In 1850, a Unitarian Society, organized in 1846, built the Gothic Chapel on Lee Street, and occupied it until 1861, when it passed into the hands of a society of Spiritualists. The Unitarian pastors were the Reverend M.A.H. Niles, the Reverend William Barry, the Reverend Augustus Woodbury, the Reverend J.K. Karcher, the Reverend John B. Willard, and the Reverend William C. Tenney. It became the property of the St. Joseph (French) Roman Catholic Church. On July 5, 1855, the stone church on Merrimack Street was dedicated as a Methodist Protestant Church. There preached the Reverend William Marks, the Reverend Richard H. Dorr, and the Reverend Robert Crossley. The building passed into possession of the Second Advent Society, which had been organized as early as 1842. [Illustration: LOWELL MACHINE SHOP.] St. John's Episcopal Church was erected in 1861, and consecrated by Bishop Eastburn, July 16, 1863. The Reverend Charles W. Homer was the first rector. He was succeeded by the Reverend Cornelius B. Smith, in 1863, who, in 1866, was succeeded by the Reverend Charles L. Hutchins. The present pastor is the Reverend Leander C. Manchester. There are in Lowell thirty edifices exclusively devoted to public worship. [Illustration: EDSON BLOCK MERRIMACK STREET.] We have followed the course of events which have developed the city of Lowell from a small, scattering settlement to an important city, with an area of nearly twelve square miles, occupied by more than sixty thousand inhabitants. The daily life of its continually changing population has not been dwelt upon. In the early days the projectors of the city cared for the religion, the education, and the savings of those whom they employed. New England farms contributed their fairest children to the mills. The field was open to the world, and from every section flocked those seeking honest employment. First in great numbers came the people from England and Ireland, and, later, the thrifty French, Germans, Swedes, and Canadians. All nations have contributed to the advancement of Lowell, each adding of his labor or thought to the improvement of the city. Lowell is laid out with a certain irregular regularity. The mills came first: the business came afterward; and one finds canals, business blocks, and mills built close together. Only an intelligent study of a map of the city will give one an idea of its plan. It was not modeled after the city of Philadelphia. [Illustration: A PLAN of SUNDRY FARMS &c. PATUCKET in the town of CHELMSFORD. MDCCCXXI.]