Poster 13 of 100

Once Lowell City Hall, now Enterprise Bank

THE “1893” WRITTEN on this image indicates the year Lowell City Hall moved from this location to its present site two blocks down on Merrimack Street.

As visitors enter Enterprise Bank to view the poster, they may experience something unique among public art exhibits. The reproduced poster image faces the original photo which has been in place since 2015. That’s when antiques dealer Marlene Banyas acquired it and arranged its sale to the bank.

We became aware of the image in October 2023 over coffee with Lowell-based photographer Kevin Harkins. He worked with the bank to digitize the image and create a new one superimposing the new image on the old (see below). We wondered how this historical curiosity intersected with our Chasing Annie Powell exhibition.

Recently we have found evidence that Annie took the original photo. The penned “1893” on the image front closely matches her known handwriting. The highly retouched clouds and extra tree shadows demonstrate her highly stylized technique. Also, we know that Annie would have immigrated from England two years earlier and was the main local photographer to document municipal scenes. She likely took three other existing photos on Merrimack Street the same year, including nearly the same view of the City Hall on a day without snow. This is owned by Lowell National HIstorical Park (LNHP).

The building has a storied history. Isaiah Rogers, famous as the architect of Boston’s Tremont House, designed the Greek revival city hall in 1830. It is also of note that City Hall is where a little-known Whig Congressman named Abraham Lincoln spoke in 1848. Over the years, the building has housed several businesses, some obvious and others not. This image shows business signs for:

• Willow Dale Potato Chips, which would either be Jonathan Bowers or A. Gavostes who are listed as renters in city documents.

• W.G. Ward, a dentist. Likely a display ad for their office on the second floor or what is now the New England Quilt Museum, 18 Shattuck Street.

• Carleton & Hovey druggists. The company paid the city $1,200 a year in rent. The billboard on the side is their advertisement for Father John’s cough medicine, which advertises to cure coughs, colds and consumption. The sign notes they are Lowell’s oldest drug store established in 1837.

In addition, city records show that in 1893, the city operated the Manual Training School for boys on an upper floor. This suggests that a city department may have ordered the images to document their real estate investment.

Enterprise Bank carefully restored the building for its headquarters January 1989. When Enterprise Bank bought the building, there was still a drug store on the site: McCord’s. Today, if you visit Poster 13, you can see images of McCord’s Drug Store on the wall.

Source: Enterprise Bank, 222 Merrimack Street in Lowell, MA