Boston and Maine

MIchael Santorelli

Sean Conway

FYSH

15 October 2013

Halfway from Boston to Maine

This week I found it appropriate to discuss one of the questions from the beginning of the semester. The question is about the Boston and Maine Railroad Locomotive that sits in downtown Lowell along Dutton Street. This is appropriate this week because this past weekend was family weekend here on campus at UMass Lowell, and I played tour guide on Saturday to show off what I have learned about this city so far. I have only been here a little over a month, so the whole tour guide position title was used very loosely. 

First I took my cousin around campus for his first unofficial campus tour. I showed him all my favorite places on North and East campus. I showed him what eating  at Fox Hall was like. I took him to the Campus Recreation Center, showed him the new construction projects, and showed off my newly cleaned dorm. I’m very proud of the campus I’m a part of, it’s already nice as it is, and the future is even brighter. 

Walking downtown, I showed everyone my favorite place on earth, Wings Over Lowell. We walked into a few shops downtown, and took a break to walk to Lowell Beer Works for lunch. I’m originally from the South Shore, and we have a Beer Works in Hingham which is actually very high on my list of favorite places to eat. The scenery is absolutely breathtaking and the food has always been quite good. Anyway, continuing downtown, my cousin Jake was interested in the history and the artsiness of Lowell. I’m not even sure the word “artsiness” is a word, but it didn’t trip my spell check so I’m going with it. Jake asked me about the Boston and Maine Railroad Locomotive downtown, and I pulled out the best story I could muster up. Turns out, I made up the story, but learning about it now is in fact a very good story. The Locomotive would’ve originally shuttled passengers along the historic Boston and Maine Railway for upwards of fourty years. After that, a quarry company in Westford purchased this particular locomotive and put if to use until 1993 when it was restored by the Lowell National Park Service and The Boston and Maine Historical Society. That brings it to where it sits today, proudly along Dutton street on it’s own little piece of the Boston and Maine Railroad. 

Along another theme, this past weekend was also the Jack Kerouac Festival in Lowell. I actually find the story of Jack Kerouac to be very interesting. I think the story is actually parallel of the story of the city itself. Jack Kerouac’s career took off quickly, bringing fame and prosperity to him, with his amazing creations of art that people cherished. The city of Lowell started in the same manor, a mill town that exploded into one of the largest and most productive cities in New England for it’s production of textiles. Not only did people flood to the city, but economy blessed the city for many years. However, success also became the city’s downfall. While the Industrial Revolution died off, so did the economic boom in Lowell, the jobs, and the city’s reputation went along with it. The city has had a rather bad reputation in recent history. Jack Kerouac’s career paralleled that track. His prosperity was ultimately his downfall. He turned to alcoholism, and didn’t handle the fame well. He was known to show up drunken in public, and his drug problem was no secret either. His reputation was trashed in the public eye, and overshadowed the great work he had once created. Now that the city of Lowell is on it’s own sort of enlightenment again, it’s becoming clear that Jack Kerouac’s history with the city is finally being accepted. The city is on the upswing, people are trickling back, businesses are popping up in the remnants of old mills, and a new sense of culture is coming back. With this, the Jack Kerouac festival celebrates the life of a man who was once the shame of the city of Lowell. Now they look favorably on his work, his interesting personal story, and the impact on the history of Lowell.