Editing Lowell, Massachusetts (section)

==History==

{{Main|History of Lowell, Massachusetts}}
{{For timeline}}

[[File:Merrimack and Concord.jpg|thumb|left|The Massachusetts Mill at the confluence of the [[Merrimack River|Merrimack]] and [[Concord River|Concord]] Rivers; across the Cox Bridge are the Boott Mills; in the upper left is the historic Lowell Sun building with its iconic sign on top.]]

=== Indigenous and Colonial History ===
The [[Pawtucket Falls (Massachusetts)|Pawtucket Falls]], which provided the hydropower for Lowell's industry in the 1800s, also served as an important seasonal fishing site for native people at the time of European colonization in the 1600s.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Gookin |first=Daniel |url=https://archive.org/details/s1collections01massuoft/page/n197/mode/1up |title=Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society: Gookin's Historical Collection of the Indians in New England |date=1674 |publisher=Boston [etc.] |others=Robarts – University of Toronto |pages=197}}</ref> The [[Pawtucket tribe|Pawtucket]] people are named for this location, literally meaning "at the falls" in [[Massachusett language|Massachusett]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Douglas-Lithgow |first=Robert Alexander |url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofamer00doug/page/142/mode/2up |title=Dictionary of American-Indian place and proper names in New England; with many interpretations, etc. |date=1909 |publisher=Salem, Mass., Salem Press |others=Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center |pages=142}}</ref> 
In the mid-1600s, English efforts to convert native people to Christianity led to the founding of the "[[praying town]]" of [[Wamesit]] at the confluence of the [[Concord River|Concord]] and [[Merrimack River]]s in what is today Lowell,<ref name=":0" /> however the population of Wamesit was reckoned at only 75 people just prior to [[King Philip's War|King Phillip's War]],<ref name=":0" /> which significantly altered relations between English colonists and indigenous groups in New England, and led to the abandonment of many praying towns. By the 1800s, the area that would become Lowell was part of the farming community of East Chelmsford, Massachusetts.

=== Founding and Early Industry ===
Founded in the 1820s as a planned [[manufacturing]] center for [[textile]]s, Lowell is located along the rapids of the [[Merrimack River]], {{cvt|25|mile}} northwest of [[Boston, Massachusetts|Boston]] in what used to be a farming community called East [[Chelmsford, Massachusetts]]. The so-called [[Boston Associates]], including [[Nathan Appleton]] and [[Patrick Tracy Jackson]] of the [[Boston Manufacturing Company]], named the new mill town after their visionary leader, [[Francis Cabot Lowell (businessman)|Francis Cabot Lowell]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/genInfo.php?locIndex=3011|title=Profile for Lowell, Massachusetts, MA|publisher=ePodunk|access-date=August 24, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190515115200/http://epodunk.com/cgi-bin/genInfo.php?locIndex=3011|archive-date=May 15, 2019|url-status=dead}}</ref> who had died five years before its 1823 incorporation. As Lowell's population grew, it acquired land from neighboring towns, and diversified into a full-fledged urban center. Many of the men who composed the labor force for constructing the canals and factories had immigrated from [[Ireland]], escaping the poverty and [[Great Famine (Ireland)|Great Famine]] of the 1830s and 1840s. The mill workers, young single women called [[Mill Girls]], generally came from the farm families of New England.
[[File:Saint Anne's Episcopal Church; Lowell, MA; south (front) side; 2011-08-20.JPG|thumbnail|right|Saint Anne's Episcopal Church, built 1824]]

By the 1850s, Lowell had the largest industrial complex in the United States. The textile industry wove cotton produced in the [[Southern United States]]. In 1860, there were more cotton spindles in Lowell than in all eleven states combined that would form the [[Confederate States of America]].<ref>Stephen J. Goldfarb, "A Note on Limits to Growth of the Cotton-Textile Industry in the Old South", ''Journal of Southern History'', 48, (1982), 545.</ref> Many of the coarse cottons produced in Lowell eventually returned to the South to clothe enslaved people, and, according to historian Sven Beckert, "'Lowell' became the generic term slaves used to describe coarse cottons."<ref>{{Cite book|title = Empire of Cotton: a Global History|last = Beckert|first = Sven|publisher = Knopf|year = 2014|location = New York}}</ref> The city continued to thrive as a major industrial center during the 19th century, attracting more migrant workers and immigrants to its mills. Next were the [[Catholic Germans]], followed by a large influx of [[French Canadians]] during the 1870s and 1880s. Later waves of immigrants came to work in Lowell and settled in ethnic neighborhoods, with the city's population reaching almost 50% foreign-born by 1900.<ref name="Yankee">[http://www.yankeemagazine.com/issues/2009-11/features/lowell-timeline/1 Marion, Paul, "Timeline of Lowell History From 1600s to 2009"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120316054422/http://www.yankeemagazine.com/issues/2009-11/features/lowell-timeline/1 |date=March 16, 2012 }}, ''[[Yankee Magazine|Yankee]]'' magazine, November 2009.</ref>  By the time [[World War I]] broke out in Europe, the city had reached its economic peak.

In 1922, it was affected by the [[1922 New England Textile Strike]], shutting down the mills in the city over an attempted wage cut.<ref name=":122">{{Cite book |last1=Foner |first1=Philip Sheldon |title=History of the labor movement in the United States. 9: The T.U.E.L. to the end of the Gompers era / by Philip S. Foner |last2=Foner |first2=Philip Sheldon |date=1991 |publisher=Intl Publ |isbn=978-0-7178-0674-4 |location=New York |pages=19–31}}</ref><ref name=":02">{{Cite journal |last=E. Tilden |first=Leonard |date=1923 |title=New England Textile Strike |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41828627 |journal=Monthly Labor Review |volume=16 |issue=5 |pages=13–36 |jstor=41828627 }}</ref>

The Mill Cities' manufacturing base declined as companies began to relocate to the South in the 1920s.<ref name="Yankee" /> The city fell into hard times, and was even referred to as a "depressed industrial desert" by ''Harper's Magazine'' in 1931, as the [[Great Depression in the United States|Great Depression]] worsened. At this time, more than one third of its population was "on relief" (government assistance), as only three of its major textile corporations remained active.<ref name="Yankee" /> Several years later, the mills were reactivated, making [[parachute]]s and other military necessities for [[World War II]]. However, this economic boost was short-lived and the post-war years saw the last textile plants close.
[[File:Abandoned mill in Lowell.jpg|thumbnail|left|Mills sat abandoned after industry left the city in the early twentieth century.]]

=== Zoning, development and the Massachusetts Miracle ===
In the 1970s, Lowell became part of the [[Massachusetts Miracle]], being the headquarters of [[Wang Laboratories]]. At the same time, Lowell became home to thousands of new immigrants, many from [[Cambodia]], following the [[genocide]] at the hands of the [[Khmer Rouge]]. The city continued to rebound, but this time, focusing more on culture. The former mill district along the river was partially restored and became part of the [[Lowell National Historical Park]], founded in the late 1970s.[[File:Lowell Park HQ.jpg|thumbnail|left|Former mill agent's house]]

Although Wang went bankrupt in 1992, the city continued its cultural focus by hosting the nation's largest free folk festival, the [[Lowell Folk Festival]], as well as many other cultural events. This effort began to attract other companies and families back to the urban center. Additional historic manufacturing and commercial buildings were [[adaptive reuse|adapted]] as residential units and office space. By the 1990s, Lowell had built a new ballpark and arena, which became home to two minor league sports teams, the [[Lowell Devils]] and [[Lowell Spinners]]. The city also began to have a larger student population. The [[University of Massachusetts Lowell]] and [[Middlesex Community College (Massachusetts)|Middlesex Community College]] expanded their programs and enrollment. During the period of time when Lowell was part of the Massachusetts Miracle, the Lowell City Development Authority created a Comprehensive Master Plan which included recommendations for zoning adaptations within the city. The city's original zoning code was adopted in 1926 and was significantly revised in 1966 and 2004, with changes included to respond to concerns about overdevelopment.<ref>City of Lowell Master Plan Update: Existing Conditions Report, Department of Planning and Development, December 2011, 3.0 Land-Use p. 31</ref>

In 2002, in lieu of updating the Comprehensive Master Plan, more broad changes were recommended so that the land use and development would be consistent with the current master plan. The most significant revision to the 1966 zoning code is the adoption of an inclusion of a [[transect-based zoning code]] and some aspects of a [[form-based code]] style of zoning that emphasizes urban design elements as a means to ensure that infill development will respect the character of the neighborhood or district in question. By 2004, the recommended zoning changes were unanimously adopted by the City Council and despite numerous changes to the 2004 Zoning Code, it remains the basic framework for resolving zoning issues in Lowell to this day.<ref>City of Lowell Master Plan Update: Existing Conditions Report, Department of Planning and Development, December 2011, 3.0 Land-Use p. 32</ref>
[[File:Pawtucket Canal at Central St looking west, Lowell MA.jpg|thumbnail|right|Pawtucket Canal]]

The [[Hamilton Canal District]] (HCD) is the first district in Lowell in which regulation and development is defined by Form-Based Code (HCD-FBC) and legislated by its own guiding framework consistent to the HCD Master Plan.<ref>Hamilton Canal District Form-Based Code Zoning Section, City of Lowell Zoning Section 10.3, February 2009 p. 4</ref> The HCD is a major redevelopment project that comprises 13 acres of vacant, underutilized land in downtown Lowell abutting former industrial mills. [[Trinity Financial]] was elected as the Master Developer to recreate this district with a vision of making a mixed-use neighborhood. Development plans included establishing the HCD as a gateway to downtown Lowell and enhanced connectivity to [[Lowell (MBTA station)|Gallagher Terminal]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.trinityfinancial.com/sub/hamiltoncanal.php |title=Hamilton Canal District, Lowell, Massachusetts |website=trinityfinancial.com |publisher=Trinity Financial LLC |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006125014/http://www.trinityfinancial.com/sub/hamiltoncanal.php |archive-date=October 6, 2014 }}</ref><ref>Hamilton Canal District Master Plan, September 2008 p.. 6</ref>

===Anti-crime efforts===
In the 1990s, Lowell had been locally notorious for being a place of high drug trafficking and gang activity, and was the setting for a real life documentary, ''[[High on Crack Street: Lost Lives in Lowell]].''  In the years from 1994 to 1999, crime dropped 50 percent, the highest rate of decrease for any city in America with over 100,000 residents.

Within one generation, by 2009, Lowell was ranked as the 139th most dangerous city of over 75,000 residents in the United States, out of 393 communities.  Out of Massachusetts cities, nine are larger than 75,000 residents, and Lowell was fifth.<ref name="City Crime Rankings, 2009-2010">{{cite web|url=http://os.cqpress.com/citycrime/2009/CityCrimeRankings2009.htm|title=CQ Press: City Crime Rankings 2009|access-date=April 27, 2010|archive-date=September 1, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170901124312/http://os.cqpress.com/citycrime/2009/CityCrimeRankings2009.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> For comparison Lowell was still rated safer than Boston (104 of 393), Providence, RI (123), Springfield (51), Lynn (120), Fall River (103), and New Bedford (85), but rated more dangerous than Cambridge (303), Newton (388), Quincy (312), and Worcester (175).<ref name="City Crime Rankings, 2009-2010" />