The story
Read it all →How Lowell came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Lowell.
The town was named for Lowell Hayden, the first child born here.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
–Not graded
History · Lowell
Lowell’s post office opened in 1842
Most of Lowell was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1990. Below: old-book passages.
1842first post office
0on the National Register
9%homes built before 1940
Quick answers
How Lowell began
When was Lowell founded?
1842
The Lowell post office opened in 1842, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, East Lowell (1856), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
2020 census: 368184 years
Founding year: the first Lowell post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
What stands out about Lowell’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Lowell’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Lowell’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.Timeline
Lowell, 1842 to 1919
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Lowell in 1882
Passages that mention Lowell, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Penobscot County, Maine1882 · page 417Read the page →
Read the text
One of the first settlers in Lowell was Jedediah Var. ney, who was a native of Windham, Maine. He married Eleanor Tourtillott. They moved to Lowell jn 1825, and cleared up and settled on the farm now known as the Levi Varney farm, abont three miles north of East Lowell post-office. He had two wives. By his first wife he had three children — William, Mary Jane, and David.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
By decade
No old photos in the archives yet
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your albumFamous people
See all →Famous people close to Lowell
Nobody well known was born in Lowell itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
P
Percy SpencerAmerican engineer and inventor · b. 1894T
Tabitha KingAmerican writer · b. 1949
E
Elenore AbbottAmerican Art Nouveau book illustrator, scenic d… · b. 1875
E
Ernest HolmesAmerican New Thought writer · b. 1887Places that used to be
Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Lowell had its own post office from 1842 to 1918. Another post office, East Lowell, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Lowell
East Lowell
18401930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
East Lowell
Gone or out of use
Edgecombe Schoolschool
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Lowell
LowellWest End
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Questions about Lowell’s history
What year was Lowell founded?
The Lowell post office opened in 1842, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Start a conversation
Sources
Where this page comes from
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikipedia, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.