Quick History Stops: Douglas, MA, Part 1

On the same day I visited Sutton Center and Manchaug, I finished up my adventure in Douglas, another former mill town in the Blackstone River Valley. I took so many pictures and saw so much history that I am dividing the quick history stops into two parts. In this first part, I visited two churches, a former general store turned historical society, a building with a really high curb, and a library.

A large red brick church with a statue of a saint in front A large, red brick mill next to a road. A large, red brick mill next to a parking lot.

My first stop on my way to the center of Douglas was St. Denis Catholic Church. The parish is currently 156 years old. Another pair of quick stops were red brick mills, a common sight in the Blackstone River Valley. Hayward Mill by the center of town near the Mumford River and Schuster Mill near the highway were a woolen mills during the early 20th century. Unlike many mills in the area that closed soon after World War II, these mills flourished during the 1950s and employed up to 92% of the Douglas workforce. Schuster Mill was a manufacturing site of Guilford of Maine but is currently mostly vacant with space available for rent. Hayward Mill is on the National Register of Historic Places and has been transformed into apartments known as Hayward Landing.

A wooden sign embedded in a stone wall with the text Hay ward Landing around the edge and a carving of the mill in the middle A small red brick building near the street. A two-story white building with porches across the front of both stories.

Once in the center of town, I started with E.N. Jenckes General Store at 283 Main Street, home of the Douglas Historical Society. The building was constructed around 1833 and is named after its 1884 purchaser, Edward Nathaniel Jenckes, who expanded the building and sold practically anything their was to sell in the late 19th and early 20th century. Jenckes’ daughters, Ellen Mialma Jenckes and Helen R. Jenckes, donated the store to the historical society in 1972, and it was added to the National Register in 1988. Across the street is Simon Fairfield Public Library, self-proclaimed “literary heart of Douglas”. A book collection has allegedly existed in Douglas since 1770, although the first official library wasn’t founded until 1850. The current building stems from a donation given by James Marshall Fairfield. While he allegedly gave the money in honor of both of his parents, Simon and Phoebe Churchill Fairfield, only the father’s name ended up on the building. At any rate, James spent the rest of his life giving books and other gifts to his library until he passed away in 1912 at age 88.

A red brick library building near the street. A black wooden post with a pair of signs hanging from it. A red brick building constructed near a very high curb

At 297 through 303 Main Street is the Wixtead Building, constricted in 1910 by James William Wixtead. Since this stood on the foundation of his older property, which burned down the year before in 1909, the curb is extra high. Gregory’s Restaurant & Pizzeria has been in the building since 1993. Continuing down the street is the former Town Hall, which is now the post office. A plaque on the building clearly states that the 1841 will of Moses Wallis left money to the town to construct that very building as the forever Town Hall. Wallis’s will has been broken, but it does make a fine-looking neoclassical post office.

Across the street are a white church building on the left and a red brick neoclassical three-story municipal building on the right The bell tower of a white church building on the left and a piece of a red brick neoclassical building on the right A metal plaque on the red brick building describing the will of Moses Wallis

Next door to the post office is United Methodist Church of East Douglas. The congregation appears to be very small and perhaps always has been. A Methodist or Wesleyan church has existed in Douglas since 1808 when a Methodist Episcopal Church church formed in South Douglas. A schism occurred a mere seven years later in 1815, and the Reformed Methodist church formed. Another Reformed Methodist church was formed in East Douglas in 1844 and the building constructed the next year in 1845. This is the base of the current church, although it has since undergone extensive renovation to receive a bell tower and large stained glass windows. This was my last quick history stop for this part of the tour.

Location: Douglas, MA 01516, USA