Merrimack-Middle Streets Historic District

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. 21 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1886.

From the record

One of 1,353 National Register listings published here for Middlesex County · listed in 1979 · category: District.

Sources: the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

Address. Roughly bounded by Merrimack, Middle, Prescott, and Central Streets, Lowell
When was it listed? January 1979
Category. district
National Register reference number. 13000404 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

134 since 2001

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 134 fires within 5 miles of Merrimack-Middle Streets Historic District between 2001 and 2020, burning about 76 acres in total. 3 started naturally. 30 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	36
Arson/incendiarism	30
Debris and open burning	27
Recreation and ceremony	20
Equipment and vehicle use	4
Power generation/transmission/distribution	4
Smoking	4
Misuse of fire by a minor	3
Natural	3
Railroad operations and maintenance	2
Other causes	1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
6 September 2002	Smoking	under an acre	Massachussetts State Fire Marshal's Office	not named
26 September 2015	Recreation and ceremony	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
22 September 2002	Arson/incendiarism	under an acre	Massachussetts State Fire Marshal's Office	not named
13 September 2018	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	New Hampshire Division of Forest and Lands	not named
9 August 2002	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Massachussetts State Fire Marshal's Office	not named
5 August 2002	Arson/incendiarism	under an acre	Massachussetts State Fire Marshal's Office	not named
4 August 2002	Arson/incendiarism	1.0 acres	Massachussetts State Fire Marshal's Office	not named
18 August 2002	Debris and open burning	1.0 acres	Massachussetts State Fire Marshal's Office	not named

Every fire recorded in Middlesex County

Mines and quarries near this property

10 of 22 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 22 workings within 5 miles of Merrimack-Middle Streets Historic District: 10 past producers, 7 producers, 4 plants, 1 unknown. 11 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Graphite, Nickel, Gold, Silver, Copper. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status	Recorded
Dracut Deposit	Cobalt, Nickel	Past Producer	1876, 1939
Dracut Ni Mine/Nickel Mine Hill	Nickel, Gold, Silver, Copper	Past Producer
Avaco Corp--Lowell, Ma.	Graphite	Plant
Stackpole Fibers Co--Lowell, Ma.	Graphite	Plant
Brox Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Producer
Chelmsford Mill	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Plant
Dracut Plant	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Producer
Essex Bituminous Concrete Products	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Past Producer
George Brox Inc	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Past Producer
A J Gagnon and Sons	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer	Sedimentary

Every working recorded in Middlesex County

Maps showing this location

21 surveys

United States Geological Survey topographic sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the middle of the area the National Park Service maps for this listing, then testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.

1886 USGS Lowell quadrangle1:62500
1893 USGS Lowell quadrangle1:62500 - 9 printings
1918 USGS Lowell quadrangle1:62500
1921 USGS Lowell quadrangle1:62500
1931 USGS Lowell quadrangle1:48000
1935 USGS Lowell quadrangle1:62500 - 3 printings
1941 USGS Lowell quadrangle1:31680 - 2 printings
1943 USGS Lowell quadrangle1:125000
1946 USGS Lowell quadrangle1:31680 - 2 printings
1948 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000 - 2 printings
1950 USGS Lowell quadrangle1:24000 - 2 printings
1950 USGS Lowell quadrangle1:31680 - 2 printings
1956 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000 - 6 printings
1958 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000 - 2 printings
1961 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000 - 2 printings
1966 USGS Lowell quadrangle1:24000 - 4 printings
1966 USGS Lowell quadrangle1:25000
1969 USGS Lowell quadrangle1:24000
1984 USGS Lowell quadrangle1:100000
1987 USGS Lowell quadrangle1:25000 - 2 printings
1988 USGS Lowell quadrangle1:100000 - 2 printings

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Property	Distance	Listed
Merrimack-Middle Streets Historic District (Boundary Increase)	under 500 feet	1988
City Hall Historic District (Boundary Increase)	0.2 miles	1988
US Post Office	0.2 miles	1986
Hamilton Manufacturing Company Storehouse	0.2 miles	1976
Hamilton Manufacturing Company Countinghouse	0.3 miles	1976
Lowell Historic Preservation District	0.3 miles	2001

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 13000404 in Record Group 79.
Middlesex County	All 1353 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.