Things to do / Travel Guide
Address:67 Kirk Street
Lowell, Massachusetts
Tel:
(978) 970-5000
Relive 19th century textile manufacturing at the Lowell National Historical Park in Lowell, Massachusetts. The Lowell National Historical Park, the oldest urban national park in the country, is a collection of different sites in and around the city of Lowell that relate to the city's history as a textile manufacturing center. The Lowell National Historical Park features walking tours and exhibits designed to engage the whole family.
First settled in the 17th century, Lowell became an important manufacturing center in the early 1820s. Unlike many other manufacturing towns, though, Lowell was a planned community, designed in response to the seemingly cramped and inhumane mill towns in Great Britain. The factories of Lowell were built with plenty of green space around them and with clean dormitories. By the 1960s, however, the manufacturing industry had gone into steep decline. A local school teacher suggested that the city become a historic district, and in 1978, Congress established the Lowell National Historical Park.
Today, you can visit the Lowell National Historical Park and enjoy ranger-guided tours of the nearby river and canal structures with an explanation of their relationship to the textile manufacturing industry. You can also take a self-guided tour of the Market Mills visitor center, where you can get a general overview of the park, reserve tours, visit the Children's Corner, and view the award winning orientation video, "Lowell: The Industrial Revelation." Don't miss the Boott Cotton Mills Museum, with interactive exhibits about the Industrial Revolution, labor, and the history of Lowell, or the Patrick J. Mogan Cultural Center, with exhibits, projects and programs to "tell the human story of Lowell." After touring the Lowell National Historical Park, visitors may visit modern day downtown Lowell to partake of any of the dozens of restaurants in the area, ranging from pizza to pubs and everything in between.
To get to the Lowell National Historical Park, take I-495 to exit 35C, then take the Lowell Connector to Thorndike Street, which becomes Dutton Street, with the visitor center on the right. Visit the Lowell National Historical Park and experience the virtually unknown history of textiles!