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Community

Market Street, the hub of Greek Lowell, was lined with multi-story buildings with stores at street level. Gradually, Greek settlers radiated across the Acre and into surrounding towns. Coffeehouses were a substitute home for the first wave of men - places for card-playing and talk. Women, some destined for arranged marriages, arrived in larger numbers in the next decade. The families bought homes and raised children. Having come to America expecting to work for a few years and then return, they now realized that Lowell was home. By the 1920's, Lowell was the country's most distinctive Greek-American enclave. The community was celebrated by journalist Charles Sampas as "the Acropolis of America".

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Revised: 14 Mar 2003 12:24:59 -0500 .