List of mayors and city managers of Lowell, Massachusetts

This is a list of mayors and city managers of Lowell, Massachusetts. Lowell became a city in 1836. From 1836 to 1943 the mayor of Lowell was the chief administrative officer of the city. Lowell switched to a Massachusetts "Plan E" form of city government in 1943, since January 1, 1944 the city has been administrated by a professional city manager, the office of mayor, while retained under "Plan E", is strictly a ceremonial one.

Mayors

Mayor of Lowell
Incumbent Daniel Rourke since January 2, 2024 [1]
Style	His/Her Honor
Type	Ceremonial
Member of	School Committee
Residence	None official
Seat	Lowell City Hall
Appointer	City Council vote
Term length	Two years
Constituting instrument	Lowell City Charter
Precursor	Lowell Board of Selectmen (1826-1836)
Formation	1836
First holder	Elisha Bartlett
Salary	$30,000 (2017) [2]
Website	www.lowellma.gov/549/City-Mayor

#	Mayor	Picture	Term	Party	Notes
1st	Elisha Bartlett		1836–1838	Whig
2nd	Luther Lawrence		1838 – April 17, 1839	Federalist
A	Elisha Huntington		April 1839 – April 1840	Whig	Became acting mayor after the death of Luther Lawrence in April 1839.
3rd	Elisha Huntington		April 1840 – April 1842	Whig
4th	Nathaniel Wright		April 1842 – April 1844	Citizens ticket, (1842); Whig (1843)
5th	Elisha Huntington		April 1844 – January 1846	Whig
6th	Jefferson Bancroft		1846–1848	Whig
7th	Josiah B. French		1849–1850	Coalitionist/Democratic [3]
8th	James H.B. Ayer		1851	Whig
9th	Elisha Huntington		January 1852 – January 1853	Whig
10th	Sewall G. Mack		1853–1854	Whig
11th	Ambrose Lawrence		1855	Native American Party
12th	Elisha Huntington		1856	Whig
13th	Stephen Mansur		1857	Republican
14th	Elisha Huntington		January 1858 – January 1859	Whig
15th	James Cook		1859	Republican
16th	Benjamin C. Sargent		1860–1861	Republican
17th	Hocum Hosford		1862–1865	Citizens ticket (1862–1863), Republican (1864)
18th	Josiah G. Peabody		1865–1866	Republican [4]
19th	George F. Richardson		1867 – January 4, 1869	Republican
20th	Jonathan P. Folsom		January 4, 1869 – 1870	Republican
21st	Edward Fay Sherman		1871	Republican
22nd	Josiah G. Peabody		1872	Republican
23rd	Francis Jewett		1873–1875	Republican [5]
24th	Charles A. Stott		January 1, 1876 – 1877	Republican
25th	John A. G. Richardson		January 7, 1878 – 1879	Democratic
26th	Frederic T. Greenhalge		1880 – January 2, 1882	Republican
27th	George Runels		January 2, 1882	Republican [6]
28th	John J. Donovan		1883–1884	Democratic	First Irish-American Mayor of Lowell [7]
29th	Edward J. Noyes		1885	Republican [8]
30th	James C. Abbott		1886–1887	Democratic [9]
31st	Charles Dana Palmer		1888 – January 1891	Republican [10]
32nd	George W. Fifield		January 1891 – 1892	Democratic [11]
33rd	John J. Pickman		1893–1894	Republican
34th	William F. Courtney		1895–1897	Democratic [12]
35th	Col. James W. Bennett		1898	Republican [13]
36th	Jeremiah Crowley		1899–1900	Democratic	Irish-American
37th	Charles A. R. Dimon		1901 – May 5, 1902	Democratic [14]
A	William E. Badger		1902	Republican	Acting
38th	Charles E. Howe		1903–1904	Republican
39th	James B. Casey		1905–1906	Democratic [15]	Irish-American
40th	Frederick W. Farnham		1907–1908	Republican
41st	George H. Brown		January 1, 1909-January, 1910	Republican
42nd	John F. Meehan		1910–1911	Democratic [16]	Irish-American
43rd	James E. O'Donnell		1912–1913	Democratic	Irish-American
44th	Dennis J. Murphy		1914–1915	Democratic [17]	Irish-American
45th	James E. O'Donnell		1916–1917	Democratic
46th	Perry D. Thompson		1918–1921	Republican
47th	George H. Brown		1922	Republican
48th	John J. Donovan		1923–1926	Democratic
49th	Thomas J. Corbett		1927–1928	Democratic [18]
50th	Thomas H. Braden		1929–1931	Republican
52nd	Charles H. Slowey		1932–1933	Democratic
53rd	James J. Bruin		1934–1935	Democratic
54th	Dewey G. Archambault		1936–1939	Republican	First Franco-American Mayor of Lowell [19]
55th	George T. Ashe		1940–1943	Democratic
A	Joseph J. Sweeney		1943	Democratic	Acting mayor. Last mayor before the City Manager form of government was established under a Massachusetts Plan E Charter.
56th	Woodbury F. Howard		1944–1945	Republican [20]	First ceremonial mayor. Beginning of the weak mayor system. City manager form of government established on January 1, 1944.
57th	Leo A. Roy		1946–1947	Republican
58th	George A. Ayotte		1948–1949	Republican
59th	William C. Geary		1950	Democratic [21]
60th	George C. Eliades		1951–1952	Democratic	First Greek-American Mayor of Lowell [22]
61st	Henry Beaudry		1952–1953	Republican [23]
62nd	John Janas		1954–1955	Republican [24]	First Polish-American Mayor of Lowell [25]
63rd	Samuel S. Pollard		1956–1959	Democratic [26]
64th	Raymond J. Lord		1960–1961	Republican [27]
65th	Joseph M. Downes		1962–1963	Democratic [28]
66th	Ellen A. Sampson		1964–1965	Republican	First Female Mayor of Lowell [29]
67th	Edward J. Early Jr.		1966–1967	Democratic
68th	Robert G. Maguire		1968–1969	Democratic
69th	Richard P. Howe		1970–1971	Democratic [30]
70th	Ellen A. Sampson		1972–1973	Republican [31]
71st	Armand W. LeMay		1974–1975	Democratic [32]
72nd	Leo J. Farley		1976–1977	Democratic
73rd	Raymond F. Rourke		1978–1979	Democratic
74th	Robert C. Maguire		1980–1981	Democratic [33]
75th	M. Brendan Fleming		1982–1983	Democratic [34]
76th	Brian J. Martin		1984–1985	Democratic [35]
77th	Robert B. Kennedy		1986–1987	Democratic
78th	Richard P. Howe		1988–1991	Democratic
79th	Tarsy T. Poulios		1992–1993	Democratic
80th	Richard P. Howe		1994–1995	Democratic
81st	Edward "Bud" Caulfield		1996–1997
82nd	Eileen Donoghue		1998–2001	Democratic
83rd	Rita Mercier		2002–2003	Democratic [36]
84th	Armand Mercier		2004–2005
85th	William F. Martin		2006–2007	Democratic
86th	Edward "Bud" Caulfield		2008–2009	Democratic
87th	James L. Milinazzo		2010–2011	Democratic	Italian-American
88th	Patrick O. Murphy		2012–2013	Independent [37]	Inaugurated at age 29, youngest mayor in Lowell history
89th	Rodney Elliott		2014–2016	Democratic
90th	Edward J. Kennedy		2016–2018	Democratic
91st	William Samaras		2018–2020	Democratic
92nd	John Leahy		2020–2022	Independent
93rd	Sokhary Chau		2022-2024	Democratic	First Cambodian mayor in the United States.
94th	Daniel Rourke		2024–present

City Managers

#	City Manager	Term	Notes
1st	John J. Flannery	1944–1952
2nd	Ulysses J. Lupien	1952–1953	former Massachusetts Director of Civil Service (1939–1944)
A	William Sullivan	1953
3rd	Frank E. Barrett	1953–1962
4th	Cornelius Desmond	1962–1963	former State Representative (1941–1962)
5th	P. Harold Ready	1963–1966
6th	Charles Gallagher	1966–1970
A	Leo Morris	1970
7th	James Sullivan	1970–1974	former and future City Manager of Cambridge, Massachusetts (1968–1970, 1974–1981)
A	Robert W. Healy	1974	future City Manager of Cambridge, Massachusetts (1981–2013)
8th	Paul J. Sheehy	1974–1975	former State Representative (1965–1972)
A	William Busby	1975
9th	William S. Taupier	1975–1979	former Mayor of Holyoke (1968–1975)
A	Victor Normand	1979
10th	B. Joseph Tully	1979–1987	former State Senator (1971–1979)
11th	James Campbell	1987–1991
A	James Kennedy	1991	Assistant City Manager
12th	Richard Johnson	1991–1995	former Mayor of Taunton (1982–1992)
13th	Brian J. Martin	1995–2000	former Mayor (1984–1985)
14th	John F. Cox	2000–2006	former State Representative (1983–1995)
A	James Kennedy	2006	Assistant City Manager
15th	Bernard F. Lynch	2006–2014	1st Town Manager of Chelmsford (1989–2006) [38]
A	Michael Geary	2014	City Clerk (Dec. 2011-present) & former City Councilor (1994–1996)
16th	Kevin J. Murphy	2014–2018	former State Representative (1997–2014)
17th	Eileen Donoghue	2018–2022	former Mayor (1998–2002) & State Senator (2011–2018)
A	Michael Geary	2022	City Clerk (Dec. 2011-present) & former City Councilor (1994–1996)
18th	Thomas Golden Jr.	2022–present	former State Representative (1995–2022)

References

1. Gilbert, Melanie (January 2, 2024). "Hail to the new Lowell City Council". Lowell Sun. Retrieved February 7, 2024.
2. Siefer, Ted (October 12, 2016). "In Lowell, higher salaries for a higher purpose". CommonWealth Magazine. Retrieved April 29, 2023.
3. Duane Hamilton Hurd, History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts: With Biographical Sketches, Volume 2, 1890
4. The Lowell Sun, The Latest Combination for a Republican Ticket, July 23, 1887
5. The Lowell Sun, The Spellbinder – A Sensitive Politician, August 1, 1914
6. The Granite Monthly: A New Hampshire Magazine, Volumes 43–44, Concord, NH, 1911
7. Marie, "Some Mayoral History", RichardHowe.com, January 5, 2014.
8. The Boston Daily Globe, In Smaller Cities – Lowell, December 10, 1884
9. The Lowell Sun, A Democratic Duty, December 11, 1886
10. The Lowell Sun, Senter and Drury – These Are the Gentlemen the Democrats Elect Aldermen, December 15, 1888
11. Frederick William Coburn, History of Lowell and Its People, Volume 1, 1920, p. 361
12. The Lowell Sun, William F. Courtney for Mayor – Renominated with Great Enthusiasm at the Democratic Convention, November 27, 1895
13. The Granite Monthly: A New Hampshire Magazine, Volumes 34–35, Concord, NH, 1903
14. The Lowell Sun, The Spellbinder – The Next Election, April 29, 1916
15. The Lowell Sun, Many Surprises, December 9, 1908
16. The Lowell Sun, Results of Last Night's Contests in the Primaries, November 24, 1909
17. The Lowell Sun, Big Caucuses – Democrats Turn Out Strongly in all Wards, November 16, 1901
18. The Lowell Sun, Four Members of Present City Government Give Up Posts, September 9, 1939
19. The Lowell Sun, The Archambault Family, June 24, 1982
20. The Lowell Sun, Bitter Battle on City's Next Mayor, November 7, 1947
21. The Lowell Sun, Reception to Governor Here Tomorrow, April 29, 1950
22. Lowell Historical Society, "Lowell History Chronology", 2013
23. The Lowell Sun, Roy, Beaudry, Sullivan and Sweeney Gain on Transfers, November 10, 1951
24. Frank Barrett, The Lowell Sun, Politics, January 10, 1951
25. The Lowell Sun, Council Elects Janas Mayor, April 14, 1954
26. The Lowell Sun, How Vote Went in City Precincts, November 5, 1953
27. The Lowell Sun, Raymond J. Lord Dies at 59, February 7, 1972
28. Frank Barrett, The Lowell Sun, Janas, Pollard, Hockmeyer, McMahon, Ayotte, Beaudry 'In', November 5, 1953
29. "Looking good, mayors". Lowell Sun. April 14, 2011. Retrieved December 27, 2021.
30. Frank Barrett, The Lowell Sun, Councilor and Former Mayor Howe Eyes Challenge to Sen. Joseph Tully, April 23, 1972
31. The Lowell Sun, Voters: Sheehy, Sampson to Win, September 14, 1972
32. Frank Barrett, The Lowell Sun, High Hopes for Advisory Cabinet Plan, July 15, 1979
33. The Lowell Sun, Maguire Endorses Hatem for Congress, September 15, 1980
34. The Lowell Sun, Who Goofed on Fleming Endorsement?, August 29, 1982
35. The Lowell Sun, Election-Watcher's Program for the Races, September 14, 1986
36. City Councilor and former Mayor Rita Mercier endorsed Republican U.S. Sen. Scott Brown over Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren in 2012; Lyle Moran, The Lowell Sun, Mercier, a Democrat, endorses Republican Brown, September 14, 2012
37. Camire, Chris (August 29, 2012) "GOP, Lowell Mayor Spar Over His 'Independent' Warren Endorsement", The Lowell Sun.
38. "Former Lowell manager Lynch to lead Winchendon on interim basis". June 3, 2015.

External links

• List of the mayors of Lowell from The University of Massachusetts Lowell