Main Street in the 1800s
From the time of the first European settlers in the
early 1600s to well into the 18th century, what we
now call downtown Andover was in many ways a
frontier wilderness. What we see today as a
civilized downtown centered on Elm Square was at the
time pasture land and farms scattered up and down
Essex Turnpike.
The stretch of turnpike running through Andover that
would become Main Street was populated to the south
by a collection of farms and private homes for
several miles until the road reached Phillips
Academy. Houses of wood and brick, hotels, and
stables populated the street for the last few miles
until the road reached Elm Square. This pattern was
repeated in reverse heading north, past Elm Square,
with small businesses and private homes (and later,
closely-packed mill worker housing) eventually
giving way again to farmland. Large elm trees grew
along the roadside. Growth was constant but
moderate, and change was slow to happen. The focus
of business and commercial activities largely
occurred closer to the river and the mills or in
the “Old Center” of town near North Parish.
With the split between parishes that created Andover
and North Andover in 1854 came dramatic and profound
changes. The center of town as it had evolved was
now in North Andover. Since the 18th century, the
intersection of Main, Elm, and Central Streets,
better known today as Elm Square, began to develop
as a crossroads of commerce and travel. Conveniently
located along the highly traveled Essex Turnpike
(now Route 28), near to both the South Parish and
First Baptist Churches, and within easy walking
distance of the Boston and Maine Railroad train
station, the area became the true center of the
“new” Andover. The area’s status as the center of
the community was further cemented by the
construction of the Town House in 1858 and Memorial
Hall Library in 1870. As the 19th century drew to a
close, change happened more quickly, and many of the
landmarks Andoverites took for granted began to
disappear.
NEXT: The Evolution
of Main Street, U.S.A. |
