Improvements
There had been hope for electricity as far back as 1900 when the largest store building was wired in construction. It was still expected when the new school building and the new St. John’s Evangelical and Reformed church were wired in 1915. The current came through about ten years later. At first relations between the electrical company and the village council were not too satisfactory. Wishes of the council “as to where poles should be set and what the charge should be were not too well respected at the time.”
The current was provided by the same company that operated the interurban line from Marietta to Lowell and on to Beverly. It was still being furnished through a subsidiary of this same firm known as the Marietta Electric Company, through the 1950s.
Natural gas was supplied to Lowell from the Bear Creek field in 1900. On July 23,
1900, the council granted to Archer and Barry the right to maintain and operate pipes for the distribution of natural gas in the village for 30 years. The rate for the first heating or cooking stove was $2.22 per a month in the winter. The second, third, and fourth stoves cost $1.67, $1.11, and 83c, respectively. Gas lights for dwellings or business places cost 27c per a month. Similar privileges to lay pipelines were granted to Andrew J. Brown on February 5, 1901. The Buckeye Pipe Line Company received permission on March 13, 1901, to operate a pipeline for transportation of oil through the village. The second company to have been granted a franchise introduced the use of controls and meters. Although the metered gas cost a little more, many people preferred it since controls or cutoffs meant less danger. For a while, then, in 1903 and 1904, “there was a gas war that made the town ridiculous.” All public buildings had free gas and home users were charged only 10 cents per 1000 cubic feet per a month. This went on until one company became financially embarrassed and was bought out by the Ohio Fuel Gas Company.
Gas was used for lights in public buildings and on the streets until after the 1913 flood. At that time a lamp left burning in the telephone office started a fire that resulted in the loss of the tops of several stores and homes.
The first telephones in the community are claimed to have come on the Wooster line from Warner in 1904 or 1905. There is record of the village council passing an ordinance on June 4, 1896, granting permission to the Ohio Telephone and Telegraph Company to operate and maintain its line upon the streets of the village. On July 30, 1901, the Caldwell Telephone Company was granted permission to put its poles in Lowell. On March 31, 1902, the Watertown and Stockport Telephone Company received its nod. Those who came in 1904 or 1905 are held to have been the ones that the permission of 1896 made possible.
At about the same time, several farmer's lines were organized and they soon got together on a separate switchboard. These included the Dixon Ridge Line and the L. H. W. to Whipple, Lower Salem, and Warner. For a time many homes and business places had two phones and it was the “usual thing to be relaying messages or even full conversations from one to the other."
The Fisher line from Marietta to Beverly, also came from across the river in those early days. Its switchboard was in a store across the canal until the line was hooked in with the Wooster line.
The Wooster line, built and owned by Ralph Wooster, was taken over by the Farmers' Company sometime after 1913. There were two switchboards, not more than a block from each other until the early 1920s, when they were combined into one with 70 drops. This number could be increased to 125. After the Farmers' Company stock changed hands once or twice it was purchased by the Ohio Associated Telephone Company. Switchboards were located on Third Street (in what used to be Dr. Oakley’s office) and on Main Street (on the second floor, of what used to be Billy Ray’s barbershop). There was switchboard service practically "around the clock" with no charge calls to Beverly and Waterford.
The 1913 flood ruined two of the telephone companies.
The Lowell Farmers Telephone Co. officers in 1927 were President, Charles Schimmel; Vice-President, John Huck; Secretary and Treasurer, A. L. Wendell; General Manager, C. J. Huck; Assistant Secretary and Assistant Manager, C. F. Shinn.
In 1959, there were 356 telephones in Lowell and the surrounding area. This led to a switchover from one Kellogg switchboard to two Western Electric switchboards. The phone operators at that time were Mrs. Walter Hupp, Mary Orndoff, Margaret Moore, Marlene Hart, Martha Worthington, and Rebecca Evans.
On February 6, 1963, spokesmen for the General Telephone Co. of Ohio announced at Beverly that five towns - Beverly, Barlow, Lowell, Watertown, and Lower Salem - would be converted to dial telephone service by the end of the year at a cost of $800,000.
New 7-digit all-number calling phone numbers were assigned to customers. The prefix of 896 was selected to identify Lowell phone users. A new facility provided Lowell with 260 lines and 600 terminals.
Lowell's waterworks project started on December 31, 1938, with brief ceremonies at
the site where the first well would be located on the L. S. Stacy farm near the corpo
ration line. The R. E. Getz company of Baltic was awarded the contract on a bid of
$40,011.73.
The storage tank was to be located on land purchased from Russell Wagner. Lowell
High School was to receive water at the rate of $250 per year. Luthern McCathern was waterworks superintendent.
Pictures of the ceremonies were taken by H. P. Fischer, Marietta Photographer. May
or D. B. Stanley; Clerk Katherine Rothley; Attorney Charles D. Fogle; Contractor R. E. Getz; Engineer Robert R. Cutler; Members of the Council, W. V. Bowen, Earl Fouss, A. H. Henniger, Jack Jordan, Chester Schmidt, and Charles Schwartz; Board of Trustees of Public Affairs, A. F. Wendell, F. F. Young, and Walter Henniger; and Mr. Beaghley, of Marietta, who represented the PWA, were present.
The waterworks and sewer systems were completed in 1939. The waterworks was
financed by a federal W. P. A. grant of $22,909 and a loan of $28,000. The total cost of the sewer system was $75,914, provided by a W. P. A. grant of $58,419, and a special bond issue of $16,495 which was carried out on February 28, 1938, by a vote of 340 to 28. The community celebrated the victory with bonfires and a parade led by the band. Shortly after completion, the water rate was increased from 50 cents for each thousand gallons to $1.00 for each thousand gallons.
In 1991 an agreement was reached between The State of Ohio and The Village of
Lowell following an earlier lawsuit, "State of Ohio, ex rel. Lee Fisher, Attorney General v. The Village of Lowell, Ohio". The state alleged in its complaint that the village "operated its wastewater treatment plant and sewer system in such a manner as to result in numerous violations of the discharge limitations and monitoring requirements of the NPDES Permit issued to it by the Director of the Ohio EPA and in violation of the water pollution laws of the State of Ohio."
In the agreement, the Village of Lowell agreed to follow a schedule for compelting improvements to their wastewater facility. Those improvments were: (a) Submit a Sewer System Evaluation Survey to determine sources of clean water entering the sanitary sewer system. (b) Submit an approvable facilities plan by July 1, 1991. (c) Submit an approvable PTI application and detailed plans and specifications to Ohio EPA by October 1, 1991. (d) Wastewater treatment plant under the full time responsible charge of a licensed certified Class II operator by December 1, 1991. (e) Advertise building bids by February 1, 1992. (f) Execution of building contracts by April 1, 1992. (g) Initiation of construction by May 1, 1992. (h) Completion of construction by November 1, 1992. (i) Attain compliance with final effluent limitations and eliminate overflows and bypasses by December 1, 1992.
The order also stated that the Village "shall pay the State of Ohio a civil pentaly of five thousand dollars."
Lowell has had issues with its water for a number of years. The water has been discolored, often brown, due to Iron and Manganese contaminants, both naturally occurring elements that are generally considered non-toxic.
The Village has received citations for being "in violation of OAC 3745-82-02" for "the public water system [exceeding] contaminant level for manganese and iron". The EPA says that this type of violation "is defined as a drinking water standard set to address aesthetics of the water – taste, color, odor." and that "these are not health-based standards." The EPA maintains that the water is safe.
Multiple projects were planned starting in 2021 to improve Lowell's water and sewer systems, including a new water treatment facility, new water wells on Buell Island, a new sewer plant, and line looping and replacement. By the end of 2021, it was reported that state and local sources have contributed $2,728,900 in funding for these projects.
Buell Island
Buell Island is named in honor of Gen. Don Carlos Buell.
The Island was created when the locks and dam were put in. It used to be just a
contiguous part of Lowell until the canal was dug and Cats Creek was re-routed
from its original mouth below the present-day Lowell Dam. Currently, the creek
discharges into the canal and has to flow north to get to the Muskingum River.
The Island begins above the dam and extends down to the lower side of the locks. It is large, with a lot of acreage. There is farmland and many houses on the island.
The Island is also the location of Buell Park. The park is home to the village pool, five baseball fields, a basketball court, four shelters, a playground, a half-mile walking track, horseshoe pits, the historic Strait Run School, and a historic log cabin.
Howard Wilson, who had moved from Niagara Falls, New York to Lowell, realized the costly danger of children swimming in the Muskingum and playing on the few vacant lots, and darting into traffic to retrieve missed balls. He began a search for a safe place for a ball diamond and also a place where Lowell residents could have swings for children and picnic tables for grown-ups.
But, vacant, level land around Lowell is scarce and costly. However, when Howard
Wilson approached Clyde Schantz, he found that he was willing to part with 15 acres of his rich, level, farmland on Buell Island.
Schantz said at the time that he felt his land, “Would yield a larger good in an investment in youth than in corn and potatoes.” The two men shook hands on the deal. “I don’t need a written option. My word’s good and I know yours is, too.”
The Fort Frye Board of Education agreed to finance the purchase. By the Spring of
1958, Lowell had the beginnings of a park.
The Betterment Association of Lowell got behind the park project. Soon the Volunteer Fire Department, the Ladies Auxiliary, the American Legion, and other organizations, as well as local businessmen, were all doing their bit to develop a park on the island. Under Wilson’s leadership, work crews were organized. People of all ages were donating their time and sweat to help.
At an early September meeting of the Betterment Association in 1958, Wilson reported: “Luther McCathern and the township grader have graded the Pigeon, Little League, M. O. V. League, American Legion, and Independent baseball diamonds.
The softball diamonds are finished and are in use. The other diamonds will be ready for use by June 1959.”
At the next weekly meeting, it was reported that a work party under L. S. Stacy had
cleared most of the brush from the canal bank. Those helping Stacy were: Norman and Peggy Jarrell, Sharen Carpenter, Sara Moser, Linda Wilson, Erma Walter, Okey Tolley, John Hughes Sr., John Hughes Jr., Mike Naylor, Kathy White, Charles Offenberger, Robert Ball, Norman Fish, Robert Frum, Jerry Schwendeman, Robert Bules, Howard Dunn, Howard Wilson, Joe Beach, and Bernard Hinton. A Mr. Daley donated most of the pipe for concentration of backstops. It was hauled for free by the Lowell Feed Mill with Alva Born, James Lent, Norman Fish, Frank McCreery, Alfred Tilton, and Robert Bules loading and unloading it.
Wiley Davis and Albert Bosner graveled the road that had been cut out and graded
around the park. The men all donated their time and equipment. Dick Barger loaned a brush hog; Lloyd Stacy, a tractor and a grading blade; Pete Ball, a truck and cutting outfit; Earl Bland loaned a welding outfit. Everyone gave time, money, and equipment. On September 7, 1958, the Lowell Methodist Church took up a special collection. The other organizations also made cash donations to the park project.
Early that November, an All-Village Festival was held under the joint sponsorship of the Betterment Association, the Volunteer Fire Department, and the American Legion, which netted the park fund over $400. A long list of prizes, donated by local merchants, were awarded during the evening, which culminated around a huge, brush-burning fire on the Island.
On July 6, 1967, Lowell’s pool was opened in the park. It cost $52,000 to build. On
February 2, 1973, at around 12:30 p.m. a tornado briefly touched down in Lowell and caused damage to the pool’s building.
Originally constructed in 1859, the Strait Run School was one of about 15 to 20 one
room schoolhouses that were located in Adams Township at one time.
The one-room schoolhouse was located in a field along Strait Run and had sat empty for seventy years, until 1994, when Steve Weber with The Lowell Historical Society decided to purchase the building from Lester Morganstern and move it to its present location on Buell Island.
Once the school was moved to the Island it became the home of the Lowell Historical Museum. Since then several hundred people visit the schoolhouse every year, many during the Lowell Octoberfest (and formerly the Springfest) when the building is left open for tours. At other times of the year, tours are offered by appointment only. To help maintain the facility the historical society has sold engraved memorial bricks that are placed in a walkway in front of the schoolhouse. Names engraved on those bricks include some of the school’s former teachers and students.
On June 29, 2012, a powerful derecho windstorm swept through the Mid-Ohio Valley, downing trees and utility poles and leaving thousands of residents without power for weeks. It was during this storm that a pine tree in the back of the building snapped in half and fell onto the school.
Damage was heavy to the structure’s slate roof and back wall. Steve Weber and fellow Lowell Historical Society member Earl Smith repaired the slate roof, while Jeff and Jarrod Lang, owners of Lowell Homebuilders, worked on the rest of the structure.
The building was so twisted that the Langs had to wrap straps around the structure and pull them tight in order to bring the walls of the building back in line. Then they installed steel strips to reinforce all four corners of the building to keep it from shifting again. Fred Brooker repaired the back windows, which were also twisted and broken.
The repairs were estimated to have cost around $20,000, but only took about a month to complete. More than 40 volunteers from the community assisted with the effort. In 2017, a historic log cabin was donated to the village for placement on Buell Island, near the Strait Run School. The cabin was originally built on Rainbow Creek in 1849 by German immigrants Phillip and Elizabeth Schilling.
In 2018, The Lowell Octoberfest, Inc. sponsored a fundraiser to "Light the Park". The objective was to raise funds to purchase and install decorative pole lights to illuminate the inner circle of Buell Island.
Each light was to have a 28 in. globe containing a 40W LED bulb atop a 12 ft. pole.
The poles were to be placed on a 19 X 19 X 31 in. cement base.
To accomplish this, they asked for support from the community. Those who chose to purchase an entire lighting system (which included globe, bulb, pole, and cement base) at a donation of $2,000 were to be issued a plaque dedicating the light in any way they wish, whether it say "In Memory of", "In Honor of", "Donated by:", etc.
In the spring of 2019, the village installed 22 of the decorative iron lamp posts along the pathway on the Island. They were bought with the contributions, and now give people the option to use the path with lighting for several hours after dusk and before sunrise.
All 22 of the lights have a plaque with the names of individuals, families, or organizations. The names appearing on those plaques are:
1. Lowell United Methodist Church
2. St. John's Church in memory of Gerry Beach
3. Terry & Audrey Schwendeman
4. David & Sarah Vandenberg
5. Wayne & Selma Worthington
6. Kelton & Helen Fliehman
7. Lloyd & Lena Stacy, Virginia Stacy
8. Frank & Marjorie Stacy
9. Howard & Jane Ann Rauch
10. George & Camilia Heiss
11. Harley & Dolores Hughes
12. Harold & Ruth Bohl
13. Jerry & Mildred Schwendeman
14. Our Lady of Mercy Church
15. Alan Harris
16. Annie & Jerry Smith, Gary Pitt, Jim Lenhart, Steve & Judy Weber
17. Walter Voshel
18. Marietta Community Foundation
19. Jerry & Rhonda Jones
20. Peoples Bank Foundation
21. Harold & Diane Tuten
22. St. John's Evangelical Church
In addition to the lights, numerous trees that surround the park. Many of these trees are dedicated in honor or memory of individuals or families. Plaques or markers are located near these trees. As of 2022, the names on those plaques include:
1. Ted Kehl
2. Roger Cameron
3. Donna Schwendeman Smith
4. Rusty Schwendeman
5. Marian Schimmel
6. Danon Offenberger
7. Alva & Fern Reed
8. Mildred Kubota
9. Mary Tilton
10. Mindy Heiss
11. Art & Mary Neville
12. Darin Wagner
13. Jay Snyder
14. Richard Perry
15. Dana Coffman
16. Thomas Shank
17. Emma Voshel
18. Walter Voshel
19. Lowell & Gatha Powell Family. Elda, Joe, Jean, June, Nathan.
20. Mason Britton
21. Eugene Huck
Water Pump
Every village and town had its own water pump at one time, and it was usually situated in what was considered the town square. Lowell was no exception.
It is unknown when the old town well was dug, but most guess it was sometime in the 1820s. It is known for certain to have been there as early as 1840, as speeches for Whig Party candidates were made “around the well in the center of the village” then.
When it was first dug, water was drawn from the well by bucket and windlass. Later, this method was modernized by the installation of a wooden pump, which was later replaced, by pumps of modern design.
There was at one time at least four public wells in the village and not less than 10 public fire-cisterns. A pump once stood by the steps of the old Bank building, another in front of the old livery stable on Walnut Street. These two wells were removed early in the 20th Century.
The fourth public well was removed for the building of Lowell Elementary. It stood on the corner of the old Lowell School playground.
The first school well stood several feet back from the corner and a short distance
upstream from it. This well was probably dug when the first school building was built in 1854. When the well had been dug to a depth of about 25 feet the men hit a huge log which must have grown on what was then, in ages past, the bank of the eroding Muskingum River. The last 20 feet of the well was dug, water was found, but the cool, clear water tasted exactly like decaying wood. The well had to be abandoned and filled.
Another well was then dug, on the corner. In 1867, another well was drilled inside the school building. When the new school was built in 1915, it also had an inside well that was used until the construction of the municipal water system.
Street Lamps
This photo shows Roy Henniger standing beside one of the gasoline street lamps. His grandfather, Christian Henniger, held the job of lamplighter for many years.
On April 28, 1890, the village council held its regular meeting. Among the issues were problems with muddy streets, insufficient fire apparatus, and inadequate funds. Near the close of this meeting, "A petition signed by a number of citizens of the incorporation, asking that the streets be lighted was read, and Mr. Wolfram was appointed a committee to inquire concerning the cost of lamps and maintaining them."
The following August, Councilman F. H. Wolfram resigned and nothing further was done about street lights for many months. On May 9, "Mr. Espensheat was appointed a committee on street lamps or lights."
On September 10, 1891, the minutes recorded: "On motion, it was decided to purchase 12 lamps for lighting."At the meeting, it was agreed that the lights would be purchased from the Sun Vapor Light Company of Canton, Ohio. The lamps cost $6 each, and the posts $1 each. An agent for the company was present at the meeting and agreed that if the council decided that if 10 lamps were enough, he would take back 2 of the said 12 lamps."
On Motion, the Mayor was authorized to purchase a tank of gasoline to hold about 75 or 80 gallons. Also "a barrel of gasoline." The gasoline street lamps were well received, and on September 21 it "was moved and seconded that the Council purchase 13 more street lamps. Same as the ones they have..."
The total cost to the village for their first 25 street lights, hauled and installed, was
$160.89.
Bids were now open for the job of street lamplighter and on September 24, 1891, three bids were submitted. William Griggs bid for the job at $4.50 a month, Bernard Savage at $2 a month, and John Biehl at $5 a month. For some reason that was not recorded, John Biehl got the job and by September 29 the street lights were a reality.
At the October 22 council meeting, there were six separate requests presented to have lights moved from an original location to a different corner or spot along the street or sidewalk that would better suit the individual resident. A bill for $8.64 from the Standard Oil Company was also presented for two barrels of gasoline and freight.
The lights were lit only during the dark of the moon or on a very cloudy night when the moon was full, a total of about 20 nights a month. In less than a month, they had consumed two full barrels of fuel. Records indicate that the lights were constantly in need of new burners and paint, new glass, and other repairs.
A small tank for gasoline was mounted on the side of each lamp near the top. The
fuel fed from this tank through a tube into the burner. A vent on the top carried off the fumes.
The fuel for the lights was considered a very dangerous fluid by the villagers. It was first stored in "The Gasoline Shed" of the village jail, until it was moved to a private property, where the village had to pay 50 cents a month to store the gasoline.
As of 2017, Lowell had 70 streetlights, which cost between $11,000 and $13,000 a
year to operate. Voters approved a 3.75-mill levy in 2017 to fund the lights, and re
newed the levy in 2022.