Last minute adventure to Lowell, MA

I've lived in Boston for 5 years, but hardly seen the rest of Massachusetts. Today I had the urge to go to North Station. Whichever train came would be today's adventure. It happened to be Lowell, which is an old industrialized town 45 mins north of Boston.
I pictured it as it was with many buildings with old factory chimneys. As i got out of the train at the Lowell MBTA station, I overheard 3 people talking about going to downtown Lowell. Since I came with no real destination in mind, downtown seemed like a good idea. So I struck up a conversation with them and we walked toward downtown.
Lowell has its own bus system which runs from the commuter rail. But today it was not raining, and we could see the sun trying to peek out so we decided to walk.Thank God for sidewalks as the traffic can be hectic in that area, but there are busses that take you downtown.
We passed the old textile museum on our way, but we did not go in. Once we got downtown, we parted ways and I looked around. THe strets in downtown Lowell are stone, not paved. THe stores are mostly locally owned except CVS and Dunkin Donuts of course. (New England runs on Dunkin:) As usual I had to charge my phone, so I found an electrical outlet at a little pub and had a drink as I waited for it to charge so I can do my new hobby-take pictures! I still did not take enough though today:(

Statue of a man building canals for the Merrimack River

One can never see enough of the river in Lowell I found out:)

It's too bad that the water is so polluted. Well, I guess we have industrialization to thank for that in this city's case. I wonder if there is a way to dissolve pollution from water, similiar to the organisms that ate the oil when the oil spill happened in the Gulf? Too bad I do not have the time for environmental science amongst my academic endeavors:)

Now onto one of the first aspects of the Industrial Revolution....choo choo!

Not that great of a pic thanks to the overcast sky in the background:(

It was obvious that the trains had to be built back then to increase productivity and shipping things faster. (cargo and people)

Although the significance of the Industrial Revolution is still very strong in Lowell, it has become a mix of college students (because of UMass Lowell in the area), locals who were brought up there, and immigrants like the Cambodians who made a home here to escape genocide in their own country. It has its unique personality, and I will go back just to see the history I havent seen yet. I only touched the tip of the iceberg today since it was a last minute trip. But it will be worth another.