Dracut Library - About the Library

About the Library

Library Mission Statement

The Moses Greeley Parker Library was founded to provide, organize, and preserve books, materials, and information to increase the recreational and educational level of the community.

In order to do this we will strive to provide friendly service, popular materials for all age groups, a resource center for all students, educational and recreational programs for the community, fill the needs of those seeking information, and adhere to the rules and regulations as presented by the American Library Association which allow each person the right to seek information without censure.

Dr. Moses Greeley Parker

The following information is quoted from p. 55-57 of "The Photographic History of Dracut, Massachusetts" by Donat H. Paquet with photographs by Peter Bell. It was published in 1982 by the Dracut Historical Society

Dr. Moses Greeley Parker occupies a niche among the most highly regarded citizens Dracut ever produced. This is not said lightly. The man was unique. His distinguished ancestry, his widely recognized skills as physician and surgeon, his financial acumen, his outstanding contributions to the Civil War effort, his accumulated wealth - all this did not deter him from living thriftily, from pursuing intensive research in varied fields, from donating his skills and his time to the young, the helpless and the needy, from becoming a very active member in many organizations, and from donating.-his fortune to both Dracut and Lowell. Researcher, inventor, soldier, builder of the largest hospital in the world, surgeon, ophthalmologist, philanthropist, he was, over and above all these, a very human person who triumphed over personal tragedy (near blindness) to become a willing servant of the common people who needed his attention. His vision focused on the future, but his feet were planted squarely in the midst of the humanity he lived to serve.

A mere rundown on the salient events in his career does not read like a fairy tale. Far from it. It reads like the life of an intense, well-rounded, dedicated, enthusiastic, motivated and resourceful human being whose goal in life was to master as many things as possible so as to serve as many as possible.

*25 Parkers settled in Massachusetts before 1650.

*Great-grandfather Kendall settled in Dracut in 1745, fought in the War of the Revolution, and died in Dracut.

*His father, Theodore, married Hannah Greeley who was related to Horace Greeley, eminent editor and statesman from Amherst, N.H.

*Moses Greeley was born in Dracut on October 12, 1842, at the Parker homestead just north of the Varnum Cemetery in Kenwood.

*Early in life a powder horn explosion robbed him of his eyesight which only time and careful treatment restored.

*He attended elementary school in Dracut.

*He attended Billerica's Howe School.

*He attended Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass.

*He studied with Dr. Jonathan Brown of Tewksbury.

He taught 3 years in the Pelham School while pursuing his medical studies.

*He attended Long Island College Hospital School in Brooklyn, New York.

*In 1863 he entered Harvard Medical School.

*In 1864 Harvard conferred on him an M.D. degree.

One week after graduation, he enlisted for the remainder of the Civil War in the Fifty-Seventh Infantry Regiment camped near Worcester, Mass. Because physicians were desperately needed,

*General Benjamin Butler (of Lowell) asked him to transfer to the Second U.S. Cavalry Regiment where he was commissioned Assistant Surgeon.

*He was in the thick of some of the heaviest fighting of the war at the Battle of Cold Harbor.

*He was cited for bravery because he amputated a man's leg on a small barge while under intense Confederate fire.

*He planned and oversaw the construction of the largest hospital in the world near Petersberg, Virginia. He had it up in three months. It consisted of 20 wards each 250 feet long, 30 feet wide and 15 feet high. Its capacity was 3,500. It was a veritable miniature city called Point of Rocks Hospital and visited by President and Mrs. Lincoln, Generals Grant and Butler (Lowell) and other dignitaries.

*After the war he set up his medical practice at 11 First Street in Lowell from where he served the town of Dracut from the Navy Yard to Methuen line, including Dracut Center, Marsh Hill, and Black North Road (East Dracut). He also opened up a free dispensary in Lowell and managed to take time for research.

*He was one of the first to volunteer his time as physician at St. John's Hospital during its first year of operation. Three years later he became a member of the general staff as ophthalmologist.

It was at St. John's that he became fast friends with Dr. Gilman Kimball. Both were interested in progressive methods in medicine. Together they went to Europe to study medical techniques of foreign countries. The two acquired a deep interest in electro-therapy while in England. Upon their return to Lowell both men experimented in electrotherapeutics, something quite new in the annals of medicine.

*As he resumed his practice of medicine, the charitable work that he began at St. John's Hospital led to his involvement with the state Almshouse in Tewksbury, the Ministry-atLarge in Lowell which ministered to the sick and the poor, and in the Ayer Home for the unfortunate boys and girls of Lowell. He performed eye and ear surgery free of charge on people recommended by these institutions.

*He was fascinated with Alexander Graham Bell's experiments with the telephone and at once foresaw its immense possibilities. In fact, after attending Dr. Bell's lecture in Lowell's Huntington Hall, Dr. Parker built a telephone line from his home to his office Vi mile away; he found it most practical and efficient. He quickly bought into the emerging company and soon became one of the largest share-holders in both the Lowell District Telephone Co. and then in the New England Telephone and Telegraph Co.

* He is credited with inventing the telephone directory system whereby each subscriber was assigned a different NUMBER. This revolutionized the whole industry and gives Dr. Parker a place in the history of applied science.

* He was the FIRST to photograph electric currents and to show that they take the form of SPIRALS. This breakthrough streamlined the telephone service: if telephone wires were twisted, a far easier flow of electricity would send messages over far greater distances.

* The discovery just spoken of above led directly to the development of the transcontinental cable which succeeded because of Dr. Parker's expertise.

* He was the FIRST to photograph the tubercular bacillus.

* He invented thermo-cautery, among other medical techniques.

In the last 25-30 years of his life Dr. Parker grew increasingly involved in charitable organizations. He kept up his affiliation with St. John's Hospital till his death and was the oldest member (in terms of seniority) on its staff. He refined the services offered at the Ayer Home, "his home", and became its managing trustee. He increased its capacity to 100 beds.

His sense of loyalty and patriotism intensified with age. He supported civic causes with abandon. Although the societies he joined are countless, he chose to belong only to organizations where he could be of active service. Let me list some.

*In 1892 he joined the Old Middlesex Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution. He became First Vice-President of the Massachusetts State Society of the Sons of the American Revolution.

*In 1908 he was chosen President General of the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution.

*He became an active member of the Bostonian Society and into old age went to Boston biweekly for meetings.

*In 1904 he presided over the ceremony which presented the stone tablet to Dracut containing the names of the 439 sons of Dracut who served in the Revolutionary War.

*Interested in his own genealogy all his life, he founded the Parker Historical and Genealogical Association and was its first President.

*Taken up most of his life with the history of his country, especially the original 13 states, he became one of the earliest members of the Lowell Historical Society.

"Philanthropy" can have insidious connotations. But Dr. Parker was a true philanthropist: he gave generously, but he gave to causes that truly helped his fellow man.... and with no strings attached. His brand of philanthropy was practical, human, and thoroughly unselfish.

* He set up the Moses Greeley Parker Foundation which provided for a health institute.

* In his will he left enough money for the establishment of the now-famous Parker Lecture Series that have benefited an incredible number of people in its sixty years of existence.... and the Parker Lecture Series go on and on dispensing culture and the love of the beautiful that Dr. Parker had for his goal. By the way, these Lecture Series are, according to the provisions of his will, absolutely free to the public.

* In the summer before his death he made plans with his sister, Mrs. Mary Morrison, to have a public library built in Dracut. He gave her $10,000.00 for her to see the project through. The Moses Greeley Parker Library was built in 1922 and has been the pride of his home town ever since.

His later days were still filled with activity. He attended medical and cultural lectures and conventions, many of them in Boston. He visited Thomas Edison at Menlo Park. He enjoyed till the end the mountains of artifacts of all kinds that had been his hobby throughout his life.

In 1917 he made his last public appearance when he took an active part in Dracut's Memorial Day proceedings: he was the guest speaker as well.

And on October 1, 1917, this giant in the community, this positive force for good, this down-to-earth man with his genius and inquiring mind and enthusiastic approach to people and ideas, left a world which he had uplifted with his noble presence.

This page was last updated on 04/29/2008.