History / Sources

The Lowell Directory, 1946

Creator

R. L. Polk & Co.

Date

1946

Type

book

Repository

Internet Archive (lowellma-directory-1946); a copy is in the house library

Locator

Cited pages: scan leaves 408, 448, 581, 900

Access

The title page and the pages cited on this site are reproduced here from the copy in the house library (owner’s ruling, October 28, 2026); the whole volume can be read at the Internet Archive. Read the source · Original at archive.org

Rights

Published 1946 by R. L. Polk & Co. with a copyright notice. No renewal was found in a quick check of the renewal records (October 28, 2026); city directories were generally not renewed. Reproduced under the owner’s ruling of October 28, 2026; it will be removed on request.

Statements this record supports

• C-140 — John J. McGowan was the Lilleys' coachman and later chauffeur and lived with his family on the estate in two spans, about 1897-1906 and 1916-1931 (James Dunn was the coachman in 1910; C-395, C-406): the Lowell birth registers give his occupation as coachman at 236 Fairmount Street in June 1897 and June 1903; he was there in 1920 and 1921 (in 1916 and 1921 described as chauffeur), and in 1928 and 1931 he was the caretaker. The 1930 census lists the McGowans at 'rear 234 Fairmount'; the 1931 directory gives 'rear 236'. His mother, Mary (McHugh) McGowan, the 'widow' of the 1900 directory, came from Ireland in 1896 and died in Lowell on February 25, 1921.
• C-161 — The estate's rear dwelling, the coachman's and later the caretaker's home, appears under No. 236 in the directories: the coachman (by 1916 a chauffeur) is listed at 236, 'house do.', in 1900, 1906 and 1916, and a rear dwelling, 'r 236' or 'rear', in 1926, 1931 and 1936, when it was let to a tenant. It no longer appears under No. 236 in 1946, the first directory after the 1944 division of the estate, and that is also the first directory with a 222 Fairmount Street, which is absent in 1926, 1931 and 1936.
• C-174 — The Grace L. Murphy who bought the house in June 1944 was the wife of Thomas J. Murphy, a salesman, and the couple lived in it: the 1946 Lowell directory lists 'Murphy … Thos J (Grace L) slsmn h 236 Fairmount', and its street section places 'Murphy Thos J' among the six units at 236.
• C-176 — The directories trace C. Brooks Stevens's offices and homes. He was superintendent of the United States Bunting Company in 1894 and its treasurer from 1900; treasurer also of the Middlesex Company by 1916; president of the Ames Worsted Company by 1926; president and treasurer of the Lawrence Manufacturing Company by 1931; and in 1946 treasurer of the Heinze Electric Company. He boarded at 24 Huntington Street in 1894, lived at 403 Andover Street in 1900 and 1906, and at Tewksbury from 1916; he never had a directory residence at 236 Fairmount Street.

Events on the timeline that cite it

• The coachman becomes a chauffeur (1906–1916)
• The chauffeur’s family (January 1920)