As Lowell Grows

There are not many cities in the United States that are significant in our countries history, and are still remembered for their achievements. Lowell is one of these few cities. Throughout the years the city of Lowell has been known for many things. As time went on Lowell has developed and changed into the city it is now. Originally, Lowell was known for playing a prominent role in the Industrial Revolution, but it soon became known for its population of Cambodians. Eventually Lowell’s popularity grew because it became the home to the University of Massachusetts Lowell. People come together from all over to learn and become a part of the greatness that Lowell has become.

            Lowell is best known for its role in the Industrial Revolution. The people of Lowell used the Merrimack River to create energy that ran textile mills such as the Boott-Cotton Mills. For over one hundred years thousands of people would work around fourteen hours a day to create fabric for people all over the country, making only about three dollars a week. People flocked from all around to the mills for work, thinking they could send money home to help support their families. The Boott-Cotton Mills have been turned into a museum meant to educate people on what was going on in Lowell during the Industrial Revolution. Kids from all over are brought to the mills to learn about this time period.

I am from Gloucester, MA and every year in elementary school we would drive an hour to these mills to learn about the history of Lowell. We would learn about the working conditions, the reason people came to Lowell, and much more. Recently I visited the Boott-Cotton Mills and I relearned all the things that I learned when I was a child, but I have grown up, and now I truly understand what happened in these mills. The working conditions were terrible, there were many injuries, the employees had to work exhausting hours and made very little money. But the city of Lowell does not cover up the bad that happened in the mills, it fully educates the many people that travel here to learn about the mills. Millions of people across the country knows about the city of Lowell because it was such a major player when the United States started to evolve.

            Lowell, MA is the home to the second highest population of Cambodians outside Cambodia. Second only to Long Beach, CA. The Merrimack Repertory Theatre in Lowell recently put on Year Zero, a play about two Cambodian siblings living in Long Beach. The two siblings had to deal with losing their mother and growing up earlier than they should have to. The older sister had to leave her studies at Berkeley to make all the arrangements for her younger brother, as well as deal with other problems going on in her own life. She had to struggle with the loss of her mother, taking care of her brother, packing all of her mother’s things, as well as dealing with her own personal problems. The little brother also had to deal with the loss of their mother, bullying at school, and wanting to get out of Long Beach. The two children knew little about their mother’s life in Cambodia and as the play went on they are slowly told about their family history and the traumas their mother had to face.
This play taught its viewers a lot about Cambodian culture and the Cambodian Genocide, the reason so many Cambodians moved to places like Lowell and Long Beach. Since there is so many people of Cambodian decent in Lowell this play also taught us about many of the people that live here, their culture, and what they or their ancestors had to go through to get here. The population of Cambodians in Lowell is a big part of what Lowell is and Year Zero taught the many students, such as myself, about the city we had just moved to. It helped show us what was outside the borders of UMass Lowell, off the campuses. Going to see the play got us off campus making us venture into Lowell to get the theatre, so not only did we learn through actually watching the play, but also by our trip to get there.

            The University of Massachusetts Lowell is a Division 1 school, making people travel from all over to play here and to watch the events that are going on. Many students have been recruited from other states to play for the many sports teams we have. I attended a women’s volleyball game and on the roster it showed that many of our players are from states on the west coast. Most of the girls came from Nevada, California, and Arizona, states where volleyball is big. Even though our team lost, the fans in the crowd cheered loudly until the very end, supporting their players. On a Friday night match over two hundred fifty students and non-students came to watch our team play. Similarly at a women’s soccer game there was about two hundred fifty viewers. Once again the crowd was cheering loudly the entire game even though our team lost. Some of the people in the crowd even learned the roster of the opposing team and were trying to distract them as the game went on. Many people come out to see our now Division 1 teams play.

 But hockey is our most popular sport by far, at the game this past Friday night verse Boston College there were about two thousand four hundred students and the rest of the stadium was completely filled. The Tsongas Arena seats about sixty-five hundred people, and many people could not find seats. The line to get into the building wrapped around the Tsongas Arena, and was still their even after the first period ended. People did not even care that they were missing the beginning of the game if it meant that they would be able to see some of it live.  Students, citizens of Lowell, alumni of both schools, and people who just enjoy watching hockey came to Lowell to watch us defeat Boston College 5-2. The crowd was going crazy throughout the entire game, chanting and even taunting the other team. Our school and Division 1 sports teams bring people to Lowell and bring out the good of the city.

            The city of Lowell is known widely because of the textile mills, our Cambodian population, and the University of Massachusetts Lowell. It has adapted greatly since the Industrial Revolution into what it is today. People across the country know of our city for many reasons, and although it has not always had the best reputation I believe that it is changing for the better. Our cities reputation is changing slowly over time.  Our university is helping to change the city and bringing good publicity here, our sports teams are bringing our city into the media for good instead of the bad that sometimes comes out of it. Throughout the years Lowell has grown and become what it is today, and it will continue to grow as time goes on into an even better city.