Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 9.djvu/342

314 The City Library was instituted in 1844.

The Stony Brook Railroad Company was incorporated in 1845.

The Honorable Nathan Crosby was appointed justice of the police court in 1846, and still continues in office. The Lowell and Lawrence Railroad was incorporated this year, and the population of Lowell numbered 29,127.

President James K. Polk visited Lowell in 1847; and the city met with the loss of Patrick Tracy Jackson, a man whose name should be always honored in Lowell. The great Northern Canal was completed this year by James B. Francis, the most distinguished hydraulic engineer in the United States. It was a stupendous work and stands a monument to the genius of its constructor. Daniel Webster, in company with Abbott Lawrence, rode along its dry channel, before the water was admitted, and fully appreciated the immense undertaking.

The Salem and Lowell Railroad was incorporated in 1848, and was opened for travel two years later.

The reservoir on Lynde's Hill was constructed in 1849.

Gas was introduced, and the Court House on Gorham Street built, in 1850.

In 1851, Centralville, previously a part of Dracut, was included within