The school was founded by Judith Grant and Susan Semple in 1965[1] during the Civil Rights Movement on the educational philosophies of Haim Ginott, Jean Piaget, Maria Montessori, John Dewey, and Friedrich Fröbel.

Lowell was accredited by the Association of Independent Maryland Schools in the 90s, and moved to its present campus on Kalmia and 16th Street NW and expanded to 5th grade.

The Parkside Building renovation was complete in the fall of 2014, and currently houses the Middle School.

Lowell School occupies a historic campus with three buildings, three playgrounds, two outdoor classrooms, an athletic field, a garden, a green roof, and Kalmia Creek.

Parkside, located along 17th Street NW and next to Rock Creek Park, holds Middle School classrooms, an engineering fabrication lab, a science lab, the Berkeley Library, two art studios, a makerspace, woodshop, and a black box theater.

[6] Today the 8 acres (32,000 m2) and the Kalmia Creek, which the school daylighted soon after acquiring the property, are used as outdoor classrooms where students learn how to grow vegetables, and observe and care for the environment.

The property was subsequently transferred to Gallaudet University, which made it a satellite campus.

[10] The school-wide themes of community, diversity, and identity, ground the curriculum in the school's core values of insight, empathy, inclusivity, and equity.