North Blandford was a busy place many years ago. In the eighteen nineties, it was like a place on fire. The first business in town was the woolen mill; but just where it stood no one can seem to tell, I think it stood on the side of the stream, on the left hand side. An old building stood there in 1908. A family lived there in just the west end. I've asked many times what that old building was used for, but no one knew. It was 100 feet long and close to the brook. I remember now that the family living there with their many children were the Miners.
Back about the same time the cheese factory was built: a two story building which stood where the Chester Road is now. The milk was brought from all of the towns around as far away as Granville. I don't know when they stopped making cheese, but they used the hall upstairs for dancing until the 1890's. By that time, the footings were not very sound because the floor would go up and down.
They also made baskets in North Blandford, and in the 1890s they were making machinery there. I know, because Father traded a cow for a Melbourne Wagon in an even exchange.
The old blacksmith shop stood beyond the old building which I think was the mill. Mr. Bliss was the blacksmith.
The first church was down near the Blair Road with two small buildings near by. This church burned in the middle of the 1890's and they built the one you see today on top of the hill.
The carding board shop run by Byron and Fred Waite was at the top of the hill where the old Chester Road was then. The carding boards were made of beech, the best found around with no knots in the wood. These were shipped all over the United States until 1908.
I can see the old hotel standing across the road from the school. It was three stories high and well kept up until about 1900. Lee Higgins had a store in the north end until 1902. It doesn't seem possible that a town can change so quickly. It was a prosperous place as small towns go. They had water power which made the carding board and woolen mills run.
In the 1900's many of the farms were left to decay, growing up first into brush, then woods. The City of Springfield bought all but a few places in town for watershed. Most of the young had left before this to take jobs with more pay and less work. A farmer named Gibbs held out until 1970, raising Holstein cattle.
The church still stands on the hill, the brick foundation made from Blandford soil. On the right hand side by the brook three houses stood for a long time, but now these people have moved away, too. The old church has been converted into a home, and its new neighbors are newer houses built by people who find the new woodlands a desirable place to live.
Back about the same time the cheese factory was built: a two story building which stood where the Chester Road is now. The milk was brought from all of the towns around as far away as Granville. I don't know when they stopped making cheese, but they used the hall upstairs for dancing until the 1890's. By that time, the footings were not very sound because the floor would go up and down.
They also made baskets in North Blandford, and in the 1890s they were making machinery there. I know, because Father traded a cow for a Melbourne Wagon in an even exchange.
The old blacksmith shop stood beyond the old building which I think was the mill. Mr. Bliss was the blacksmith.
The first church was down near the Blair Road with two small buildings near by. This church burned in the middle of the 1890's and they built the one you see today on top of the hill.
The carding board shop run by Byron and Fred Waite was at the top of the hill where the old Chester Road was then. The carding boards were made of beech, the best found around with no knots in the wood. These were shipped all over the United States until 1908.
I can see the old hotel standing across the road from the school. It was three stories high and well kept up until about 1900. Lee Higgins had a store in the north end until 1902. It doesn't seem possible that a town can change so quickly. It was a prosperous place as small towns go. They had water power which made the carding board and woolen mills run.
In the 1900's many of the farms were left to decay, growing up first into brush, then woods. The City of Springfield bought all but a few places in town for watershed. Most of the young had left before this to take jobs with more pay and less work. A farmer named Gibbs held out until 1970, raising Holstein cattle.
The church still stands on the hill, the brick foundation made from Blandford soil. On the right hand side by the brook three houses stood for a long time, but now these people have moved away, too. The old church has been converted into a home, and its new neighbors are newer houses built by people who find the new woodlands a desirable place to live.