between Bos-
ton, Lowell and the New Hampshire
cities on the Merrimack.
In 1921 Nathan Appleton and PAT
rick T. Jackson, two of the original
associates in the Boston Manufac-
turing Company, with a mill at Wal
than, decided to begin the manu-
facture of printed cotton cloth.
Known in those days as calico, The
Waltham mill, in which the power
loom was first used successfully in
america, manufactured only plain
cloth. After investigating sites in
new Hampshire they learned of the
great power possibilities at Pawtuck-
ct rails and determined to start their
new plant here.
together with Kirk Boot thew
bought a majority of the shares IN
me locks and canals corporation and
t Me. necessary land along the river.
win a few other associates tha,,
founded the Merrimack Manufa ct,r,
ing company and named Boot as
treasurer for five years at the prince-
~ salary of $4,000. In 1923 the first
water wheel was started at paw
tucke. rails and this mill hecsno
rn ,ar nrst in the United States TIC
manufacture IN printed calico" W;th
i id yn en next n 20 years other mills rap
little town. Hrs up up mere and the sleepy
Will, IN 1876 Nathan Appleton writ ly
i NJ IeIerence to his first visit -
t his lection to Pawtucket Fails VIII 81
MS associates, said: iS with
I distinctly recollect tbe ro
made by one of the party that . marx
or us might probably live 70 So some an
p place ), contain 10000 inhabitants. II
now mas more than 10000" -
The 1925 Massa chusetts
Lowell in the 10000 non,,Io.i