Heywood-Wakefield Company Complex

Last updated

Heywood-Wakefield Company Complex
Heywood-Wakefield Company Complex.jpg
USA Massachusetts location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location206 Central St., Gardner, Massachusetts
Coordinates 42°34′35″N71°59′27″W / 42.57639°N 71.99083°W / 42.57639; -71.99083
Area12.5 acres (5.1 ha)
Built1863 (1863)
Part of West Gardner Square Historic District (ID85003185)
NRHP reference No. 83000610 [1]
Significant dates
Added to NRHPSeptember 15, 1983
Designated CPDecember 30, 1985

The Heywood-Wakefield Company Complex is a historic factory complex at 206 Central Street in Gardner, Massachusetts. The complex, located at the corner of Central and Elm in West Gardner, has its origins in a chair manufacturing business established in 1826 by the Heywood brothers. The current brick factory buildings date to the later decades of the 19th century. [2] The property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. [1]

Contents

Description and history

Gardner's long history as a center of chair manufacturing began in 1806, when James Comee began making them with hand tools in 1805. Walter Heywood was an apprentice of his, and with his brother William opened their own shops in the 1820s. Their shop, located near the historic town center, burned in 1834. Levi Heywood, another brother, built a replacement shop on the site of the present surviving factory buildings the following year. This move, and the subsequent economic success of the Heywoods, resulted in a major shift of the town's economic center to West Gardner, where it remains today. [3]

The surviving company complex stands on 12.5 acres (5.1 ha) on the east side of downtown Gardner, running from Lake Street in the north to Cross Street in the south. Central Street cuts diagonally across the complex in its northern third. No structures survive from the site's 1835 beginning, which was largely destroyed by fire in 1860. The only building to survive from the rebuilding program that followed is the 1863 building 5; subsequent expansion and building programs transformed the site into the one that survives today. In 1897 the Heywood company merged with the Wakefield Rattan Company, resulting in another expansion. The company suffered from competition and labor problems in the 20th century, and closed its doors in 1978. [3] The surviving buildings have since been repurposed to other uses.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gardner, Massachusetts</span> City in Massachusetts, United States

Gardner, officially the City of Gardner, is a city in Worcester County in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States. The population was 21,287 in the 2020 census. Gardner is home of such sites as the Blue Moon Diner, Dunn State Park, Gardner Heritage State Park, and Mount Wachusett Community College.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wakefield, Rhode Island</span> Village in Rhode Island, United States

Wakefield is a village in the town of South Kingstown, Rhode Island, United States, and the commercial center of South Kingstown. Together with the village of Peace Dale, it is treated by the U.S. Census as a component of the census-designated place identified as Wakefield-Peacedale, Rhode Island. West Kingston, another South Kingstown village, was the traditional county seat of Washington County. Since 1991, the Washington County Courthouse has been in Wakefield. The Sheriff's Office which handles corrections is also in Wakefield.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blake and Knowles Steam Pump Company National Register District</span> Historic district in Massachusetts, United States

The Blake and Knowles Steam Pump Company National Register District encompasses the historical industrial complex of the Blake and Knowles Steam Pump Company and its successor, the Worthington Pump and Machinery Corporation in East Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is located in a one-block area surrounded by Third, Rogers, Binney, and Fifth Streets. The property was developed by the Blake and Knowles Steam Pump Company, one of the nation's leading manufacturer of industrial pumps from the late 19th century into the mid-20th century. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lake Street Fire Station</span> United States historic place

The Lake Street Fire Station is an historic fire station in Gardner, Massachusetts. Built in 1884 to house a school and a fire company, it served as a school for just a few years, and as a fire station until the 1980s. It is architecturally distinguished as a good local example of late Victorian architecture. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, and included in the West Gardner Square Historic District in 1985.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Gardner Square Historic District</span> Historic district in Massachusetts, United States

The West Gardner Square Historic District encompasses the historic commercial, civic and industrial downtown area of Gardner, Massachusetts. Developed industrially beginning in the early 19th century, the area now boasts a concentration of late 19th and early 20th century commercial, civic, and industrial architecture. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">F. A. Whitney Carriage Company Complex Historic District</span> Historic district in Massachusetts, United States

The F. A. Whitney Carriage Company Complex Historic District encompasses a major 19th-century industrial complex off 124 Water Street in Leominster, Massachusetts. The complex is one of the best-preserved in the city, and was developed by of its most successful businesses of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The F. A. Whitney Company, founded in 1858, manufactured baby carriages and related products, and operated here from 1862 to 1952, and was one of the city's major employers. The oldest surviving buildings of its manufacturing complex date to 1872. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. Most of the complex has been converted into residential use.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Levi Heywood Memorial Library Building</span> United States historic place

The Levi Heywood Memorial Library Building is an historic library building at 28 Pearl Street in Gardner, Massachusetts. Completed in 1886, it is one of the city's most architecturally distinguished buildings, and a good example of Richardsonian Romanesque design. It was given in honor of Levi Heywood, a prominent figure in the city's economically important chair manufacturing industry. It was used as a library until 1978, and now houses a museum dedicated to the city's history. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, and included in the Gardner Uptown Historic District in 1999.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Whitney & Company (Leominster, Massachusetts)</span> United States historic place

The Whitney & Company building is a historic industrial facility in Leominster, Massachusetts. The utilitarian brick four-story building was built in 1893, and extended in 1923. It was built by Fred Abbot Whitney and Walther F. Whitney, whose business was the manufacture of boxes, notably paper boxes and satin-lined boxes, used for shipping other products to customers. The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989. It has since been converted into residences called the Watermill Apartments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Westfield Whip Manufacturing Company</span> United States historic place

Westfield Whip Manufacturing Company is a historic factory at 360 Elm Street in Westfield, Massachusetts. Built about 1887, it is the best preserved of Westfield's extant whip factory buildings. It is also home to the last surviving business of the many whipmakers that once operated in Westfield. The factory was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985, and included in an expansion of the Westfield Center Historic District in 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Milton-Bradley Company (building)</span> United States historic place

The Milton-Bradley Company is a historic former factory complex at Park, Cross, and Willow Streets in Springfield, Massachusetts. The factory was built beginning in about 1880, and expanded over the next decades to include a variety of brick multi-story buildings that are relatively utilitarian in appearance. When built, the property belonged to George Tapley, a principal in the Taylor and Tapley Manufacturing Company and a childhood friend of Milton Bradley. Bradley had entered the toy business in the 1860s, and moved his company to Tapley's premises in 1882.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wakefield Centre station</span> United States historic place

Wakefield Centre station is a former railway station at 57 Water Street (Route 129) in Wakefield, Massachusetts. Built in the early 1870s, it is a surviving element of the railroad infrastructure that enabled Wakefield's growth as an industrial center in the late 19th century. The depot was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1989 as Centre Depot. As of 2008, the former depot serves as a restaurant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wakefield Rattan Company</span> United States historic place

The Wakefield Rattan Company was the world's leading manufacturer of rattan furniture and objects in the second half of the 19th century. Founded by Cyrus Wakefield in 1851 in South Reading, Massachusetts, it perfected machinery for working with rattan, developing looms for weaving chair seats and mats. Its products also included wicker furniture and baby carriages. The company also successfully found uses for previously wasted portions of the plant, using shavings to create baling fabric and floor coverings. Its products were available throughout the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central Mills Historic District</span> Historic district in Massachusetts, United States

The Central Mills Historic District encompasses a historic mill complex on the Quinebaug River in central Southbridge, Massachusetts. Located at the corner of Foster and North Streets, the site consists of three brick buildings, the oldest of which has portions dating to 1837. Despite being extensively rebuilt in the early 20th century, the complex has an appearance that is more typical of 19th century mills.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saco–Pettee Machine Shops</span> United States historic place

The Saco–Pettee Machine Shops is a historic factory complex at 156 Oak Street in the Newton Upper Falls area of Newton, Massachusetts. Although the area has an industrial history dating to the early 19th century, the oldest buildings in this complex, consisting of about thirteen brick buildings, were built in 1892. The property, a major economic force in the development of Newton Upper Falls, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. It was home to Clark's N.A., the North American home base to Clark's Shoes, makers of fine footwear, until they relocated to Waltham Ma. in October 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ames Shovel Shop</span> United States historic place

The Ames Shovel Shops, also known as Ames Shovel Works or Ames Shovel Shop, is a historic 19th century industrial complex located in North Easton, Massachusetts. It is part of the North Easton Historic District, and consists of several granite buildings constructed between 1852 and 1885, along with several newer additions and outbuildings dating to about 1928.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Strouse, Adler Company Corset Factory</span> United States historic place

The Strouse, Adler Company Corset Factory is a historic factory complex at 78-84 Olive Street in New Haven, Connecticut. Developed between 1876 and 1923, it was the largest and oldest of the city's several corset manufacturers, and remained in continuous operation for that purpose until 1998. The complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002. It has since been converted into residential use.

The Heywood-Wakefield Company is an American furniture manufacturer established in 1897. It went on to become a major presence in the US. Its older products are considered collectibles and have been featured on Antiques Roadshow.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John A. Roebling's Sons Company, Trenton N.J., Block 3</span> United States historic place

John A. Roebling's Sons Company, Trenton N.J., Block 3 is the northern portion of the former Roebling manufacturing complex in Trenton, New Jersey. The buildings date from 1908–1929 and the site was added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 22, 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clark Brothers Factory No. 1</span> United States historic place

The Clark Brothers Factory No. 1 was a historic industrial complex at 1331 South Main Street in the Milldale area of Southington, Connecticut. Developed beginning in the 1850s, it was one of the nation's largest sources of carriage bolts. The complex listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988 consisted of a group of brick buildings dating to 1893 and later. It has since been entirely demolished, and the land stands vacant and overgrown.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Driver and Sons Manufacturing Company</span> United States historic place

The Thomas Driver and Sons Manufacturing Company is a complex of two historic factory buildings in downtown Racine, Wisconsin. The Thomas Driver and Sons manufacturing company itself was a manufacturer of sash windows and doors that was first established in 1867. The buildings, located at 134 South Main Street and 214 State Street, are on opposite sides of Second Street. The site was added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 14, 2004.

References

  1. 1 2 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
  2. "MACRIS inventory record for Heywood-Wakefield Company Complex Office Building". Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Retrieved March 19, 2014.
  3. 1 2 "NRHP nomination for Heywood-Wakefield Company Complex". National Archive. Retrieved July 23, 2018.