Meandering in Milford

From Dave Brigham:

In April, I ventured to the Grafton Flea Market, searching for vintage wooden boxes I could use to showcase prints of my photos at arts and crafts events. I had no luck, but did procure three very cool crates not long after at Blue Collar Vintage Salvage, a great place in Leicester, Mass.***

Naturally, prior to my trek to Grafton, I scoped out a place to go backsidin'. That place turned out to be Milford, an old mill town with a population of just over 30,000 located in southeastern Worcester County, about 10 miles north of the Rhode Island border.

After parking in the center of town, along Main Street, I headed east and the first thing that caught my eye was the Milford Opera House.

Opened in 1881, this Victorian Gothic treasure has served many purposes down through the decades: a music hall, a theater, a racquetball club (!) and offices and shops, including a camera store that I will feature below that unfortunately is no longer in business.

I haven't found any information about the use of this place as a racquetball club, save for a few words from MACRIS, written in 1981: "[T]his lovely building is a racquetball club, where many Milfordians spend many happy hours. They can still enjoy the foyer that once part of the music hall, and many people enjoyed it in years gone by."

I passed several old buildings featuring small retailers, barber shops and churches, many catering to the growing Hispanic population (nearly 20% as of 2024). Then I spied a massive municipal building that was built in the middle of one of Milford's population explosions, as new industries took hold.

"The building is located in the center of the business district and is by far the most prominent building in the main street area," MACRIS reports. "The construction of the town hall out of wood and not granite makes it unique to the other town buildings. Milford's pink granite has played an important role nationally as a source of beautiful yet durable building medium. All of the other main public buildings are constructed out of Milford's granite, except for the town Hall (sic). This exception is important, for the building is a fine example of a wooden Italian Renaissance style."

The building rose in 1855. Five years later, "Milford pink granite was discovered, starting a long and successful quarrying industry in town," according to the town's 2025 Comprehensive Plan. "Milford saw the greatest growth in industry and population between 1830 and 1870," the plan indicates. "Between those four decades, the population increased from 1,360 to 9,000 people. Part of this population growth was fueled by the arrival of migrants from Ireland, who found work in the expanding boot and shoe industry as well as the emerging granite quarrying industry."

By the 1920s, the town had 16 quarries operating, with more immigrants arriving, many from Italy. "As the population increased and the town became wealthier, Milford saw a building boom. By the 1870s, the central village had become a distinct commercial district with multistory commercial brick building blocks and diverse establishments such as breweries, bakeries, and banks," the plan continues.

"The Great Depression led to the closure of several industrial businesses in Milford, including the Milford Iron Foundry, various shoe factories, and the quarries," according to the plan. "The population continued to grow, albeit slowly, between 1915 and 1940." During the 1980s, the town's Brazilian population grew.

Now that I've provided a history of the town's industrial and immigration growth, let's back to the buildings.

I doubled back on the opposite side of Main Street after seeing the town hall. I'd spied the old Rosenfeld Garage building as I walked east on Main Street, so I went back for a closer look.

This building on Spruce Street was home to the same business for at least 60 years, based on the "year constructed" date that MACRIS provides (1925), and the web site's 1986 write-up indicating that the garage was being run by the third generation of the family. Under renovation on the day I happened by, the building in more recent years was occupied by Gasco Auto Service, NAPA Auto Parts and Goodyear Tire Center. I'm not sure who the current tenant is.

Walking just a short distance west on Spruce Street, I looked up the hill and saw the magnificent Memorial Hall standing tall and proud along School Street.

Completed in 1884, this Richardsonian Romanesque beauty is currently home to the Milford Historical Museum, which has one of the finest displays of Civil War artifacts in the country, per the town's historical commission. "The large turret on the left of the building houses our large circular staircase made of our own Milford granite and each step is engraved with the name of a major battle of the Civil War and the name of its donner (sic)," according to MACRIS. "There are 23 steps. The large vestibule is made of oak and each side contains a marble plaque inscribed with the names of those who servered (sic)."

"The building was constructed in 1884 to serve multiple purposes: a free public library, meeting hall for the local Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) lodge, and most importantly, a memorial to honor the Civil War soldiers and sailors of Milford and nearby Hopedale," according to this Buildings of New England post.

Heading south-southwest on School Street, I found myself back at the old opera house. I was excited to see a sign on the Pine Street side of the building for a camera shop.

I was sad, however, to learn that about a month after I made this photo, Morin's Studio & Camera Shop closed up after more than 100 years in business.

Across Main Street from the opera house is one of several one-story commercial buildings located downtown.

When I found out on MACRIS that this building -- evidently two buildings stitched into one -- is known as the Blunt Block, I laughed to myself and thought of rap videos I've seen where crews are smoking blunts, aka a cigar that has been hollowed out and packed with weed.

(WARNING: This video is not safe for small pets or young children, nor for work, school or church.)

Then MACRIS tossed me this curious and, evidently, coincidental tidbit: "The earliest records that we have of this building show it being Milford's largest cigar manufactuer (sic)." The company was called Hale's Cigar Factory. The original owner was AJ Blunt, according to MACRIS. How's that for serendipity?

Current tenants include a convenience store, a karate studio and a church.

Further south, on the east side of Main Street, is one of several storefront churches I saw.

Milford Assembly of God is located in what appears to be a former bank, although I've been unable to confirm that. The house of worship, which I believe ministers to a Brazilian immigrant congregation, has been here since at least 2008, per my review of Google Street View.

I continued south on Main Street, then cut up Park Street, past Draper Memorial Park, which is located on land donated in the early years of last century by Susan Preston Draper. The small park features a statue -- fashioned by Lincoln Memorial sculptor Daniel Chester French -- of Gen. William Draper, Susan's husband. I did not make a photo of any of that.

I continued along Main Street, where the rear of an old fire station caught my eye.

I made an image of the front, located along South Main Street, a few minutes later.

"This firehouse was built in 1852 to house the new hook and ladder," according to MACRIS. "This company was call (sic) 'the Excelsior Hook and Ladder Company.'" As often happens when I'm researching my blog posts, I ran into conflicting information about the build date for the South Main Street Fire House. In this Patch article from December 2010, Deputy Fire Chief William Touhey said the station was built in the early 1900s.

""It was put in 'mothballs' around the year 2000," Touhey told Patch. "Then, when we rebuilt the Spruce Street station, it was reactivated until the construction was completed. When that was done, in 2003, the South Main Street station went into 'mothballs' again."

Regardless of when the fire house was erected, the property has sat largely unchanged since the town sold it in 2010. "Until the sale to [Jose] Ferreira, the building served as a storage center for the police and fire departments," the Patch article continues. " The sale was predicated on Ferreira's agreeing to convert the station to a multi-use building, with the bottom floor given over to commercial use, while the upper level would be turned into a housing unit. That plan was abandoned, however, as a result of neighborhood concerns. The major hurdle was the lack of available parking space for a commercial business."

The Patch article indicates that the property eventually was found to be deed-restricted to be only a single-family home. More than a decade and a half later, I'm not clear on whether there are any residents living here.

Across Main Street from the rear of the old fire station is an auto body shop with an eye-catching back entrance.

I'm unsure of the name of this joint; the town's assessor's database says the building dates to around 1900. Most of the cars in the shop's lot were modern; the two below, however, are gorgeous classic American cars.

(Mercury Comet, from the early- to mid-'60s.)

(Ford Ranchero from the early- to mid-'60s.)

At the corner of Main and Taylor streets sits this little building with sad red eyes.

For many years there was a business here called Cats II, which sold "specialty & promotional items," according to a sign that hung there that I saw on Google Street View. The sign below is from the side of the building.

K&S Painting was located here more recently, but I believe the business is no longer located here.

At this point, I turned back north on Main Street. One of the reasons I enjoy exploring old mill towns such as Milford is to see how these former centers of industrial strength are finding ways to grow and thrive after what may have been some lean times. A lot of the new energy in these towns comes from small businesses, many of them started by relatively new immigrants.

One type of business I've noticed in the towns and cities that I explore is tap rooms and affiliated operations. The Rail Trail Flatbread Company, sister to an outfit located in the town of Hudson, offers pizza, burgers and tacos, among other food, and also features 20 beer taps and additional options in cans and bottles. "[O]ur friends brew some really creative craft beers," the owners indicate on the web site.

Rail Trail is located in the Thayer Block, in a space previously occupied by Home National Bank of Milford and a branch of Rockland Trust Bank. This attractive building combines white brick with green marble from Vermont, according to MACRIS. The clock you can see at the right of the photo is "one of the remaining clocks made by the McClintock-Loomis Clock Company or successive company, O.B. McClintock Co., which specialized in sidewalk clocks for banking and financial institutions," according to this Buildings of New England post.

Next, I pointed myself east along Central Street, as I'd spied some old mill buildings.

The front (top) and rear (bottom) of what was originally known as Claflin and Thayer Shoe Factory. Built in 1871, this brick and fake stone (according to MACRIS) building in succeeding years was occupied by the Wilkinson Straw Hat Shop, the Rockingham Hotel and Stone's Furniture Store. In more recent years, as you can see in the second image, it was home to a Taylor Rental franchise.

I have a hard time imagining a former shoe factory being converted to a hotel, what with all the heavy machinery to be removed. MACRIS indicates at that time, the building had what is believed to be Milford's first elevator.

A short distance away is a related building, which, like the one above, dates to 1871.

MACRIS calls this one the Aaron Claflin Shoe Factory Building. Buildings of New England says Claflin and Thayer was "a leading boot and shoe manufacturer" in Milford, while MACRIS indicates this building is the only one on Central Street made from Milford granite, and one of the oldest along this old industrial strip.

The name Claflin and Thayer lives on in a clothing company started by the great-great-great granddaughter of the former boot company's founder. "My dad's great-great-grandfather started the original Claflin, Thayer & Co. in 1830 as a boot and shoe manufacturer in what is now Tribeca [in Manhattan, New York]," Liz Thayer tells a publication called Local Electric in this 2017 article.

While other sources online indicate the company was founded in the 1850s in Milford, I assume this is the same operation. Thayer continues: "The business was a family affair for over a hundred years until it closed down under my great-grandfather's management during the Great Depression. I think it's neat that I have fallen into the same work, so resurrecting the family name seemed like a given to me."

Claflin, Thayer & Co. sells outerwear and leather goods.

I mosied along, stopping to make a photo of the pleasant front of Nelly's Sandwich Shop.

The family-owned business has been making sandwiches and soups since 1997.

In the near distance, I could see what I thought was an old train station. It is indeed exactly that.

Now occupied by Countryside Discount Liquors, the old Milford Railroad Depot is located in a largely industrial area where the old railway right-of-way has been torn up. It was built in 1909 out of local granite, according to this Flickr post, which contradicts the above statement by MACRIS that the old shoe factory is the sole local granite survivor on this street.

The station was originally part of the Milford Branch of the Boston & Albany Railroad, according to this Waymarking post, which also pegs the built date to around 1890. Flip a coin.

"Passenger service remained on this line until 1959," the Waymarking article continues. "Penn Central, which eventually took control of the line, abandoned it in 1972."

My final stop in Milford was directly across my parking spot on Main Street.

The Gillon Block (aka the Ring and Welch Building) was built in 1888. The gorgeous Queen Anne building was erected by Patrick Gillon, who was a significant bottle manufacturer, according to MACRIS. Buildings of New England indicates that Gillon inherited his late-father’s distillery and bottling business.

Current tenants include a realtor and a mobile-phone store, but unfortunately not Manhattann's, which was a bar and restaurant whose sign is still on the building.

That's a wrap on Milford....

***I used those crates on May 31st at the Harvard Square MayFair, which marked the debut of Dave Brigham Photography in the public square. I was very happy to make a few sales and chat with many fairgoers. I will display my prints at other shows in the future, including at the Brighton Bazaar's New Digs: A Market for the Recently Moved at the Charles River Speedway in Brighton on September 5.

I Seek Newton, Part VIII: Upper Falls (Section 1)

From Dave Brigham:

As I was saying....

I didn't plan to set aside my series looking at the villages of my adopted hometown of Newton, Mass., for so long. The last installment -- I Seek Newton, Part VII: Thompsonville -- went live nearly a year ago, on March 7, 2017. I was on a nice roll up until that point, but other things have taken priority lately. I was also a bit daunted by Upper Falls. When I drive through the village I feel like Mike and Frank on "American Pickers" when they stumble across a honey hole. There's just so much to look at, take photos of and schedule! And, of course, research after the fact....

As such, I will be writing three posts about Upper Falls, covering railroad track remnants, aqueducts, old mills, walking paths, a historic dirt road, a dam and surrounding area, bridges, hotels and inns, schools, commercial blocks and much more. Some of the photos I will feature in these posts are of places or features that no longer exist. For links to the previous posts in this series, see the bottom of this installment.

So let's get to it!

In this first part I will focus on abandoned railroad tracks, unused aqueducts, buried brooks, old mills and related structures, walking paths and a dirt road with quite a pedigree.

Mills defined Upper Falls for more than two hundred years. The first mill was built along the east bank of the Charles River in 1688, according to a brochure issued by the Newton Historical Commission, the Newton Upper Falls Historic District Commission and the Newton Planning & Development Department. Saw mills, grist mills, fulling mills, snuff mills, wire mills, cotton mills, silk mills -- all of these were in business at some point along the river until 1962, according to the brochure, when the mill complex was sold and eventually turned into what stands there today: Echo Bridge Park, home to jewelry and antique stores, a musical instrument shop, medical offices and more.

(View from below Echo Bridge of the former mill complex.)

Above the mill complex on a small, wooded hill just off the intersection of Chestnut and Ellis streets, I experienced one of my proudest moments of backsiding. As I walked around the village snapping photos I looked at this little mound that I'd driven past countless times and thought, "I bet there's something up there." So I climbed up in my slides, as inappropriate a set of hiking footwear as you can find, pushed past a few small trees and found this:

BINGO!!

An 1874 atlas I downloaded from the City of Newton web site identifies this site as "Reservoir." I don't know enough about old mill complexes to get a handle on this relic. I assume the reservoir was constructed not only of brick and stone, but also wood. What was the water in the reservoir used for? Obviously the Charles River below provided the power, or most of it anyway, for the mills. Anybody got any answers or guesses?

I'll include photos and information about nearby Echo Bridge and Hemlock Gorge in a future post in this series about Newton Upper Falls. While the complex at Echo Bridge is the oldest in Upper Falls, and indeed the city, I find the Saco-Pettee Machine Shops complex far more interesting. So get ready for a bunch of pictures.

The multiple buildings on the site at Oak and Needham streets were built between 1892 and 1912, per Wikipedia. There were cotton mills and machine shops here over the decades until the 1930's, per Wikipedia. Other, smaller companies took over some of the buildings in subsequent decades, according to the indispensable The Makers of the Mold: A History of Newton Upper Falls, Massachusetts, by Kenneth Newcomb, which is available for free online (although you can also buy a hard copy, of which I own). Some of the mill buildings were eventually torn down to make way for a shopping plaza. Many of the buildings left have been abandoned for years.

Some of the buildings, however, have been restored and house businesses including a dance studio.

(At the corner of Oak and Needham streets you can spy a remnant of South Meadow Brook, which, like so many small streams in Newton, was mostly buried many years ago.)

There have been numerous proposals over the years for redeveloping this massive site. The latest comes from Northland Investment Corp., which has announced plans to raze the dilapidated buildings and other nearby retail buildings and construct new retail, apartment, office and restaurant space.

I exchanged emails with a vice president at Northland about gaining access to the site to document the old mill buildings before they are demolished or altered. Unfortunately, the company's lawyers were unwilling to grant me that chance. I was told that a professional photographer was commissioned to conduct such a project, and that his or her work will be available to the public at some point.

The circa-1890 mill building below, at 1254 Chestnut Street and not far from the Saco-Pettee complex, once made fire alarm systems.

According to Makers of the Mold, Moses Crane made fire alarm systems in this building for Gamewell Fire Alarm & Telegraph Co. Crane had previously made fire alarms in a building near Crystal Lake in Newton Centre.

Gamewell was eventually acquired by Honeywell, which later merged with a company called FCI.

I want to get back to the Pettee operation. In addition to the abandoned hulks and restored buildings I showcased above, there are other buildings in Upper Falls that were once part of the mills. But unless you own the building (and maybe not even then) or have read Newcomb's Makers of the Mold, you would have no idea that some current-day houses were once mill buildings.

At top is 50 Oak Street, at bottom, 50 Hale Street. Newcomb has this to say about these houses: "They were formerly part of the old Pettee Machine Works plant and are believed to have been moved to their new sites about 1895 when the Pettee shops were rebuilt." Sure enough, the Newton Assessors' Database lists 1895 as the construction date for the Hale Street house. Newcomb, however, assures us that such buildings are certainly older, but it's hard to determine just how old because they were moved from mill properties to private lots. As for the Oak Street house, I'm pretty sure it's the same one that Newcomb referenced in his book, but the assessors' database lists a build date of 2007. But since the database contradicts itself and lists assessments going back to 1992, I'm guessing the house was significantly modified in 2007.

Directly behind 50 Oak Street are sited three more former Pettee Machine Works buildings that were long ago converted to homes. I find it hard to picture these quaint homes as part of what was most likely a smelly, dirty mill complex, possibly being used as a blacksmith shop or storage facility.

(12, 16 and 20 Shawmut Park, former mill buildings, top photo. #20 Shawmut in bottom photo.)

The Saco-Pettee mill wasn't the only one whose buildings were repurposed. 353-357 Elliot Street, which I believe was formerly numbered 351-353, was an old building at the Echo Bridge mill complex, according to Newcomb. This house and three others along Elliot Street, if they were original mill buildings "their date of construction would be about 1785, shortly after Simon Elliot purchased the old mill site for his snuff mill operation," according to Makers of the Mold. The Newton Assessors' Database lists the construction date as 1830.

With all these mills around, of course there were eventually railroads. Before I get to the main line and what it's become, I want to mention one more house that has a past life....

86 High Street was at one time the waiting room for an electric railroad, per Newcomb. "The Newton & Boston Street Railway was the one more closely associated with Newton Upper Falls," Newcomb writes. "It had been organized in 1891 with permission to establish other lines in the city if desired. In 1892 an extension of its lines was granted on Walnut and Beacon Streets and although delayed by sewer construction it was carried to Newton Highlands and later, in the same year, to the corner of High and Summer Streets in Newton Upper Falls." You can see that the second floor doesn't quite match the first, and was obviously added once the waiting room had been converted to a home.

Now, to the more traditional railways.

Otis Pettee, namesake of the Saco-Pettee Machine Shops, tried to lure the Boston and Worcester Railroad to Upper Falls, according to the folks at the Upper Falls Greenway. Upon being snubbed, Pettee decided to build his own line! Eventually the railroad was folded into the Boston & Albany line.

And now, as you might imagine if you have spent time near abandoned railroad tracks in the past 20 years, Pettee's labor of love has been turned into a walking/bike path.

(A picture from a few years ago after the tracks had been torn up to make way for the Newton Upper Falls Greenway).

(Looking northeast from the greenway's terminus at the Charles River.)

(View from the greenway. I love the back of 1211 Chestnut Street, which was built in 1918 and now houses a dry cleaner, a hair salon and two apartments.)

(Former Newton Upper Falls train depot, built in 1852, now a coffee shop. The walking path goes right behind it.)

(Old something-or-other along the Upper Falls Greenway.)

(Old sewer structure along the greenway.)

(Tower for WHDH TV, along the greenway. According to Makers of the Mold, this site once housed the United States Fireworks Company, which moved to Upper Falls in 1886. The company went into decline after an explosion and fire in 1919, per Newcomb's book.)

There was a spur track that ran from just a little north of where this tower stands now, across Needham and Christina streets, over the Charles River and into a Needham industrial park. There are still remnants of this system.

(Long-abandoned rail spur on the property of H.C. Starck, a "supplier of technology metals, high-performance ceramics and thermal spray powders," per the company LinkedIn page.)

The H.C. Starck complex sprawls across several buildings along Charlemont Street. Perpendicular to the very busy retail strip of Needham Street, Charlemont used to connect all the way through to a quiet residential neighborhood. At the back of the Starck property there is a small walkway that knits the two ends of this street perhaps named after a town in County Armagh, Ireland.

(Looking south across the Charles River, at a set of tracks that isn't there any more, although the bridge is. I took this photo several years ago.)

Now, back to the greenway. At its western terminus, an easy slide down the embankment next to the Charles River, is the Charles River Pathway. Acquired by the City of Newton in 1980, this 1.5-acre conservation area is one of many great little nature preserves in the city.

(The Charles River Pathway.)

(Anchors for the WBUR radio tower, which is located on the other side of the greenway.)

In addition to the Upper Falls Greenway and the Charles River Pathway, this village is home to part of the Quinobequin Trail, much of which (and, honestly, perhaps all of it; as I've said, it's often hard to tell exactly where the boundary is between villages) lies in Waban (see June 3, 2016, "I Seek Newton, Part IV: Waban").

(Funky blue hydrant on the Wellesley side of the Charles River, seen from Upper Falls section of Quinobequin Trail.)

The Charles River is a prominent and obvious feature in Newton. But there are two other water systems running through the city that fewer people are aware of.

What, you don't see this one? It's right there!

It's the Sudbury Aqueduct. Built between 1867 and 1876, the underground conduit brought water from the Sudbury Reservoir to Boston until 1978, when use was discontinued. The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority maintains the system as a backup source of water (for more on Newton's aqueducts, the other of which is the Cochituate Aqueduct, see November 11, 2011, "History Flows On, Part I").

I've covered walking paths and aqueducts, which provide great trails for touring Newton. Finally for this first of three installments about the village of Upper Falls, I want to discuss two old streets.

This is the middle section of Pennsylvania Avenue. Not quite as impressive as the one in our nation's capital that the White House sits alongside, is it? Still, it's kinda cool. Located in a neighborhood that includes Ohio Avenue and Indiana Terrace, Pennsylvania Ave. appears as though it was washed out at some point. In the 1929 Newton Atlas available on the city's web site, Pennsylvania Ave. goes straight from Oak Street to Chestnut Street. Now, as you can see here (I hope), the road dies just a short distance up from Chestnut. There is then a paved walkway up the hill, where Pennsylvania reconnects and heads on up to Oak Street.

I'll wrap up this post with another dirt road with an even better story, and one that I didn't even have to make up.

Curving from Chestnut Street to Elliot Street, Sullivan Avenue is "all that remains of an ancient highway laid out in 1688 by a joint agreement between Cambridge and Cambridge Village (Newton) from 'the Village Meeting-house to the Falls,'" according to the above-referenced brochure for walking tours of historic Newton. As Vanessa Bayer channeling Miley Cyrus on "Saturday Night Live," would say, "That's pretty cool!"

Thanks for checking out the first of three posts about Upper Falls, the eighth village of Newton I've covered on the blog. The next two parts will feature memorials, bridges, parks, houses, hotels, restaurants, churches, schools, retail stores and much more.

The link to the seventh post in my Newton series is near the top of this page; below are the links for the other six, beginning with the most recent.

December 5, 2016: Chestnut Hill (#6)

September 26, 2016: Oak Hill (#5)

June 3, 2016: Waban (#4)

March 23, 2016: Newton Highlands (#3)

September 20, 2015: Auburndale (#2)

May 21, 2015: Newton Lower Falls (#1)