Lowell National Historical Park

The River Transformed Exhibit at the Wannalancit Mill.

Photo credit: By Jlpapple (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Lowell National Historical Park in Lowell, Massachusetts is operated by the National Park Service. It comprises a group of sites in and around the city related to the era of textile manufacturing during the Industrial Revolution. The park includes a visitor center, as well as many restored and unrestored sites from the 19th century. The visitor center provides a free self-guided tour, including display exhibits such as the patent model of a loom by local inventor S. Thomas. The Boott Mills is the most fully restored manufacturing site in the district, and one of the oldest.

The walking tour includes a detour to a memorial to local author Jack Kerouac, who described the mid-20th century declined state of Lowell in several of his books. A walkway along the river leads to several additional unrestored mill sites, providing views of restored and unrestored canal raceways once used by the mills. Additionally, the park includes the Patrick J Mogan Cultural Center, which focuses on the lives of Lowell's many generations of immigrants. Other exhibits include a working streetcar line; canal boat tours exploring some of the city's gatehouses and locks; and the River Transformed / Suffolk Mill Turbine Exhibit, which shows how water power, the Francis Turbine, ran Lowell's textile factories.