Lowell Technological Institute - Pickout Yearbook (Lowell, MA)

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f)e ®lb cfjool This is the cradle of the Lowell Textile School. It is in one of the business blocks on Middle Street and is now occupied by several business organizations. The Textile School occupied the three upper floors in the area to the right of the sign which marks the center of the building and the main corridor. To the left of the sign only the two upper floors were occupied. Commencing in the upper floor and at the left of the picture came first the Department of Cotton Yarn Manufacturing and its laboratory. At the right and on the upper floor were the Assembly Hall or big lecture room with three small class-rooms behind it. It was from the windows of this room that Professor Umpleby was occasionally greeted with a shower of his own design pegs as he came along the walk below. On the floor below and at the left was the Department of Wool and Worsted Manufacturing and its laboratory. To the right of the corridor were the Main Offices and the Weave Room. On the third floor down and to the right of the sign came the Department of Ch emistry and Dyeing with its laboratory, and directly behind it were the ' And Looms. It was from these windows that an occasional mild shower from water bottles greeted the passerby, while at the same time the heads engaged in showering the pedestrian were themselves given a sudden bath at the hands of some one on the floor above armed with a bucket of water. This was nearly thirty years ago. 25

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THE PICKOUT 1926 The home of this man, pictured at the head of this sketch, was one of Lowell ' s older dwellings, built at a time when construction was designed to be substantial rather than showy. It is located on upper Middlesex Street, not far from the point where the old Middlesex Canal entered the Merrimack River. At the time it was built this portion of the city promised to become commercially important, but the advent of the railroad put a check on such plans. A visit to this home was always an inspiration to all whose privilege it was to call this man friend. You who are now members of the student body will have no difficulty in recognizing the picture of the tree which stands on the bank of the river across the road from the present buildings. At the time these buildings were being erected and the roadway laid out, James T. , as he was affectionately called, noticed that this was an unusual tree and sent some of its leaves and twigs to experts at the Arnold Arboretum in Eoston. Examination showed it to be a specimen of the Hack- berry tree, a family really belonging to the tropics and all but unknown in this climate. Thus he saved to our school and to all tree lovers a rare specimen of which we should take more notice. No sooner had this man seen his visions begin to take shape in substantial brick and stone, than he commenced making their surroundings more attractive and beautiful. Recognizing the possibilities that lay in a field flanked on one side by Southwick Hall and Kitson Hall, and on the other by a row of trees of unusual beauty, this man of enthusiasm undertook to surround the grounds with a fence both substantial and tasteful; and to do it in such a way as to make it a bond between each graduating class and its Alma Mater. Think of this, you men of ' 26, as you construct that portion of the campus fence which it is your privilege to erect. Always devising, always organizing, was this man of many plans. Do you know that to him you owe the satisfaction of the open field fronting Southwick Hall, some day to be made still more beautiful? You owe to him the shrubbery that borders our present campus. You owe to his genius the plans for a gymnasium building at the back of our present campus and separating it from the lower level at the rear. On some day, there will be our athletic field, while our present campus becomes the field of beauty that it deserves to be made. It is in a very literal sense that he was given the title of Father of the Lowell Textile School, for he not only was its founder, but throughout the remainder of his life it was to him as a child to be trained and guided towards the highest ideals. You owe it to him to carry on and to carry on in enthusiasm and with strength. Build thee more stately mansions, my soul, As the swift seasons roll! Leave thy low-vaulted past! Let each new temple, nobler than the last Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast, Till thou at length art free; Leaving thine outgrown shell by life ' s unresting sea! 2i

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Cfje Campus You are now standing at one of the windows in the upper floor of Kitson Hall, looking down upon the campus as it was about twenty-one years ago. A few years before this picture was taken, Moody Street was a narrow cut between two high peaks of rock which rose above the street as high as the tops of the present trolley poles. To reduce these peaks, crush the rock and put it where it belonged in the form of improved streets, was the work of several years. To convert what was left into level field, surrounded by an ornamental fence and still further made beautiful by means of evergreens and flowering shrubs, was one of the tasks of James T. Smith. Use your imagination, Mr. Center Fielder (1926 model), as you roam over this spot seeking to connect with the elusive fly. The place where now you race was once accessible only to mountain goats and eagles. Note also the Five Ton Truck and the Peerless Chaise. 20