The Renaming (and Un-Renaming) of Lowell’s City Hall
A Chronology
Walter V. Hickey
15 December 1947
Our story begins with Cornelius J. Barnes suggesting to the city council that General George S. Patton be honoured by naming city hall after him. Barnes was a veteran of World War I and past commander of VFW Post 662.
23 March 1948: Pursuant to Barnes’ suggestion, City Solicitor P. Harold Ready was instructed to draw up the necessary papers. At this time, Barnes read a supporting letter from Mrs. Beatrice Ayer Patton.
26 March, 1948: In the Man About Town in the SUN, a cautionary note was raised stating that by whatever name, city hall would always be known as city hall.
11 May 1948: Ordinance #8, Naming and designating the City Hall of Lowell “General George S. Patton Memorial Hall” was given a first
reading and advertised for public comment.
19 May 1948: Lowell Post 87, American Legion voted that it favoured naming public buildings after Lowell war heroes.
20 May 1948: SUN editorial agrees with the position of the Legion Post that such an honour should be reserved for a native son of Lowell. Additionally, the SUN believes that Mrs. Patton, a native of Lowell, would agree.
25 May 1948: Ordinance was given a second reading and adopted: 5 Yeas: Councilors James J. Bruin, John J. Janas, Leo A.Roy, Mayor George A. Ayotte, and Bartholomew Callery, Jr.; 3 Nays: Woodbury Howard, William C. Geary, and Vincent Hockmeyer; Absent:Joseph J. Sweeney.
A letter from Post 87, American Legion was read. Councilor Bruin said that the Legion request did not represent the post’s membership, consisting of “only a baker’s dozen” and most of them were city employees.
Councilor Howard voted against the motions as it would only result in confusion. He offered an amendment to name the main auditorium in the Memorial Auditorium as “Patton Hall.” This received the support only of Mayor Ayotte and Councilor Leo A. Roy.
12 June 1948: Man About Town asks the rhetorical question “Has anyone heard it referred to as the “General George S. Patton Memorial Building? “City hall is city hall, no matter what you call it.”
23 June 1948: Dedication deferred as Mrs. Patton was not available.
Rescinding the Ordinance
13 July 1948: Mrs. Patton asked the city council to rescind the re-naming.
She wrote: “I have, however, learned through some old friends in Lowell that the action of the city council was not unanimous, This, I understand, reflected the sincere feeling by some councilors that it would not be a wise policy to rename public buildings. I understand this perfectly and agree with the idea. In fact, though I should never turn down any tribute to my husband, I thought it rather odd at the time. It is my wish, therefore, and I hope the council will grant it, that the action taken to rename city hall will be rescinded.”
10 August 1948: The renaming was rescinded by Ordinance No. 10, “Repealing Ordinance Naming and Designating the City Hall of Lowell, “General George S. Patton, Jr. Memorial Hall.” Yeas: 8; Absent: 1
Order: Naming the Main Hall of the Lowell Memorial Auditorium in memory of General George S. Patton, Jr.” Motion by Councilor Howard; Adopted by Council
Man About Town: When notified of this by City Clerk William H. Sullivan, Mrs. Patton wrote back “Dear Mr. Sullivan, Can you guess how thrilled I am?” Signed: Beatrice Ayer Patton
Postscript, January 2023
After speaking with and walking the corridor of the Auditorium with an employee, no memorial dedicating the main hall to General Patton was found. A portrait of the General is in the Hall of Flags with two plaques honouring Purple Heart recipients. These were dedicated in 1971. One opinion is that the city council did not have the authority to name any part of the auditorium as the legislation creating the auditorium vested that with the trustees of the auditorium.
Pps. Theoretically, the city would have changed its stationery to reflect the new name adopted in May even though it was in effect only for about 10 weeks. If you happen to have any “General George S. Patton Memorial City Hall” Stationery lying around, you have a true Lowell collectible.
PATTON PORTRAIT AND PLAQUE
On May 16, 1971, the same day that the adjacent Purple Heart plaque was dedicated, Ruth Patton Totten unveiled a portrait of her father, General George S. Patton Jr. and an accompanying plaque inscribed “In memory of Purple Heart recipient General George S. Patton, Jr. and all men under his command who received the medal. Donated by Military Order of the Purple Heart/USA, May 16, 1971.” The portrait which was painted by Oscar Durand of Manchester, N.H. and the unveiling event were organized by the Lowell-based Patton Memorial Society.
