Teachers Weigh In On Greenway Development

Assoc. Prof. Chad Montrie, left, led local teachers and administrators on a tour of the Merrimack and Concord rivers.

Local teachers and school administrators gathered along the banks of the Concord and Merrimack rivers recently to help develop a new tour as a result of History Assoc. Prof. Chad Montrie’s Creative Economy Grant, awarded by the UMass President’s Office.

The $40,000 grant will fund three initiatives related to the Greenway park development project under construction along the lower Concord River, a 1.75-mile stretch that runs from the Lawrence Street Bridge to the confluence with the Merrimack River. Along with the tour, the grant will be used to build a website and create a documentary film tracing the industrial, environmental and immigration history of the Lower Concord River and surrounding neighborhoods.

“Our initial plan is to pair a student tour of the Concord River Greenway with a hands-on workshop that examines the impact of industrialization on rivers,” says Sheila Kirschbaum, the school liaison and professional development coordinator for the Tsongas Industrial History Center. “With the Concord River project, we can teach not only about waterpower and the environment, but also about ethnic neighborhoods and views of nature as expressed in literature.”

The educators, who represented Tyngsboro, Methuen, Lawrence and Lowell, received an overview of the Greenway’s history by Jane Calvin, executive director, Lowell Parks and Conservation Trust. The group then walked through the Boott complex down to the Riverwalk, where they could compare the size of the Merrimack River to that of the Concord. The Greenway tour that followed included the Concord's Wamesit Falls near Lawrence Street and the Middlesex Falls near East Merrimack Street. The day ended with ideas and suggestions for the tours.

“It was a really productive day,” says Montrie. “It went beyond what I expected. I see now even more how necessary it is to bring people together in developing a tour like this. Everyone gave us a lot of really great ideas and suggestions about what we can do to make the design and implementation work.”

Working with Montrie, the Tsongas Industrial History Center hopes to use the results of the planning meeting to create a pilot tour by next spring.

“Lowell's industrial history includes more than one important river,” says Kirschbaum. “With this project, we can make sure that students understand the Concord River's part in that history, from the early mills along the Concord to the environmental impact of industrialization there."

- Morgan Hough