Week 1 Excursion: Lowell National Park

Lowell National Park Vistors Center: 17 September 2013

Michael Santorelli

Sean Conway

FYSH

24 September 2013

This past Tuesday, in lieu of class, we traveled downtown into the heart of the city of Lowell to the National Park Visitors Center. Traveling down Market Street, it was my first real trip downtown outside of the campus. Being from the south shore, I was always adventurous in exploring new places from Boston to Cape Cod. But before I moved to Lowell, I could count the times I had been north of Boston on one hand. And the only other times I had been to Lowell was for campus tours. So I welcomed this new experience, being adventurous, and always open to trying new things. 

The Lowell National Park Visitor’s Center is located smack in the heart of some of the busiest streets in downtown Lowell. Walking down Market Street, you can see some of the best restaurants, shops, and boutiques in town. The Visitor’s Center itself is located in a large brick building with a beautiful courtyard, currently being used to showcase some of the city’s best upcoming artists. Walking in the front door of the Visitor’s Center, you are promptly greeted by the park ranger at the front desk. Not only is this the kind person to validate your free parking ticket, but they are some of the most knowledgeable historians in Lowell. Making small conversation, it is evident that these rangers not only know the city like the back of their hands, but they also love their jobs. 

The Lowell National Park Visitors Center is a small but productive hall. It has more information per square foot than any other building in Lowell. That was a completely made up fact, but I would still highly encourage anyone in Lowell to check it out. I would call it a hidden treasure. Many of my classmates who live in and around the city didn’t know much about the visitor’s center. Even the ones who lived in the area seemed well enriched by the experience. There are interesting displays set up with artifacts and a deep history to be told. There’s even a little gift shop for all your Lowell collectables. Once we took time to explore the small exhibits, we sat in on a 20 minute video that looked like something right out of the History Channel. An abbreviated history of the city, it hit all the major historical events. Going as a class, we took a lot out of it, exploring it as a group, and bouncing ideas off of each other. 

The best part of the visitor’s center is the location. It’s in the busiest part of the city. Some of the best of Lowell is all within a couple of blocks of the front door. Lowell has had such a storied history and it’s currently in a rebuilding phase. Lowell is trying to bring culture into the city quickly, through art and music and buildings. Old mills are turning into upscale apartments. Music and art is booming in the city. Small modern restaurants are popping up left and right. Business and economy are returning to the city. Slowly but surely the reputation that has haunted the city of Lowell is disappearing. There is a lot of promise here, with the University at the reigns of the revolution. It’s a fun time to live in the city of Lowell, and be a student at UMass. 

Writing Prompt 1: Coburn Hall

Writing Prompt 1: Coburn Hall

There is no better way I could begin my first semester at UMass Lowell than learning about it’s history. To learn about something or someone’s history can reveal a lot about what they are today. Lowell is rich in history, most famously for it’s crucial role in the American Industrial Revolution. As Lowell is an important piece of history in the Industrial Revoultion, UMass Lowell is an important piece of history in the city itself. In the University’s mission statement it reads,

“The University continues to build on its founding tradition of innovation, entrepreneurship and partnerships with industry and the community to address challenges facing the region and the world.”

In that case, what a better place to start than Coburn Hall, not only the hall where our FYSH seminar is located each Tuesday, but also the first building to go down in the UMass Lowell history books. Constructed in 1892, Coburn Hall is literally the foundation of the University we attend today. 

Coburn Hall is over 120 years old. It hasn’t always been Coburn Hall either. During construction, the city of Lowell provided $25,000 (M. Frank, 10) to begin construction on what would become the Lowell Normal School. The building offered over twelve thousand square feet of space for students, located conveniently along the public trolley line that passed just in front of the school. The Normal School was a teaching school, headed by Francis Coburn, who would later have the building named after him. Coburn, formerly the head of Lowell High School suffered a traumatic back injury but continued to head the school in the right direction. Because of this, the building was named after him in 1975. 

As mentioned earlier, Coburn Hall was originally the Lowell Normal School. Students studied everything from English, science, mathematics, and drawing. Art classes and physical education were also offered, all right inside Coburn. Coburn Hall’s open gymnasium/assembly room on the third floor was also home to concerts and even formal dances.  Over one hundred years later, the building itself still stands, only the insides look much different. Coburn Hall is just one of roughly a dozen academic buildings on South Campus of UMass Lowell. In Coburn you will find a variety of students coming from a wide range of backgrounds from all over the world, studying any one of Lowell’s 120 undergraduate majors. Therefor, Coburn Hall is just as important to the education of hundreds now as it has been since the day it opened.

Coburn is the most storied building on campus. The building itself was here before the establishment of the University. Figuratively this building has seen two World Wars, it saw an insane Civil Rights Movement as well as the first Black President. This building stood through decades of the most important history, which is why it is easily the most historically important building on campus.