Lowell Town

Lowell Town Hall is located at 501 East Main Street, Lowell, IN 46356; phone: 219-696-7794.

Photo: Melvin A. Halstead House, ca. 1850, 201 East Main Street, Lowell, IN. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. Photographed by User:Nyttend (own work), 2011, [cc0-by-1.0 (creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en], via Wikimedia Commons, accessed November, 2012.

Beginnings [1]

• 1835—Samuel Halstead made claim to the area. His cabin was the first building in Lowell
• 1843—First outlet post office was established near Lowell High School
• 1848—M.A. Halstead erects a saw mill on the property known as "Mill Seat"
• 1852—First grade school building constructed; also doubled as a church (located at the intersection of Clark St. and Commercial Ave.)
• 1852—Jonah Thorn opens the first business, a small hotel, general store, and tavern in Lowell
• 1853—M. A. Halstead constructs a flour mill (located on Jefferson Street); the mill was powered by water from the dam located on Main Street and was in use for approximately fifteen years.
• 1855—A clothing and general store was opened on Commercial Ave.
• 1860—Perry Clark opened a brickyard on the north side of Main Street.
• 1861—The "Union House" hotel was opened in old school house
• 1862—Brick school house constructed at the intersection of Main and Union streets (cost $8,000); the school was considered the largest and best school in the county
• 1864—Lowell begins its first daily mail service
• 1864—Stagecoach routes between Lowell and Crown Point started
• 1868—The largest building was erected; three stories high, it served as a wool mill and later a grist mill (cost $8,000)
• 1869—First Town Marshall was appointed.
• 1872—The Lowell Star was published by E.R. Beebe (or Beebie)
• 1880—The Monon Rail line constructed through Lowell and connected the city to Louisville, New Albany, and Chicago
• 1881—A grain elevator and grist mill constructed across from the depot
• 1885—The Lowell Tribune established
• 1896—In November, the men of Lowell organized a cooperative group to protect their properties in the event of a fire
• 1898—On October 4th a fire destroyed many Lowell businesses on the north side of Commercial Ave.
• 1898—Town Marshall begins day and night watches for fire protection in the business district
• 1904—First state charter received for Volunteer Fire Department
• 1904—Small library contains 500 books
• 1915—High school built on Oakley Street (now part of middle school)
• 1916—First fire truck purchased
• 1917—Lowell Library organized
• 1920—The first public library was established and a Carnegie library building was built on the town square

1. Ball State University Community Based Projects for the Town of Lowell, Town of Lowell Comprehensive Plan, 0000, www.lowell.net, accessed April, 2014.