How You Chased Annie in 2024

By Laura Tavares, bAP marketing and social media

With thousands of photos and countless hours of research, how do you choose what to share about Annie on social media? 

In many instances, I started with photos that I found interesting. I would then learn that there was an intriguing backstory or technical aspect to the photo that I, as a layperson, would never have picked up on. Together, these aspects made for great posts.

In 2024, over 242,000 people discovered Annie Powell via Facebook and Instagram. A few posts reached as far as California. But, the majority of our regular followers and commenters are local to the Merrimack Valley.

Like many old New England cities, Lowell’s landscape has changed over the years—and being able to glimpse into days gone by brings a certain nostalgia even for those who were not contemporaries of Annie’s. Our audience loves Annie’s work for the views it gives us into the past.

Here are a few of my favorite photos and posts we shared that spurred commentary and conversation:

Photo courtesy of Center for Lowell History, City Engineers Collection, UMass Lowell

A Favorite Part of Lowell

I chose this photo as one of our first social media posts because it captures one of my favorite parts of the city. The train tracks, mill building, and smokestack are clues to its location, but the elevated walkway and booth have long since been demolished. We initially shared the photo without the caption—spurring close to 100 reactions and comments guessing the location. A few guessed correctly, but the most common incorrect guess was Boott Mills.

Photo courtesy of Center for Lowell History, City Engineers Collection, UMass Lowell

No Texting on Shattuck St.

This photo stood out to me because despite having been taken over 100 years ago, the scene is one you would still see today: someone preparing to cross the street, distracted by something in their hands and unfazed by oncoming traffic. If taken today, I would assume the person was staring at their phone, texting. One commenter suggested that they were scratching a lottery ticket. I also love that the crossing of Shattuck and Middle streets looks much the same today with the cobblestone street and granite crossings.

Photo courtesy of Powell Family Collectio

Maybe Photobombing, Maybe on Moore St.

This photo is one of the images found in Annie’s final effects. However, no notes accompanied it. It’s a true mystery—streets unfamiliar and hardly recognizable from the Lowell of today. Was the woman peering over the fence meant to be in the photo, or just photobombing? There was a lot of speculation over where this photo was taken, and for what occasion it was snapped. You might remember it from a newsletter that summarized all the theories we received. Eyes were drawn to the windows to the right which looked like they belonged to a church, and the building in the distance that appeared to be a mill. The discussion led us to believe that Moore Street was a possible contender although we couldn’t be certain.

Ultimately we’ve been doing more than just telling Annie’s story. We’re sharing her art and a window into the past of what life was like in Lowell.

Published in our newsletter 1/16/2025