LOWELL — A protracted-missing function of Lowell’s nighttime skyline has lastly returned after the dual Solar indicators on high of The Solar constructing at 15 Kearney Sq. have been lit up for the primary time in years following a restoration challenge.
The challenge started in 2017 with an effort by the Lowell Historic Board. By this level the neon lights that had illuminated the 2 indicators had faltered and gone darkish, save for remoted sections. The indicators have been put in over the constructing in 1934, and have usually been likened to the enduring Citgo check in Boston.
Whereas The Solar moved its newspaper operations to a different close by constructing within the Nineteen Sixties, and left the constructing altogether within the Seventies, the newspaper and the brand new homeowners of the constructing agreed on a 99-year lease for the indicators to be maintained.
As a part of the restoration effort, in January The Solar finalized a switch of possession of the indicators to the constructing’s proprietor, whereas the town supplied $60,000 in funding to assist cowl the price of the brand new lights.
Because the final daylight dimmed Monday night, dozens gathered in entrance of the Lowell Memorial Auditorium for a ceremony and countdown to show the signal’s lights again on. There, Metropolis Supervisor Tom Golden referred to as it “a historic moment” for the town.
“It’s just another step, another opportunity where the city of Lowell once again is rising to where it should be, rising above all other communities,” mentioned Golden.
Lowell Historic Board Chair George Villaras referred to as Lowell “a unique and celebrated city.”
“And the whole is not possible without the sum of its parts,” Villaras mentioned Monday night. “We have the gold dome of Holy Trinity, we have the mills and their smokestacks, we have City Hall and the majestic eagle on its tower, and we have the Lowell Sun sign.”
Alex Costello as soon as served because the editor for The Solar’s editorial web page for greater than a decade, and is the son and brother of former Lowell Solar Publishers John H. Costello and John H. Costello Jr. The Costello household had owned the newspaper for 119 years earlier than it was bought to Colorado-based MediaNews Group in 1997.
Alex Costello mentioned even after The Solar left the constructing, the indicators stay as greater than “the neon emblem of the city’s newspaper.”
“Indeed, The Sun signs became an iconic symbol of the city of Lowell,” mentioned Alex Costello. “Now as we all know, the city of Lowell has long been a city of ups and downs, highs and lows, good times and bad times. A lot of things have changed since 1934, but The Sun signs? They have not changed, until today. They have always been there.”
He mentioned the indicators have come to represent “the grit, the tenacity and the resilience of this city.”
“As well as the hardworking people of Lowell who have proved just as constant, steadfast and indomitable as those signs,” mentioned Alex Costello. “The sun rises every day, and so do the people of Lowell.”
After a five-second countdown, the indicators have been lit one after the other. The primary was the inexperienced one dealing with the LMA, now with vibrant white LED lights. Don Corson of Indicators Now New Hampshire in Pelham was on high of the constructing, and after the primary signal was on-line, he climbed down its scaffolding and moved to the opposite facet of the roof to get the crimson signal ready to gentle with its crimson LEDs.
The brand new LED lights will solely use about 15% of the electrical energy the previous neon lights required, and Historic Board Administrator Stephen Stowell instructed The Solar they need to be far much less susceptible to failure.
