Loading map...

1918 Map of Lowell

Name: 1918 Topographic Map of Lowell
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1918
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1918

About this map

Lowell serves as the industrial and urban anchor for this 1918 military survey, where the Merrimack River powers a dense network of textile centers and rail yards. The landscape is defined by its transition from the urban density of Centralville and Ayers City to the agricultural and granite-working towns of Westford and Chelmsford. A significant historical landmark is the Old Middlesex Canal, which by this time had long been surpassed by the extensive rail infrastructure, including the Boston and Maine R.R. Lowell Br. and the Lowell and Nashua Railroad.

Rural life in the early twentieth century is marked by features like the Poor Farm near the northern boundary and numerous small rail stops such as Carlisle Station and Little's Station. The presence of the Flat Rock Quarry and various hills like Christian Hill and Robbins Hill highlights the region's reliance on both manufacturing and local natural resources. The map captures the region just as it reached the peak of its industrial era before the post-war shifts in New England manufacturing.