Lowell — Streetcar Museum Opens

Rail Transit Online, July 2003

The National Streetcar Museum officially opened in Lowell, Massachusetts, on June 28 following a brief ribbon-cutting ceremony.  Visitors were then treated to a ride on No. 966, a restored 1924 Perley Thomas streetcar from New Orleans on tracks that last carried passengers 67 years ago — trolleys ran in Lowell from 1889 to Sept. 8, 1935.  Exhibits in the small museum show the history of streetcars in Lowell and the U.S. and how they helped boost the nation’s economy at a time when public transportation options were limited.  “The streetcar had a tremendous role in building America,” Jim Schantz, chairman of the board of the Seashore Trolley Museum, told the Lowell Sun.  “This city could have never developed if it wasn't going to get people to the (fabric) mills.”  Seashore, located in Kennebunkport, Maine, teamed up with Lowell to establish the museum, which will remain open as a pilot project until October 2004 through a $25,000 grant from the Theodore Edson Parker Foundation.  Three replica vintage streetcars already serve the Lowell National Historic Park, which in conjunction with Seashore, hopes to expand the system into the historic city center and build a large, permanent streetcar museum.  Additional replicas would be acquired to provide a regular base service augmented by original cars on loaned from Seashore.  They would serve the Tsongas Arena, Fletcher Street, downtown Lowell and the MBTA commuter rail station. The National Streetcar Museum is located at 25 Shattuck St. and is open Thursday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.  Admission is $2 for adults and $1 for seniors and children age 12 and under.