The Patrick J. Mogan Cultural Center came about from the original impulse in the 1960s and early 1970s to save the historical and cultural assets of the city of Lowell, which was then in economic decline. One of the primary movers of the reviving-Lowell movement was Dr. Patrick J. Mogan - educator, planner, and public visionary. Mogan believed that the city could serve as an active agent for helping people reconnect to their cultural traditions and be a model for other communities around the nation. He led the successful effort to have Lowell designated a National Historical Park in 1978 and, thus, receive federal recognition for the city’s role in the growth of industrialism in the United States. The Mogan Center, which incorporated his ideas of focusing on the local expression of history and culture, opened in 1989.