2023 MLK Day of Service: Asa Waters Mansion & Grass Hill School

On the third Monday of January is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, often abbreviated as MLK Day. This day commemorates the life of service led by civil rights activist Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., whose birthday is on January 15. This is the only federally observed day of service in the United States, and the holiday is observed by many companies. I used this day to volunteer at Asa Waters Mansion and Grass Hill School, both historic buildings located in Millbury, MA.

Asa Waters Mansion

The mansion was built from 1826 to 1829 by Asa Waters II. If that surname sounds familiar, this is because Asa was the second cousin once removed to Stephen Waters who built Waters Farm in Sutton, MA. While Stephen was a farmer, Asa was a gunman. His business, Waters & Co. Armory, began in 1808 with the co-ownership of his brother, Elijah Waters, and lasted until 1845, when the United States government stopped contracting with private companies, although the business did briefly reopen during the Civil War.

Remarkably, the beautiful home was constructed before the Providence & Worcester Railroad, which began operating in 1847, so bringing supplies from around the United States and the world had to be difficult. Historians believed the house was designed by a pair famous New England architects Alexander Parris, whose other masterpieces include Pilgrim Hall in Plymouth, MA and Quincy Market in Boston, MA, and by Asher Benjamin, whose love of combining Federalist and Greek Revival styles also led to the construction of Memorial Hall in Deerfield, MA and the African Meeting House in Boston. Thanks to its remarkable design and history, Asa Waters Mansion is on the National Register of Historic Places (records not yet digitized).

In addition to having great taste in architecture, the Waters family was civically active. Asa Holman Waters (also called Asa Waters III), was an abolitionist and a member of the Free Soil Party. Local legends and a few features of the house suggest that it may have been a stop on the Underground Railroad, although confirmation of history is incredibly difficult to solidify. Another politically inclined family member was President William Howard Taft, the great-grandson of Asa Waters II. As for having an eye for design, the “father of photojournalism” and editor of National Geographic magazine, Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor, was the grandson of Asa Waters III.

Unfortunately, the Waters family could not keep the house. The building served many practical but unintended purposes, such as a home for Roman Catholic nuns, then a bishop, and then the elderly. Since 1995, the mansion was rescued and maintained by the volunteer organization Friends of the Asa Waters Mansion. This gorgeous building now serves as both an events venue and a museum. One of my favorite parts of the mansion was a large collection of Christmas village houses.

Grass Hill School

This adorable two-story building was constructed during 1861 in West Millbury, formerly known as the village of Grass Hill, which was first settled by European colonists in 1743. The schoolhouse held elementary school of grades one through four on the first floor and a junior high of grades five through eight on the second floor. The fact I find most incredible was that this school was in operation until 1968! The building is being restored by the Millbury Historical Society.

Across the street is a matching church building currently holding God’s Grace Bible Church. While I could not find much historical information on the construction of the building, I did learn it was once called West Millbury Union Chapel, meaning all Christian denominations could use the building. The worshipping body may have begun as a congregational church and was likely part of a primitive Christianity movement during the Third Great Awakening. These churches focused on direct readings of the Bible, especially the Gospels and the laws of the Old Testament, rather than relying on complex doctrine.