owell were extended, in 1873, to include Middlesex
Village, taken from Chelmsford, and a part of Dracut and Tewksbury. A
new railroad by the way of Andover connected Lowell with Boston in 1874.

[Illustration: OLD FIRST UNIVERSALIST CHURCH,
Which stood on site of the Boston and Maine Railroad Station.]

The city celebrated the semi-centennial of its incorporation, March 1,
1876.

The Emperor Dom Pedro of Brazil visited the city in June of the same
year.

The Lowell Art Association was formed in May, 1878. In December of that
year the waters of the Merrimack rose nearly eleven feet on Pawtucket
Dam; in the same month the Merrimack Company introduced the electric
light.

[Illustration: JOHN DYNELY PRINCE.
Born in England, 1780. Died January 5, 1860.]

Merrimack Company introduced the electric light.

In August, 1880, Boston and Lowell were connected by telephone.

As one glances over the history of Lowell, he recognizes the fact that
the city has gained its prominence, its wealth, and its population,
chiefly through the great corporations, and the wisdom of their early
managers; accordingly the record of these corporate bodies is intimately
connected with the annals of the city. The reader has noted the fact
that the first impetus was given to the place by the acts of the
Merrimack Manufacturing Company. This company was incorporated February
5, 1822; and the first mill was started the following year. The company
is not only the oldest in the city but is the largest, employing the
most operatives and producing the most cloth; their chimney, two hundred
and eighty-three feet high, is the tallest in the country.

Ezra Worthen, the first superintendent of the mills, died, suddenly,
June 18, 1824, and was succeeded by Warren Colburn, the author of the
popular arithmetic. Mr. Colburn died September 13, 1833, and was
succeeded by John Clark, who held the office until 1848. Mr. Clark was
succeeded by Emory Washburn, afterward Governor of Massachusetts, by
Edward L. Lebreton, and from 1850 to 1865 by Isaac Hinckley, now
president of the Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore Railroad. John
C. Palfrey was superintendent from 1865 to 1874, when Joseph S. Ludlam
was appointed. The print-works were in charge of Kirk Boott in 1822;
after him was Allen Pollock, 1823 to 1826; John D. Prince, 1826 to 1855;
Henry Barrows, 1855 to 1878; James Duckworth, 1878 to 1882; Robert
Latham, since 1882. The treasurers of the company hav