From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Lowell Museum
Lowell Museum
Founder of the Lowell Museum, Moses Kimball $15,000, which was partially insured. The fire destroyed
the museum, several of the stores beneath it, including;
C.W. Pratt dry goods, the Abel Whitney bookstore, R.B.
Randall & Co. clothing store, and the Law Library of Ben-
jamin Butler next door. The "Boston Nationals" who were
performing in the museum’s theatre managed by N.F.
Gates, lost all of their costumes and belongings.
Notable Exhibits
• April 1843; featured: Mr. Harrington of Boston "The
original, well-known, and justly celebrated
Ventriloquist, and Professor of Ledgerdemain". The
advertisement in the Lowell Courier promised:
"Laughable, Comical, Quisical, Mysterious, Magical,
Wonderful, Astonishing Experiments of
Ventriloquism, Imitations, etc, etc, etc." Tickets
The "Lowell Museum", located in Lowell, Massachusetts, admitting two persons were 25 cents and the
was founded by Moses Kimball in 1840, as an art exhibit performance began at 8 PM.
hall and entertainment venue[1]. • May 1843; "The Conflagration of Moscow" was staged
at the Lowell Museum as a sound and light show
depicting with cannon fire and military music the
History burning of the city by Napoleon in 1812.
The Lowell Museum was housed on the upper floors of a • July 1843; Kip Darling performed at the Lowell
building owned by Lowell’s U.S. Postmaster, Fisher Ames Museum
Hildreth, and the theatre venue of the museum was man- • December 1848, Miss Eliza Eberle, Dancer, first
aged by N. F. Gates. performance at Lowell Museum[3]
On the evening of May 26, 1853, during one of the • From 1850-51, Mr. John Howe frequently played at
performances, an actor named Wheeler, was accidentally the Lowell Museum.
stabbed with a bayonet over the eye, entering his brain,
and killing him instantly, in front of a full house[2].
In the mid 1850s, local artist Alfred Ordway was com-
References
missioned to paint portraits of all the presidents to adorn [1] http://ecommunity.uml.edu/lhs/
the museum. He finished in late 1855, only to lose them lowell_history.htm
all in the fire. [2] New York Times, May 27, 1853
According the January 31, 1856 New York Times arti- [3] Chronology of the American stage, from 1752 to
cle, The Lowell Museum was destroyed by fire, at a loss of 1852 By Francis Courtney Wemyss
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lowell_Museum&oldid=462174213"
Categories:
• Buildings and structures in Lowell, Massachusetts
• Museums in Middlesex County, Massachusetts
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