Mogan Cultural Center

Mogan Cultural Center, 40 French St

NPS

 

 

Mogan Cultural Center

40 French Street

Housed in a historic boarding house, the Mogan Cultural Center is a hub of information on the cultural history of Lowell. Featuring museum exhibits, a research library, and a traditional arts program, visitors are encouraged to learn more about the unique cultural history of Lowell, past, present, and future, at this park site.

 

Hours of Operation

January 2 - August 31, 2025

Open Daily
1:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.

The Center for Lowell History has currently limited their hours. Visit the Center for Lowell History website for more information.

 

Historic dining room at the Mill Girls Exhibit.

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Museum Exhibits

Into an 1840s Boarding House Exhibit

Explore a recreated boarding house (ca. 1841) and learn more about the lives of the early mill girls outside the factory walls. The first floor features a recreation of a boarding house dining room and kitchen. These bustling spaces were staffed by a boarding house keeper, whose room is adjacent. In this self-guided space, learn what early factory workers would eat on a daily basis and how the keeper prepared three meals daily.

Continue upstairs to the girls' crowded bedrooms and listen in on their nighttime conversations. Check out the exhibit cases to see how they spent their precious free time and what they wrote home to their families about life in Lowell. Visitors may also learn more in-depth information about select mill workers, including the poet Lucy Larcom and the suffragist Harriet Hanson Robinson.

 

One City, Many Cultures

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One City, Many Cultures Exhibit

Lowell National Historical Park's newest exhibit, One City, Many Cultures explores how culture shapes and connects people and communities using stories of Lowell from across time. Lowell is a vibrant multi-cultural city, a gateway city for immigrants and refugees. Learn about their lived experiences and encounter new perspectives and ways of life through the sights, sounds, smells, and touches available in the exhibit. Watch videos of dance, artmaking, and music from different cultures and listen in at the kitchen table interactive to hear what people think about home.

One City, Many Cultures is available in English and Spanish with more languages to be available in the future.

More information about the planning and installation process can be found on the One City, Many Cultures page.

 

Center for Lowell History

NPS

Center for Lowell History

A University of Massachusetts Lowell research library, the Center for Lowell History was established in 1971 to assure the safekeeping, preservation, and availability for study research materials in unique subject areas, particularly those related to the Greater Lowell Area and the University of Massachusetts Lowell. Researchers can visit the Center for Lowell History to explore their robust selection of holdings. For more information, and to explore the Center for Lowell History's digital collections, visit their website.

 

Angkor Dance Troupe

Jim Higgins

Angkor Dance Troupe

Established in 1986 when Tim Thou and a passionate group of Cambodian refugees came together in Lowell, Massachusetts with the sole purpose to revive a culture once almost lost, Angkor Dance Troupe (ADT) teaches and performs a body of work developed at the Royal University of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh, Cambodia - where they are considered the world’s cultural source and standard bearer for traditional Cambodian arts. Through cultural exchanges and programs including dance, music, and Khmer Language class, students learn how to explain the history and stories of the Cambodian people through the power of facial/body language, musical composition, and lyrical speech. The Mogan Cultural Center serves as the rehearsal area for the Angkor Dance Troupe. To learn more about the ADT, visit the Angkor Dance Troupe website.

 

Parking

The Mogan Cultural Center is a 10-15 minute walk from the Visitor Center (246 Market Street) and the Hamilton Canal Innovation District parking garage (350 Dutton Street). Parking in this garage (only) is available to National Park visitors at no cost provided they obtain a valid parking voucher at either the Visitor Center or at the Boott Cotton Mills Museum.

If you would like to park closer to the museum, parking is available for a fee at city garages or on metered street parking. The closest city parking garage to the Mogan Cultural Center is the Downes Parking Garage located at 75 John Street. Parking fees apply.

Disability designated parking spaces are provided in the city parking garage at 75 John Street. The garage has a height limitation of 6' 8" for vehicles. Vehicles that display disability license plates or a hanging placard may also park at no cost in any designated parking space within the City of Lowell.

Accessibility

For Visitors With Mobility Impairments:

The Mogan Cultural Center is fully accessible. Service dogs are welcomed throughout the Park, on tours and in all facilities. For more information about service animals, please refer to the ADA service dog guidelines.

For Visitors With Hearing Impairments:

All exhibit films throughout the Mogan Cultural Center feature captions. Please ask a staff member for more information.

 

Places to Go

• 

  Visitor Center
• 

  Boott Cotton Mills Museum
• 

  Northern Canal Walkway