History / The Battles Home
From 1957 — or, by some accounts, 1956 — until early 2004, this was not a family’s house but a home for about eleven elderly residents at a time, run by a Lowell charity. It is the longest single use in the building’s history and the one most living people remember.[sources]
The Battles Home began half a century earlier and a mile away. In 1901 Mary Battles, widow of James Battles, conveyed her house at 15 Belmont Street to trustees to found a home “for the poor, the aged and the friendless”; it opened in April 1902 as the Battles Home for Aged Men. These facts come from newspaper retrospectives of 2001 and 2011; the foundation’s own records have not been consulted for this site.[source]
In 1957 the corporation bought the Fairmount Street house from Alexander and Agnes Herron. The deed is dated 1 April 1957; the newspapers say the home moved in 1956. Both can be true — an agreement or occupancy in 1956, title in 1957 — but no record yet shows it.[source]
A house built for one family in 1883, already divided into apartments by mid-century, had to become a licensed rest home. The owner’s notes say that in 1957 the main staircase was removed, an elevator installed in its place and new stairs built around it. The 1957 plans and the tax card survive in the archive and should confirm or correct this; until they are read, the alteration is listed as unverified.[sources]
What the rest home did not change is as telling as what it did: the oak hall, the Minton tile floor and the stained glass came through forty-seven years of institutional use intact.[source]
Up to about eleven residents lived here at a time. The original name — Home for Aged Men — should not be read across the whole period: later accounts name women among the residents, and the 2011 Lowell Sun reported that a former mayor of Lowell and his wife were among the last to leave in 2004. Their names are not published here until their family has been asked.[sources]
Beyond that, the archive is nearly silent: no photographs of the rooms in use, no staff lists, no residents’ letters, no menus or routines. Anything written about daily life in the home at this stage would be invention, and this site does not do that.
If you lived here, worked here, visited a relative or delivered the milk, the owner would like to hear from you — a date, a name, a photograph, a memory. Say roughly when, who took any photograph, and whether you are willing for it to be quoted or shown. Nothing is published without your permission. Get in touch →
The home closed in early 2004 and the house was sold to private buyers. The Battles Foundation, which dated from 1901, continued as a charity. Because the foundation was 103 years old, a “104 years as a retirement home” figure sometimes appears — including in the current owner’s own remarks to a reporter in 2011. The house itself served as a rest home for about 47 years. This website has no connection with the Battles Foundation and does not raise money for it.[sources]
Mary Battles conveys her house at 15 Belmont Street to trustees to found a home "for the poor, the aged and the friendless"; it opens in April 1902. By 1931 the city directory places the Battles Home for Aged Men at 93 Rolfe Street, where it stays until the move to Fairmount Street. For its first half-century it has nothing to do with this house.[source]
AttributedThe Battles Home
The Herrons convey the property to "The Battles Home, a Corporation duly established by law and located in Lowell". Newspaper accounts from 2001 and 2011 say the home moved in 1956; the 1956 directory still shows private tenants here and the home on Rolfe Street, so the move came late in 1956 or in 1957. By 1966 the directory lists the home, its officers and five retired residents at this address.[sources]
DocumentedThe Battles Home
What is uncertain: 1956 (press) versus 1957 (deed) for the move; not yet resolved.
The owner’s 2022 notes state that in 1957 the main staircase was removed, an elevator installed and new stairs built around it. The 1957 plans in the archive should confirm this; until then it is reported, not verified.[source]
Unverified
What is uncertain: Owner recollection; plans not yet examined.
A Lowell planning-department surveyor completes Form B no. 494 for the Massachusetts Historical Commission: "Arthur Bonney Estate", Chateauesque, "the earliest of Lowell’s major late 19th century stone mansions", present use "rest home". Its photograph is the oldest dated image of the house found so far.[sources]
Documented
After about 47 years at Fairmount Street, housing up to around eleven residents at a time, the rest home closes. The foundation that ran it dated from 1901 — which is how a "104-year" figure sometimes appears in print.[sources]
DocumentedThe Battles Home