HomeMy WebLinkAboutMansfield Historic Survey - 1981MHC Reconnaissance Survey Town Report
MANSFIELD
Report Date: 1981
Associated Regional Report: Southeast Massachusetts
Reconnaissance Survey Town Reports, produced for MHC’s Statewide Reconnaissance Sur-
vey between 1979 and 1987, introduce the historical development of each of the Common-
wealth’s municipalities. Each report begins with an historic overview, a description of topogra-
phy, and political boundaries. For the purposes of the survey, the historic period has been sub-
divided into seven periods: Contact (1500–1620), Plantation (1620–1675), Colonial (1675–
1775), Federal (1775–1830), Early Industrial (1830-1870), Late Industrial (1870–1915), and
Early Modern (1915–1940/55). Each report concludes with survey observations that evaluate
the town’s existing historic properties inventory and highlight significant historic buildings, set-
tlement patterns, and present threats to these resources. A bibliography lists key secondary re-
sources.
Town reports are designed for use together with a series of town maps that demarcate settle-
ment patterns, transportation corridors and industrial sites for each historic period. These maps
are in the form of color-coded, polyester overlays to the USGS topographic base map for each
town on file and available for consultation at MHC. For further information on the organiza-
tion and preparation of town reports, readers should contact MHC.
Users should keep in mind that these reports are now two decades or more old. The informa-
tion they contain, including assessments of existing knowledge, planning recommendations, un-
derstanding of local development, and bibliographic references all date to the time they were
written. In some cases, information on certain topics was not completed. No attempt has been
made to update this information.
Electronic text was not available for digital capture, and as a result most of the reports have
been scanned as PDF files. While all have been processed with optical character recognition,
there will inevitably be some character recognition errors.
The activity that is the subject of the MHC Reconnaissance Survey Town Report has been financed in part with Federal funds from the National Park
Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. However, the contents and opinions do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Department of the
Interior. This program receives Federal financial assistance for identification and protection of historic properties. Under Title VI of the Civil Rights
Act of 1964, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Age Discrimination Act of 1975, as amended, the U.S. Department of the Interior
prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, disability or age in its federally assisted programs. If you believe you have been
discriminated against in any program, activity or facility as described above, or if you desire further information please write to: Office of Equal Oppor-
tunity, National Park Service, 1849 C Street, N.W., Washington, D.C., 20240.
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION
William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth
Chair, Massachusetts Historical Commission
220 Morrissey Blvd.
Boston, MA 02125
www.sec.state.ma.us/mhc
mhc@sec.state.ma.us / 617-727-8470
MHC RECONNAISSANCE SURVEY REPORT
Date: September 1981 Comuni ty: Mansf ield
I. TOPOGRAPHY
Plansfield is an industri a1 suburban comnuni ty in the Narragansett Basin.
Drainage is via the Wading River and Hodges Brook in the west, the Rumford
River in the center and the Canoe River in the east. Low1 and areas in the
north central areas; terrain is generally level with some moderate topo-
graphic relief in the northeast, some swamp in the west. Soils are
generally sandy to gravelly.
11. POLITICAL BOUNDARIES
Mansfield became a separate parish of Norton in 1732. Incorporated as a
district in 1770, Mansfield was established as a town on August 23, 1775.
I1 I. HISTORIC OVERVIEW
Mansfield is an industrial railroad town in Bristol County. High potential
for Contact period native sites. No European settlement during First
Settlement period. Coloni a1 period development of mixed ironworking and
agricultural economic base. During the late 18th century utilization of
water resources as power sources continued, although by the turn of the
century forges were no longer in operation in the town. The early 19th
century saw the development of a small industrial base with several tack
factories and cotton mills in existence by 1830. Farming continued to be
important in the town's economy throughout this period and settlement
patterns tended to remain linear. It wasn't until the entry of the railroad
in the 1830s and Mansfield's establishment as a refueling and freight
transfer point that a clustering of residenti a1 settlement developed at
Mansfield Center. It appears that the town fathers were actively engaged
during the mid and late 19th century in drawing new industry to the town
and so created a small but diversified industrial base. The town plan of
Mansfield Center was created as a speculative venture in the 1880s. The
seeming lack of early development around the railroad depot appears to have
been the result of an attempt to drive up land prices in the 1850s which
resulted in a scattered industrial development in the center for a number
of years. All during the 19th century, attempts were made to exploit coal
deposits found in the town, although these deposits were not of sufficient
qua1 i ty or quantity to be economically viable. A Trotting Park was
established in the southern portion of the town in the late 19th century
and was in operation until just before the first World War. The town
suffered somewhat during the depression and after with the de-emphasis on
rai 1 road freighting. The construction of Route 24 and projected cons truc-
tion of 1-495 resulted in construction of the Foxborough-Mansfield industrial
park which has revived the economy of the town. It appears that Mansfield
has tradi tional ly had stronger economic ties with Foxborough than with
Bristol County towns. The use of the old Boston and Providence line by
the MBTA's commuter train has resulted in the construction of a number of
viaducts as we1 1 as the creation of a formidable barrier in the town so
that the northern portion of Mansfield Center has been in effect cut off
MHC Reconnaissance Survey Town Report: Mansfield
from the remainder of the town, creating a spatial as well as a visual
barrier. The early diversification of industry in the town appears to
have enabled it to survive relatively well and maintain a relatively
steady growth rate.
IV. CONTACT PERIOD (1500 - 1620)
A. Transportation Routes:
No documented native routes. A likely upland trail fragment appears to
follow the course of Maple Street from the Franklin and Maple Street junction
west to Oakland Street. From this point, a native trail may have extended
south along the approximate route of Oakland Street and portions of South
Main Street. This route would have provided access to the streams
paralleling the trail and the Woodland Period settlement north of the
Norton Reservoi r .
B. Settlement Patterns:
No reported native Contact Period sites. A large Woodland Period site
was situated on the northernmost portion of the Mansfield Municipal Airport.
A small campsite with a Woodland Period component was located a short distance
north of the Norton Reservoir. Both sites had immediate access to freshwater
sources. Additional native settlement probably occurred adjacent to the
Wading, Rumford and Canoe Rivers and the smaller freshwater streams.
C. Subsistence Base:
Good fishing was available in Mansfield's three rivers and their tribu-
taries. The wooded and marshy lowlands were excellent habitats for wild
game sought by the natives. Potential agricultural land was situated
throughout Mansfield, excluding tne easternmost portion of the town.
D. Observations:
The Mansfield area has high potential for Contact Period native settle-
ment primarily because of the numerous freshwater rivers and streams and
extensive agricultural land. However, it is doubtful there was a large
native population because of the absence of a large body of freshwater.
Locally, probably the heaviest native settlement occurred around the fresh-
water pond complex close to the Norton/Taunton line. The Mansfield area
natives were probably affiliated with the Pokonokets centered in Sowams
(Bristol, Rhode Island). Two archaeological reports produced by the Brown
University Pub1 ic Archaeology Laboratory (1977, 1981) provide a rare picture
of the Mansfield native population.
V. FIRST SETTLEMENT PERIOD (1620 - 1675)
A. Trans~ortation Routes:
No documentation of white transportation routes. There was probably
little if any development of such a system since the first known white
settlement did not take place until the mid-1680s.
MHC Reconnaissance Survey Town Report: Mansfield
B. Population:
VI.
No documentation of native or white population fi.gures. As mentioned
above, white settlement post-dated 1675.
C. Settlement Patterns:
No documentation of native or white settlement. Native settlement
!patterns were probably similar to those of the Contact period, largely
because of the lack of white settlement. Mansfield during this period was
part of Old Taunton ( Taunton, Raynham, Norton, Mansfield, Easton).
D. Economic Base:
Probable maintenance of the native's traditional subsistence patterns.
There was probably some Anglo-Indian trade, particularly with the small
white settlement adjacent to Winnecunnet Pond (Norton). The Mansf ield area
may have been utilized by the pre-war white residents of Old Taunton for
livestock grazing, hunting and fishing and lumbering.
E. Observations:
Mansfield was an unsettled frontier area.
COLONIAL PERIOD (1675 - 1775)
A. Transportation Routes :
Minimal documentation of the community's transportation system.
Initiation of white settlement in the late 17th century spurred development
of overland routes. The earliest route may have been a road following
present South Main and Oakland Streets (possible native trail), possibly
the "way" used by the first settlers moving from the southern portion of
Old Taunton. A road extending east-west along West, School, Jewel1 and
Balcom Streets possibly was laid out by the first settlers who established
homes in this area of western Mansfield in the 1680s. Formation of the
town center in the early 18th century resulted in the radiation of roads
out from the center including West and East Streets. Mill and Maple Streets
provided access to iron operations es tab1 ished on the Canoe River in the
early and late 18th century, respectively.
B. Population:
No population figures for native residents. Those for the white
settlers are limited. In 1776, Mansfield had a population of 949 residents.
The settlement's first settlers came primarily from Cambridge, southern
portion of Old Taunton and Malden.
C. Settlement Patterns:
The first settlement occurred in the mid-1680s and was scattered. Thomas
Brintnell and his family settled adjacent to the Wading River near the
Mansfield/Foxboro line adjacent to freshwater and agricultural land. Several
other homes were erected in eastern Mansfield on the eastern side of the
Canoe River. The Grover family settled along School and Williams Streets
and in West Mansfield at the turn of the 17th century (Davis 1907 NP).
MHC Reconnaissance Survey Town Report: Mansfield
By the first or second decade of the 18th century, a primary settlement node
had developed at the junction of East and South Main Streets. The first
meetinghouse was built in the vicinity of the town common in c. 1731. A
second structure was bui 1 t on the general site in c. 1765. Contemporary
settlement radiated out from this node along West, School, Wi 11 iams, Jowell ,
Oakland, East, Pratt, and South Main Streets. A secondary settlement node
was established in the vicinity of the Leonard Ironworks by the early-mid
18th century. Mansfield was established as the North Precinct of Old Norton
in 1731 and incorporated as a town in 1775.
D. Economi c Base:
No documentation of native economy. Agriculture was the mainstay of the
settlement's economy. Farming was probably undertaken in a1 1 but the uplands
of eastern Mansfield and the marshy and wooded lowlands. Mansfield had a
limited industrial base. The first (grist) mill was reputedly erected in
c. 1695 in the vicinity of Cabot's Pond. The first "heavy" industry was not
established unti 1 c. 1735 with the erection of Ephraim Leonard's iron forge
on the Canoe River near the junction of the river and Mil 1 Street. A second
iron operation was also built on the Canoe River off Maple Street near the
present Waterworks in c. 1765. Both of these operations were well located
since a large source of bog iron was situated throughout the area between the two
ironworks. Several saw and grist mi 11s were also bui 1 t prior to the
Revolutionary War, possibly including one saw mill located at the junction of
the Canoe River and Mill Street.
E. Architecture:
Residential: Mansfield is notable for the survival of two very early houses,
said to date from 1703 and 1704, respectively; these are the White House (1703),
a three-quarter plan two-story house with integral lean-to, located on Hall
Street and the Fi tch-Ri chardson House ( 1704), a story-and-a-half gambrel -
roofed cottage original ly bui 1 t as a half-plan structure and enlarged later in
the 18th century with a two bay addition and second chimney. Other similarly
early structures are not recorded, but other Colonial period houses are likely
to survive along East, School, South Main and Oakland Streets with survivals
most probable at Ginty Corner, East Mansfield, Purdy Corner and West Mansfield.
A center-chimney house is known on East Street at East Mansfield with a hip-
roofed, L-plan center chimney house at the town center. Center-chimney
cottages probably predominated and at least some of the center-chimney cottages
of the town are likely to date from the Colonial period.
Institutional: The first meetinghouse was built in 1732, with the estab-
lishment of the parish at Mansfield. This was replaced in 1765 with a 60' x
44' meetinghouse which apparently was sided with shingles. Appropriations
for schools were first made in 1755, but no schools were built during the
peri od .
F. Observations:
Mansfield developed as a small agricultural community with a limited
industrial component. However, Mansf ield's iron industry was part of an
important iron producing region including Mansfield, Norton, Taunton and
Raynham which developed in the late 17th century and early 18th century.
MHC Reconnaissance Survey Town Report: Mansfield
Interestingly, the Leonard family was instrumental in establishing iron
production operations in each of these communities. An important vestige
of the iron industry survives in the probable archaeological remains of
the Ephraim Leonard ironworks.
VII. FEDERAL PERIOD (1775 - 1830)
A. Trans~ortation Routes:
Federal period road construction primari ly improvement of existing
col oni a1 roads.
B. Popul ation:
Population stable 1776 to 1810. Slight increase in 1820, then slight
decrease to 1830.
C. Settlement:
Settlement consisted primarily of farms along existing colonial roads with
small cluster at Mansfield Center. West Mansfield known as Tobits Corner.
Some scattered industrial settlement after turn of century with numerous
ponds created for water power in West Mansfield and Mansfield Center.
D. Economic Base:
Continuation of iron activity initiated by Leonard Forge, 1735, with
erection of Mansfield Furnace, 1765; purchased 1779 by French interests in
Boston a1 ong with Stoughtonham Furnace (Sharon) --both on Canoe River.
Dissatisfaction with local bog iron appears to have closed furnace by 1800.
Tack industry begun by 1785 by Simeon Snow, taken up by Simon White,
probably sometime around 1800. Tack industry continued to advance throughout
period.
The period also saw the establishment of both straw braid and bonnet
industry and the manufacture of cotton textiles. The braiding of straw had
begun in Norton in 1802; probably not long after that Solomon Pratt in Mansfield
had begun collecting braid from women in adjacent towns. By 1832, $440,000 worth
of straw bonnets were recorded produced, second only to the product of cotton
factories. In that year, four cotton mills were reported, employing nearly
100 operatives producing over $47,000 worth of cotton cloth. (While most of
it was sold in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, the calico works in Taunton
took 50,000 yards--about 8% percent). Three cotton mil 1s had begun in the
Embargo and war years on the Rumford River and in East Mansf ield with the
principal backing of Solomon Pratt, the period's major industrialist in Mansfield.
Three other mills were established in subsequent years, at Mansfield Furnace
and on the Wading River. Like most cotton mills in New England, they suffered
severely in the early 1820s, passing sometimes through several changes of
management. In the late 1820s and early '30s, it was often outside capital--
from Taunton, or as in the case with Gerry's mill at East Mansfield, from
Boston--that set the mill back on its feet.
MHC Reconnaissance Survey Town Report: Mansfield
Archi tecture:
Residential: Modest center-chimney cottages were probably the most
common house type of the period. Comparatively few of these have survived.
Most of those known are located at the town's two villages, East and West
Mansfield and in outlying sections. Cottages probably dating to the
Federal period were observed at West Mansfield on Gilbert, Otis and West
Streets, at Purdy Corner, on East Street at East Mansfield and also on
Fruit, Ware and Willow Streets. Most of the town's surviving early two-
story houses probably date from the Federal period as we1 1. Of the some
half-dozen known examples, most are end-wall or twin rearwall chimney houses
with hip roofs, probably dating from the first quarter of the 19th century.
At least two double-chimney, hip-roofed houses are known on South Main
Street; the massiveness of the chimneys and their steeply-pi tched hip roofs
suggest that these houses may date from the 1780s or '90s. Most of the
town's Federal houses are simply detailed: entrance surrounds with ellip-
tical blind fanlights are the most elaborate form observed.
Institutional : Quaker and Methodist meetinghouses were built in the
town during the Federal period. The Quaker meetinghouse, built in 1809,
stood at the intersection of Tremont and West Streets. The Methodist
meetinghouse was built a year later in East Mansfield at East and Mill
Streets; this bui lding, a small Greek Revival structure, s ti1 1 stands.
Schools were built in 1803 and 1811; by 1830, six schools had been constructed
across the town. None of these are known to survive, a1 though some may
still stand, converted to residential use.
Industrial : Several factories were built in the period, none of which
survive. Among these were the Mansf ield Cotton Manufacturing Company (1 810) ,
a two-and-a-half story, gambrel -roofed bui lding 60 ' 1 ong by 32' wide.
VIII. EARLY INDUSTRIAL PERIOD (1830 - 1870)
A. Transportation Routes:
Boston and Providence railroad opened 1835; Taunton Branch opened 1836.
Mansfield and Framingham originally chartered 1846, finally opened 1870.
Steady growth of population during period from 1,172 in 1830 to 2,432 in
1870. Foreign born population 282 in 1855, 200 of Irish origin; majority
seem to have come in 1830s as rail road employees.
C. Settlement:
Mansf ield Center becomes rai 1 center by 1850s. Generally tranfer point
for freight, some residential and industrial development along Main Street
during this period. Town settlement pattern still basically linear in 1870.
D. Economi c Base :
The construction of the Boston & Providence "air line" through Mansfield
in 1835 was followed closely by the discovery of a vein of coal near the
rai 1 road 1 ine. Eagerly investors formed mining companies--among them the
MHC Reconnaissance Survey Town Report: Mansfield
Mansfield Mining Co., the Massachusetts Mining Co., the Mansfield Coal Co.
Despite the continued (though sporadic) enthusiasm of coal promoters into
the 20th century, the several deposits discovered never brought profits to
their promoters. More significant were the coming of the machine shops
and foundries. The Taunton Branch Railroad had constructed a line from
the B & P at Mansfield to Taunton in 1836, making the town a major railroad
junction. One of the earliest men to be attracted was Samuel Schenck, a
maker of carpenters' planes, who moved close to the railroad in the 1840s
from South Foxboro, forming the Mansfield Machine Co. Knife makers McMoran
and Fulton, originally employed in the Ames shovel factory in Easton, built
a small factory in the center of town in 1851. This was followed three
years later by Gardner Chilson erection of the great stone Mansfield Iron
Foundry. Chilson had been a prominent Boston manufacturer and inventor
of hot-air furnaces, then coming into vogue, and this product remained a
specialty of the Mansfield Foundry. By 1865, Chilson's 30 operatives were
producing $75,000 worth of castings, the town's second largest industry.
The dominant industry for much of the period was that of straw braid
and bonnets, which reached its recorded peak in 1865, when over 500 women
were employed in John Rogers' straw factory (built c. 1850), producing
over $175,000 worth of straw bonnets and hats. Mansfield's industry was
no doubt affected by the nearby Union Straw Works in Foxborough, then doing
over a million dollars worth of business. In 1862 Foxboro merchants
chartered the Foxboro Branch Railroad to 1 ink their town with the B & P
route at Mansfield (at the south) and Wal pole (at the north), though by
the 1 ine's opening in 1870, the route had become the Framingham & Mansfield
Railroad, with an extension to the Middlesex County town.
E. Architecture:
Residential: With the arrival of the railroad in 1835, settlement at
Mansfield Center began to develop. Sidehall Greek Revival and Ital ianate
cottages and houses were built along Central and West Streets and along
East Street between South and School Streets at the town center. Double-
chimney and end-ch imney , cen ter-en tered Greek Revival cottages con ti nued
to be built, probably into the 1850s, with examples known on Otis, Willow,
Fruit, Ware and East Streets and at East Mansfield. More elaborately detailed
Greek Revival cottages incorporate one-story porticos across the facade.
By the end of the period, kneewall framing and asymmetrical L-pl ans had been
introduced; most cottages incorporating these elements are conservatively
styled transitional Greek Revival/Italianate structures. Two-story, double-
chimney, center-entered Greek Revival and I tal ianate farmhouses were bui 1 t
through the period. Modest suburban developments of sidehall-plan Italianate
houses were built along School Street and Central Streets at the end of
the period. Gardner Chilson, a prominent local industri a1 ist, bui 1 t a mansion
just west of Main Street during the period, complete with formal gardens by
an Irish gardner.
Institutional : Several churches were founded in the period, including
the Baptist (1837) , anti -slavery Methodist Episc.opa1 (1842), Swedenborgian
(1838) and Catholic (mission, 1859); churches were built by the Baptists and
Swedenborgi ans. In 1839, the second meetinghouse of the Congregational church
was rep1 aced. The present Congregational church on West Street, a two-and-a-
half story gable-roofed structure with a projecting pedimented portico and
MHC Reconnaissance Survey Town Report: Mansfield
steepled belfry, may be this building; if so, the building underwent a
remodelling c. 1860 in the Romanesque Revival style. The other structures
are not known to survive. At least one school of the period is known to
survive; this is a story-and-a-half, center-entrance Greek Revival building
on West Street. Other schools were undoubtedly constructed duri ng the
period and may survive in residential use.
Commercial : A few two-story Ital ianate commerci a1 buildings with
three-bay, center-entrance facades are known at the town center on Main
Street; these may date from the end of the period.
Industrial: The most notable industrial structure of the period is
the Chilson foundry (1853), just north of Chauncy Street at the town center,
a four-story granite bui lding with Romanesque Revival detai 1 ing. Several
other frame factories, most of them two stories tall with gable roofs and
Ital ianate detailing, were also built during the period, but none are known
to survive.
IX. LATE INDUSTRIAL PERIOD (1870 - 1915)
A. Transportation Routes:
B. Population:
Steady population growth continues with increase from 2,432 in 1870 to
5,772 in 1915. Foreign born total of 382 in 1885 increased to 1,301 by 1915.
Ethnic composition changes considerably with large influx of Italians
apparent in 1915 figures. Ethnic composition in 1885 primarily Irish, English
and Canadi an. by 191 5
C. Settlement:
By 1895, Mansfield Center had been platted to most of its present con-
figuration, although construction on these lots continued through the end
of the period. East and West Mansfield continued to have linear settlement
although infi 11 occurred along existing roads. Industrial development
encouraged at Mansf ield Center by coal i tion of communi ty leaders resul ted
in complex on west side of B & P tracks by 1890.
D. Economic Base:
Next town southwest along the Boston & Providence was Attleborough. In
1859 the town began making efforts to attract some of the jewelry business
from that town. By 1875 three manufacturers of jewelry produced over $105,000
worth, making it the largest industry in town (followed by Rogers' straw works
and Chilson's foundry). In the 1890s the business reached its peak. After
1900 the demand was for less gold and cheaper construction. Bigger firms
with greater outputs made competition from Mansfield's smal ler shops incr-eas-
ingly difficult.
MHC Reconnaissance Survey Town Report: Mansfield
Other efforts to attract new industry to Mansfield were made in the 1880s,
resulting in the location here from Providence of the Manton Windlass & Steam
Steerer Co. (1882) and the Rumsey Brothers Shoe Factory from Lynn (1888).
Manton had patented steam windlass and steering devices, but the firm lasted
only a decade in Mansfield. Rumsey was also short-lived, a victim of the
1890s business depression ; i t was succeeded by shoe-s tri ng shops.
Simon W. Card came to Mansfield in the employ of John Birkenhead, who
himself had come from Providence in 1868 to make spindles and lathes. With
the invention in 1871 of machines to cut internal and external screw threads,
Card set out to manufacture taps and dies, forming by 1894 the S. W. Card
Manufacturing Co. The Card company served as a school for numerous die
makers. John and Murray Winter, owners and operators of the Winter Brothers
tap and die works in Wrentham, received their training here, as did several
of those who in 1903 established the Bay State Tap and Die Co. in Mansfield.
In 1913 S. W. Card merged with the Union Twist Drill Co. of Athol, but by
that date, tap and die production was already a major Mansfield industry.
The Mansfield Board of Trade was formed in 1892 and was instrumental in
inducing large industries to locate in Mansfield. Perhaps the best example
of this work was the establishment here of Walter Lowney's Chocolate and
Cocoa works in 1903. In addition to the great multi-story factory Lowney
built along the railroad as an adjunct to his Boston North End plant,
Lowney built employee housing, a model dairy farm (for the chocolate works)
and various soci a1 ameni ties.
E. Architecture:
Residenti a1 : Residenti a1 construction at the town center increased
substantially during the period with a great many story-and-a-half and two-
story late Ital ianate/Queen Anne workers ' houses bui 1 t east of Main Street
between East and Pratt Streets. At least some of that housing, especially
houses built east of Oakland Street between Hope and Pratt Streets, was
company-built housing for workers in the Lowney factory. Single-family
houses predominate, but a number of two-family houses and some two deckers
were a1 so bui 1 t. More substanti a1 Queen Anne, Col oni a1 Revival and Craftsman
houses were built west of Main Street along Fulton Pond; a few of these
incorporate Eastlake and Stick Style detailing. Elsewhere in the town,
modest speculative development occurred at West Mansfield with a number of
four-square, pyramidal hip-roofed single-family Colonial Revival houses built
on Balcolm and Otis Streets with similarly modest Queen Anne and Colonial
Revival houses scattered a1 ong outlying roads.
Institutional : Several institutional buildings of note were bui 1 t at the
town center during the period. These include the Soldier's Memorial Library
(1899), a shingled Queen Anne building with a rubble basement and Gothic
lancet windows, the Cemetery Association Lodge (1898, Charles Eastman) on
Spring Street, a one-story brick Romanesque Revival building with a low
square tower, the Town House (1883, John L. Faxon), a cruciform Colonial
Revival structure of brick (demolished?) and a well detailed shingled Queen
Anne/Craftsman Methodist church (c. 1900) on South Main Street. Also built
were several schools including one very fine Georgian Revival school on Balcolm
(Berry School, c. 1905), a one-story L-pl an, buff -bri ck structure with Arts
and Crafts detailing and a hip-roofed two-story Colonial Revival school on
Chauncy Street; both schools are presently vacant. Other institutional
structures include a buff-brick Georgian Revival fire station at the town
MHC Reconnaissance Survey Town Report: Mansfield
center and a small Tudor Revival chapel on Otis Street at West Mansfield.
Commercial : Two and three-story brick and frame commercial blocks, most
of them Colonial Revival in style, were built at the town center at the turn
of the century. Other more modest commercial buildings were built on West
Street and on Oakland Street.
Industrial : A number of utilitarian three and four-story brick factories
with Romanesque Revival detailing and mill construction were built along the
railroad tracks at the town center. Also built at the town center was the
five-story brick Lowney chocolate factory (c. 1890) with a stylish crenellated
three-story addition of stone laid in random rubble construction (c. 1910)
adjoining the earlier building. More modest frame buildings of two and three
stories ' height were a1 so constructed; among these is the two-story frame
Richardson factory at West Mansfield on Otis Street. Other industrial
bui ldings of the period include several wooden rai 1 road freight sheds at
West Mansf i el d .
EARLY MODERN PERIOD (1915 - 1940)
A. Trans~ortation Routes:
Chauncy-Pratt Street State Highway 106
Population growth slowed considerably between 1920 and 1940. End of period
population totaled 6,530. 1930 foreign born total 1,222.
C. Settlement:
Continued development of previously platted lots at Mansfield Center during
this period. 1940 WPA maps indicate some dense settlement at the Mansfield/
North Attleborough border at Greenwood Lake.
D. Economic Base:
Relatively little new industry appears to have located in town, though
existing firms, including Bay State Tap and Die and the Mansfield Foundry
experienced some plant expansion. The straw works closed in the 1920s.
The town gained some prominence for the commercial cultivation of gladioli,
as a result of the experiments begun here in 1917 by a native of Holland.
Cucumber raising was also a big business: In 1927 growers of cucumbers recorded
a product worth $150,000.
E. Architecture:
Modest-si zed one-story hi p-roofed cottages were bui 1 t as inf i 1 1 housing
across the town, but comparatively 1 i ttle construction took place in the period.
No institutional buildings are known for the period, with commercial construction
limited to one-story storefronts in concrete and brick at the town center.
MHC Reconnaissance Survey Town Report: Mansfield
XI. SURVEY OBSERVATIONS
XII.
Mansfield has very few inventoried buildings; only the earliest houses in
town and the most prominent institutional buildings of the late 19th century
are recorded. Further survey efforts should identify surviving Colonial and
Federal structures, which are likely at both East and West Mansfield, as well
as surviving Greek Revival and Italianate buildings at the town center.
Industrial buildings appear to have survived well and should be documented,
especial ly Chilson foundry. Potential district at East Mansfield with we1 l-
preserved Federal /Early Industri a1 landscape including institutional and
resi denti a1 bui ldings around triangular "common".
Industrial : Mansfield's town survey includes only one industrial building,
the Mansfield Mil 1 ing Company, currently being greatly a1 tered by the addition
of new siding and fenestration. Three of the key industrial complexes in
Mansfield's late 19th and early 20th century development survive and should
be studied for possible National Register designation: the Lowney Chocolate
Works, Gardner Chilson's stone Mansfield Iron Foundry, and the S.W. Card Mfg.
Co., now apartments. Other buildings which should be surveyed include the
Kingman & Hodges jewelry factory, the Mansfield Water Works pumping station,
and the town's municipal lighting plant.
SOURCES
Copeland, Jennie F., Every Day But Sunday: The Romantic Age of New England
Industry (Brattleboro, VT, 1936)
Davis, William G., "Historical Sketch of Mansfield, Mass.," in Mansfield,
Mass., Old Home Week (Mansfield, 1907).
Mansfield, Mass., History and Directory of Mansfield, Mass., for 1891 (Boston,
1891 ) .
Reed, E.M., "Mansfield," in D.H. Hurd, ed., History of Bristol County, Massa- -
chusetts (Phi la., 1883), pp.435-462.
Rockwood, Charles M., "Mansfield, an Economic Study," New England Magazine,
New Ser., 39 (1 908-1909), pp.493-499.
MHC Reconnaissance Survey Town Report: Mansfield