Lowell is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

LaSalle County LaSalle County is located within the Fox Valley and Illinois River Valley regions of the U.S. state of Illinois. As of the 2020 Census, it had a population of 109,658. Its county seat and largest city is Ottawa. LaSalle County is part of the O ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

, United States. Lowell is located on

Illinois Route 178 Illinois Route 178 is a minor north–south state highway in north central Illinois. It runs north from the unincorporated area of Lowell to Interstate 80 about north of North Utica, which is better known as simply Utica. This is a distance ...

, southeast of Oglesby. The town was laid out around 1830 by William Seeley. It once thrived due its location on the Peoria-Chicago Stagecoach Route, the waterpower of the Vermilion River and the coal outcroppings along the river bluffs. It developed several stores and taverns, a mill and a brick factory and a railroad spur that connected to the Burlington Railroad. Its most famous resident was

Benjamin Lundy Benjamin Lundy (January 4, 1789August 22, 1839) was an American Quaker abolitionist from New Jersey of the United States who established several anti-slavery newspapers and traveled widely. He lectured and published seeking to limit slavery's expa ...

, a fiery Quaker abolitionist who came to Illinois to be the successor of

Elijah Lovejoy Elijah Parish Lovejoy (November 9, 1802 – November 7, 1837) was an American Presbyterian minister, journalist, newspaper editor, and abolitionist. Following his murder by a mob, he became a martyr to the abolitionist cause opposing slavery ...

, recently murdered for his anti-slavery beliefs. Lundy published the paper, Genius of Universal Emancipation from Lowell. The town declined and today offers river rafting.

References

Unincorporated communities in Illinois Unincorporated communities in LaSalle County, Illinois Ottawa, IL Micropolitan Statistical Area {{LaSalleCountyIL-geo-stub