Читать книгу The American Missionary. Volume 48, No. 10, October, 1894 - Various - Страница 2

The city of Lowell has long enjoyed a national, even world-wide reputation, as the leading center for the manufacture of cotton fabrics. And, while this industry offers employment to something like 25,000 men, women and children, there are also enterprises in great variety that do not use cotton fibre in any way, yet find work for ten to fifteen thousand more toilers. The principal corporations are the Lawrence, Tremont and Suffolk, Merrimack, Boott, Massachusetts, Hamilton and Appleton, beside the Middlesex, where shawls are made, and the carpet mills, where the famous Lowell carpets are woven. While the city is a veritable beehive of industry, yet the people find time for recreation, and have wisely provided breathing places in different parts of the city, where they can recuperate mind and body. The prominent pleasure resorts are Fort Hill park, the North and South commons, Park Garden, the boulevard—extending three miles along the bank of the Merrimack River—and Lakeview, an attractive watering-place some five miles out from the center. This latter place is reached by means of the Lowell and Suburban Street Railway, an electric line, which also connects the neighboring villages of North Chelmsford, Dracut, North Billerica and Chelmsford Center. A ride to any one of these places costs but twenty cents for the round trip, and the Lakeview line is especially interesting at its terminal.

The city's moral and educational interests are also well provided for, as evidenced by the following: 30 churches, 47 primary schools, 10 grammar and 1 high school, besides a training school for teachers, and a manual training-school for boys; also a prospective State normal school. We also have three or four hospitals, an old ladies' home, and a home for young women and children. The police protection consists of a chief, his deputies, captains and sergeants, and about one hundred patrolmen. The fire system of the city is excelled by none in the country, and is well worthy a careful inspection.

Lowell is not favored with a great many pretentious edifices on her public streets, but the most prominent are the new City Hall, High School, Memorial Building, State Armory, St. Anne's Church and the Federal Building. The city is already furnished with a thorough water system, but, desiring a better quality of water than that taken from the Merrimack River, she has had a large number of artesian wells driven, and they now furnish about 3,000,000 gallons of water per day. All the principal streets are well lighted by electric lamps, and the residential portion by gas.

The Merrimack River affords a means of enjoying aquatic sports, there being rowing boats, canoes, sail boats and steamers in abundance. Two very enchanting spots up the river are Tyng's Island and Harmony Grove, and if one desire a longer trip by water he may ride to Nashua, N.H., by steamer or other boat.

The population of Lowell is probably about 80,000, and excepting in specially hard times there are few persons to be found in want of a situation. These are only a few of Lowell's salient points, but enough is here given to convey to the visitor a very fair idea of the city's make-up.