LowellDeeds

This past Saturday (May 8) fifty-five visitors toured the Registry of Deeds and the Superior Courthouse as part of "Doors Open Lowell," part of the city's celebration of National Preservation Week. Our guests enjoyed seeing the historic Daniel Webster courtroom and learning how the courthouse is actually two buildings, one built in 1848, the other in 1898. The older building was actually constructed right along Gorham Street, exactly where the new building sits. When it came time to expand, the county commissioners decided to move the old building backwards to its present location. Workers dug under the foundation and used heavy wooden beams and 800 jacks to support the weight of the three story brick structure. Then, using other jacks positioned perpendicular to the side of the excavation, they pushed the building sixty feet at the rate of an inch an hour. A contemporary newspaper account reported that progress was so slow and steady that "work continued uninterrupted as the building was moved." (I don't suppose that would happen today). This and other interesting stories about the Registry of Deeds, the courthouse and the city of Lowell and surrounding towns were all documented for the Open House. In the coming weeks, we hope to convert this material to pages on our website so it will be available to a broader audience.