By-gone Days2

Part 2. Continue to stroll through Northborough's past and experience a landscape that no longer exists. All of the homes and public buildings depicted here have disappeared. The photos and descriptions have been taken from Images of America: Northborough courtesy of the Northborough Historical Society.

Click on the images for a larger version of the picture.

Chapin Mill. This mill was powered by the Assabet River, the bed of which lay several hundred yards away. A sluice, still well-defined today, conveyed water into and through the mill at Hudson and Coburn Streets. At various times, the mill produced cotton and woolen fabrics. In 1918, when it was the Whittaker Mill, fire partially destroyed it; the mill declined thereafter. Only part of the foundation exists today.

Hart's Fried Clams. Hart's fried Clams operated in the 1930s. This building, never an architectural gem, later deteriorated as a bar until it was swept from its site on West Main Street when Northborough tidied up its "Times Square" in the late 1960s.

Crossley House. This home, which stood immediately west of the old town hall, gave charm to the town center for years. As the Spa and later as the Whitehouse Donut Shop, it became a favorite hangout of several generations of townspeople. The CVS shopping plaza displaced the Crossley house in the early 1960s.

David Wood Mansion. David Wood built this handsome dwelling across the road from his Hudson Street mill in the 1880s, when both entrepreneurs and employess often lived within a few steps of the workplace. It is another of the notable Northborough buildings that fell victim to fires. Today, a utilitarian but decidedly unprepossessing electrical transfer station sits on the lot.

Toad Mill. The Toad Mill, photographed here in the 1880s, stood on Howard Brook east of Whitney Street. In 1839, Bush & Haynes--the first of several local comb-making establishments--occupied it. It is also the site of the former Laurence Candle Company.

Proctor Lumber Company. At the foot of Mill Street stands a mill that was known by the names of its several oners. Lt. John Martyn, son of the first town minister, was one of the earliest owners. This facility was last used by the Proctor Lumber Company in the early 20th century. It was torn down in 1958.

Fire House. Engine No. 1 of the Assabet Engine Company, puchased in 1860, stands in front of the Hudson Street fire station. This building, which no longer exists, dates from 1884. For years after the station opened, the fire department maintained no horses, but rather appropriated them as necessary from nearby residents to pull engines to fires. The first motorized equipment was a Model T Ford truck acquired in 1918.

St. Rose of Lima's Church. Northborough's Roman Catholics finally could boast of a proper church in 1883, when St. Rose of Lima's graceful steeple rose above Pierce Street--a steeple which, like that of the Baptist church, toppled in the 1938 hurricane. This church, with its damaged roof buttressed, continued in service until fears for the parishioners' safety and an expanding population necessitated a new St. Rose of Lima's Church on West Main Street. This building was demolished in 1968.

More photos of Bygone Northborough... 1   3