Pages

The Life From The Roots blog topics have changed several times since I began this blog in 2009. I initially wrote only about the family history I had been working on for 20 years. Years later, I was into visiting gardens, historical homes, churches, libraries that had genealogical collections, historical societies, war memorials, and travel/tourism places. I also enjoy posting autographs and photos of famous people I've met or have seen.

Along with my New England roots, other areas include New York, New Jersey, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, and the Eastern Townships of Quebec, Canada.

Please check out the labels on the right side for topics (please note, they need work). Below the labels and pageviews is a listing of my top nine posts, according to Google. Four of them pertain to Lowell, MA. These posts change often because they are based on what people are reading.

Thursday, October 15, 2015

There Is A Lot to Like About Lowell -- Lowell High School, A Unique School With Lots of History

"There is A Lot to Like About Lowell" is the city slogan.

(See tab on right side called "Lowell Series" for many more articles about Lowell.)

A few days ago, I learned that the Lowell High School class of 1965 was having their 50th reunion this coming weekend. My friend shared with me the planned events, and one of them is to tour their old High School. I was fortunate to tour it, in June and since I didn't attend school here, I was happy to join a large group one Saturday morning to see where my husband went to school. Of course, I took lots of photos. This is for the former students to relive their memories.

These two photos show part of the original building built in 1922. This is on Kirk Street.


Auditorium, and Headmaster Brian Martin (our tour guide).

There are two covered walkways or bridges that cross over the historic Merrimack Canal that connect the old building with the new one. It is probably the only school in the U. S. that has bridges, a canal, and National Park Service trolleys that pass by with tourists.
Taken as I walked over the canal to the new buiding, built in 1980.
Artwork by the students, showing well-known people and buildings related to Lowell.


You need a huge cafeteria when you're serving over 4,000 students. Lowell only has one high school, and this is one of the largest in the United States. Many large cities have several high schools, but Lowell has just one.
City Hall to the left.
This sign (above) greets all of the students from 40 different countries.
Below, is a diagram showing plans for a possible new addition.

Leaving the new building and looking out at the old one. Once the doors are open, you'll see the trolley tracks and a small park. The covered walkway is shown above the doors.



 

 New Building is on the left, above and below.




The size of the original school can be seen from blocks away. The view below was taken from Merrimack Street looking up Kirk Street.


"Lowell, Massachusetts was incorporated as a town in 1826 and Lowell High School opened shortly after in 1831. One of its earliest homes was a small brick building on Middlesex Street owned by the Hamilton Manufacturing Company.From their inception, Lowell's public schools were integrated. African American Caroline Van Vronker was a student at Lowell High School in 1843, at a time when every public high school in Massachusetts and the United States was segregated. In 1840, the high school moved into a new building located between Kirk Street and Anne Street along the Merrimack Canal.

Over the next 100 years, the school campus expanded. The oldest existant building replaced the 1840s building in 1893. In 1922, a large new building was built along Kirk Street and in the 1980s another building was built on the opposite side of the Merrimack Canal with connecting walkways over the canal." (See Wikipedia link below.)
Patrick Tighe (1984) - Architect
Charles Herbert Allen (1865) - Politician: Congressman; Governor of Massachusetts
Benjamin Franklin Butler (1830s) - Politician: Congressman; Governor of Massachusetts
Rosalind Elias (1947) - Opera singer
Gustavus Fox (1830s) - Politician: Assistant Secretary of the Navy during the Civil War
John Galvin Jr. (1983) - Athlete: Professional Football
Frederic Thomas Greenhalge (1859) - Politician: Congressman; Governor of Massachusetts
Mary Hallaren (1925) - Director: Women's Army Corps
Tom Hayes (1978) - Businessman and Author
Helen Sawyer Hogg (1921) - Astronomer
Deborah Hopkinson (1969) - Author
Jack Kerouac (1939) - Author: On the Road; The Dharma Bums
Ted Leonsis (1973) - Founder: AOL and owner of the Washington Capitals (NHL)
Elinor Lipman (1968) - Author: The Boston Globe
Ed McMahon (1940) - Entertainer
Marty Meehan (1974) - Politician: Democratic; Congressman, Chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Lowell
F. Bradford Morse (1938) - Politician: Republican; Congressman
William Henry O'Connell (1877) - Cardinal: Archdiocese of Boston
John Jacob Rogers - Politician: Republican; Congressman
Tom Sexton (1958) - Author
Ezekiel A. Straw (1830s) - Politician: Governor of New Hampshire
Paul Tsongas (1958) - Politician: Democratic; Congressman; Senator

 "Lowell High, the first co-ed public high school in the United States, opened in 1831 with 47 pupils." http://library.uml.edu/clh/LHsch/LHsch1.Html

Close up of Downtown at high school construction

Item Information

Title:
Close up of Downtown at high school construction
Description:
Landmarks: Appleton/Hamilton Mills
Creator:
MacLean, Alex S.
Date:
1979
Format:
Photographs
Genre:
Aerial photographs
Location:
Lowell National Historic Park
Collection (local):
Lowell National Historic Park Collection
Extent:
120 b/w film, Roll 36, Frame(s) 3A-4
Permalink:
http://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/ark:/50959/c534fr809
Terms of Use:
Lowell National Historic Park
Contact host institution for more information.

Labels: , , , ,