Happy Birthday to Lowell! Two hundred years ago today the legislation that created the town of Lowell took effect. **** Debate over a proposed lease for the Lowell Senior Center dominated Tuesday’s city council meeting (February 24, 2026). In the end, it failed on a tie vote with Councilors Dan…

Time of the End of the Season Part Three By Bob Hodge Bob Hodge grew up in Lowell and went on to graduate from Lowell High (1973) and University of Lowell (1990). He was (and still is) one the greatest runners to come out of this region. He’s also a…

You Need to Work on Your Sweeping By Rich Grady It’s been nearly four years since my wife passed away. I think of her all the time. Every morning when I walk into the kitchen, I grab the broom and start to sweep, as she always did. I am always…

Diners By Leo Racicot Diners are as American as mom and apple pie. In the late part of the 18th century, an enterprising Providence, Rhode Island man, Walter Scott, began serving night workers (newspaper employees, nighttime vending hawkers, graveyard shift factory workers) sandwiches and coffee out of his horse-drawn wagon. The…

 Welcome to this week’s edition of Seen and Heard, in which I catalog the most interesting things I’ve seen, heard and read over the previous seven days.  Book Review: 1929: “Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History and How it Shattered a Nation” by Andrew Ross Sorkin – This…

Happy 100th to the town become a city!  – (PIP #98) By Louise Peloquin  L’Etoile – March 1, 1926 front page  LOWELL IS JUBILANT      It is estimated that one fourth of the population is participating today, one way or another, in the three different events to celebrate Lowell’s 100th…

At its Tuesday meeting (February 17, 2026) Lowell City Council addressed residual problems with snow removal from the big storm at the end of January. In the past, I’ve criticized councilors for micro-managing city operations but that didn’t happen this time. Instead, councilors were critical of the city’s procedures, or…