Quick History Stops: Milford, MA, Part 3

Back in June, I took a day trip to nearby Milford, MA to walk on the Upper Charles Trail and explore the downtown area on foot. I was born in Milford and have spent my entire life visiting the town but never did quick history stops there! This is the third of three parts about Milford. The first part covered the trail, a memorial, two churches, and a pair of repurposed buildings. The second part included an armory turned youth center, two town halls, and several churches. In the third part, I will discuss a funeral home, a library and its dog statue, an opera building, two war memorials, a church, and a post office turned police station.

A bright yellow Italianate style house with a small front porch and an American flag in the front yard A stone statue of a dog about four feet tall A long red brick building with an accessible ramp

My next stop was Buma-Sargeant Funeral Home, originally known as Benjamin D. Godfrey House and Stable. The Italianate style house was constructed as a private residence in 1854 for a local shoe manufacturer but became a funeral home in 1944. I think the bright yellow color makes the building seem hopeful. Down the street is the Milford Town Library and its locally famous dog sculpture. Established as an institution in 1858 and spending its early years in Memorial Hall, the current red brick building opened to the public in 1986 with an expansion opened in 2007.

A red brick multistory building with the words Opera Building above the graffitied front door. Metal statue of a man wearing mid-19th century clothing riding a horse A granite memorial with a metal plaque listing the names of World War I veterans

Moving to Main Street, I passed the Opera Building, which retains its golden decorations over the original front entrance. Draper Corporation owner William Franklin Draper led the planning to improve the culture offerings of the community. Frederick Swasey served as the architect, just as he would do for nearby Memorial Hall, and the red brick Victorian Gothic opened as an arts building in 1881. The fun lasted for thirty-one years until 1912, when a fire caused the live events to shut down, although it later was used as a movie theater. The current state of the Opera Building seems a little rough, with graffiti on the door and a “Store Closing” sign in the front window. Nearby was Trinity Episcopal Church in Milford, which formed in 1863 and opened the current church building in 1867. The bell tower and steeple were added during the 1870s and were last restored in 2010.

A classic whitewashed New England style church building with a square bell tower and pointed steeple to the left of the front door. Side view of a Neoclassical whitewashed New England style church building with a bell tower and pointed steeple over the front door. Front view of a Neoclassical whitewashed New England style church building with a bell tower and pointed steeple over the front door.

I continued to the town common, known as Draper Park, which is decorated with war memorials and a historic road marker. Astride a horse at the center of the park is William F. Draper who served as a brigadier general during the Civil War, along with serving as a congressman and diplomat later in his career. The townspeople erected the monument in 1912, as General Draper had died two years earlier, and his wife wanted to honor him. The land was bought from the First Congregational Church across the street for the generous price of $10,000. The church itself was constructed in 1819 with New England Colonial Revival renovations about a hundred years later. Frequent blog guest Daniel Chester French designed the statue, with some of his other works including General Charles Devens Jr. in Worcester, MA; “In Flanders Field” in Milton, MA; and “Mother Town and Soldier Son” in Exeter, NH. Near the statue was a Post Road marker dated to 1773 and pointing towards Boston, MA. This was the first mail route in what became the United States and is considered the oldest known road in Massachusetts, as it follows Pequot Path from the Connecticut River Valley to Boston.

A large Neoclassical style stone government building A Neoclassical style whitewashed stone church in the background, a statue of a man on a horse in the midground, and a stone marker surrounded by a thick chain in the foreground. A worn stone marker with the carved words To Boston 34 Miles 1773 with an arrow pointed right.

Across the lawn is the World War Memorial, erected in 1939 by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) as part of the New Deal. Wendell T. Phillips was a designer on the project; he had designed the castle-like armory building twenty-seven year earlier in 1912. The name of the memorial is especially sad considering that the United States would enter a second World War only two years later. The last stop on my trip was the former Milford, MA Post Office, built from Milford granite around 1912, and now serving as the Police Station. Just like the World War Memorial, the building was constructed by the WPA, and it is rumored to have a New Deal-era mural in the lobby: “Lumberman Log Rolling” painted in 1940 by Philip von Seltzer. I enjoyed my walk through Milford, and I will have to return again to see even more history stops in the future!

Location: Milford, MA 01757, USA