These are various ways of dating photographs, documents, and artifacts.

NOTE: This page is just getting started and is an early work in progress.

Phone Numbers

  • 1916-1935 –  3-digit local exchange, sometime a suffix
    • Maynard 123
    • Tel. 57-1
    • Tel. 224
  • 1935-1954 – 3-digit local, 7-digit exchange outside of town
    • Tel. 540  (United Co-op)
    • Telephone 473-W (Murphy & Snyder)
    • Telephone 98  (L. Roy Hawes Florist, 1954)
    • HANcock 6300   (Boston)
  • 1947 – The 3-digit “area code” 617 was assigned to Eastern Massachusetts, including Maynard.
  • 1955-1961 – 7-digit with mnemonic exchange (Sunday December 4, 1955 at 2 AM)
    • Tel. TWinoaks 7-8081  (Hawes Florist.  Same number in 2025!)
    • TW 7-1234
    • EMerson 9-4290  (Wilson Lumber in Concord)
    • Others with same number: Fowler Funeral Home (Fowler Kennedy), Anderson Ford (Acton Ford), Maynard Oil Company  (Bursaw), Maynard Army/Navy (Maynard Outdoor Store), Manning Pharmacy (CVS)
  • 1962-1994 – local: 7-digits (just numbers), area code in parentheses
    • 897-8081  (Hawes Florist)
    • (617) 897-8081 (area code was 617 until mid-1988)
    • (508) 897-8081 (area code changed to 508 in July 1988)
  • 1994-  10-digits
    • 508-897-8081
    • 978-897-8081  (area code changed again to 978 in 1997)

Photographers

  • 1886-1912 – C. D. Holmes
  • 1912-ca1935 – George Elson
  • 1908-1915 – Arvid Blad
  • 1935-ca2000 – Sam Micciche (1935-ca1980, Alphonse Micciche (-ca2000), “Samuels Studio of Photography”
  • ca1960-ca1980 – Oliver “Swat” Warila

Structures

Mills

  • 1744?-1860? – Jewell’s Mill (near Mill Street)
    • <1700 – Possibly existed
    • 1723 or 1744 – Joseph Jewell owns grist mill (was there before?)
    • <1830 – Asa Smith purchases mill: saw, grist, cider
    • ?1821? – James and William Rice purchase mill from Asa Smith??  (E. Schnair, A Town is Born) <- outlier reference
    • 1845 – Asa Smith sells mill to William Knight / Amory Maynard  (Nov 24, 1845), used to produce spindles
    • 1860 – Roughly last mention as a working mill
    • 1887 – Mill building still standing (photo)
    • 1921 – Mill building still standing (photo)
    • 1936 – Mill building replaced by small house
  • 1820-1882 – Paper Mill
    • 1831 – Incorporated as Fourdrinier Paper Company
    • 1894 – Destroyed by fire, except chimney
    • 1913 – Dam rebuilt
    • 1914 – Chimney razed
  • 1835-1940 – Powder Mills
    • 1864 – American Powder Company
    • 1883 – American Powder Mills
    • 1940 – Mills closed
  • 1892 – Mill Complex
    • 1846 – Canal and gatehouse
    • 1847-1862 – Assabet Mills
    • 1862-1899 – Assabet Manufacturing Company
    • 1886 – First chimney
    • 1916-1956 – Two Chimneys (light colored brick)
    • 1892 – Mill Clock / Town Clock
    • 1899-1950 – American Woolen Company
    • 1953-1974 – Maynard Industries
    • 1974-1994 – Digital Equipment Corporation
    • 1995-1997 Franklin Life Care
    • 1998-2015 – Clock Tower Place
    • 2001 –  Parking Garage built by Clock Tower Place
    • 2015- – Mill & Main

Bridges

  • Main Street Bridge:
    • Wood: 1849
    • Iron & Wood: 1872
    • Iron: 1901  (allowed Street Railway)
    • Concrete: 1922
  • Walnut Street Bridge:
    • 1872 – Iron
    • 1922 – Concrete
  • Russell / Dr. Wood’s Bridge
    • 1715 – First crossing, Dr. Wood’s 
    • Renamed to Russell’s Bridge
    • 1927 – Damaged by flood
    • 1929 – Rebuilt
    • 1990? – Rebuilt
  • Mill Street Bridge:
    • 1816 – Jewell’s Mill Bridge Wood
    • 1927 – Stone 
    • 1937- Stone Arched (rebuilt as WPA project after washed out in 1936 flood)
  • Paper Mill Bridge (Summer/Waltham)
  • Great Road Bridge
    • 1816 – Old Fitchburg Road Bridge
    • 1847 – Renamed to Ben Smith bridge
  • Florida Road Bridge
    • Footbridge
    • 1914 – Concrete
    • 2024 – Concrete
  • Sudbury Street Bridge (over 
    • 1854 – Wooden
    • 1915 – Concrete
    • 1955 – Concrete (after hurricane)

Blocks and Halls

  • Assabet and Middlesex Boarding House  1902 – 1962; 143 Main St.
  • Cannon Block at 54-58 Main Street
    • ca1905 – Constructed by William Cannon (of Clinton) on the estate of Mary E. Green), 70×70 feet,2 story brick: three stores on the ground floor, 12 offices and a hall on the second floor An option on the hall has been granted one of the Maynard societies already. The building is to cost $15,000 (Page 4 of The Maynard News, June 30th, 1905)
    • Also referred to as “Cannon’s Hall”, which had multiple rooms available for rent.  Was used by several groups/businesses: Christie’s Dry Goods Store (1906), AOH (1906), Checker Club, Jewish Congregation, Maynard Fife and Drum Corps (1913), Young Men’s Social Club (1915), Holy Name Club (1914-1916), Sylvia Imbibo’s Barber Shop (1914), A.B.C. Club (Aggressive Baraca Class, 1915)
    • 1906-? – “Hibernian Hall” – likely the hall rented by AOH, not the whole building
    • 1907-1973 – United Co-operative Society
    • 1986 – Renovations ($1M) by Ralph Hall
    • ca1987 – Cannon Block Office Building (52 Main), Kelly Service (Recruiting)
  • ca1888 – Maynard / Masonic Block  at 98-100 Main Street (corner of Walnut)
  • 1917 – Fowler Block at 74-76 Main Street
  • 1901-curr – Case Block / Case Building at 28-30 Nason Street
    • 1950- Maynard Outdoor Store
  • 1860-2023 – Riverside/Gruber Block – 115-117 Main Street
    • 1860’s – Riverside Hall – built by Maynard Family
    • 1871-1901 – Town Hall (2nd floor)
    • 1904-1939 – Assabet Institution for Savings (2nd floor)
    • 1893 –  Alfred T. Haynes
    • 1914-1934 – Riverside Theater (movies, 2nd floor)
    • 1917-2023 – Gruber Brothers
    • 1934 – Entire upper floor destroyed by fire on July 14, 1934.
    • 1980ish – Nobody refers to it as a Block
  • 1857-1895 – Union Hall – Summer and Main (-> Methodist Church)
    • 1895 – Union Hall Building purchased by James Higgins, moved to 15-17 Main Street
    • Apparently also Higgins Block  (references to “Higgins Building”)
    • Demolished in 19xx
  • ca1870 – Darling’s Block – Summer and Nason
    • later – Eagle’s Block  (AOE)
    • 1955 – Upper floor destroyed by fire
  • Stuart Block (Stuart Building) – Main Street
    • 1892 – Leased as a school
    • 2000 – Fire (presumed arson)
  • Naylor Block – 1 Nason Street  (corner of Nason and Main Street, entrances on both streets)
    • 1916 – Post Office
    • 1917 – Destroyed by fire February 11, 1917
  • 1882 Co-Operative Hall – Nason and Summer 
  • Parker Street Hall Built 1912 by Finnish Community, sold 1970
  • Odd Fellows Block – 42 Nason Street
    • 1890 – Julius Loewe Pharmacy
    • ca 1900 – Purchased by Odd Fellows – see 1999.530 for the gory details
    • 1970 – destroyed by fire

Businesses

  • Glendale House -> Maynard Hotel – 1867-1921  (Memorial Park)
  • Riverside Hall (ca 1865) at 115 Main Street, Gruber Bros. furniture store 1917-2023, (new name?) 2025-
  • CM&H Powerhouse and Car Barn (1901/1918 rebuilt) at 65 Great Road -> St. Casimir and Office Park
  • Demolished: Riverside Co-op (late 1860?s) at 40-54 Nason Street
  • Colonial Hall (c.1914) at 69 Main Street (the “Woolworth Building” with sidewalk tile
  • Maynard Trust Company (1913) at 81 Main Street
  • Peoples Theater (1921) at 14 Nason
  • Erickson’s Dairy and Ice Cream Stand (1937-38) at 10 Great Road
  • Demolished: International Co-operative Association (1911) at 15-17 Main Street
  • United Co-operative Society (1907) at 54-58 Main Street, the “Cannon Block”
  • Harriman Brothers New Method Laundry

Railroad / Railways / Bus

  • 1848/1849 – First railroad into town, Acton -> Russell’s Bridge
    • 1849? – First station was at Sudbury and Main Streets, later a freight house.
  • 1850-1958 – Rail station at 151 Main Street
  • 1850-1939 – Passenger Service through town to Hudson
  • 1958 – Passenger Service to Acton ceased
  • 1901 – Electric railway service starts (CM&H Street Railway)
  • 1902 – New line to north (Lowell, Acton, and Maynard Street Railway)
  • 1923 – Electric Railway service ceased  (bankrupt)
  • 1923-1954 – Lovell Bus Lines
  • 1966 – Maynard joins MBTA

Community/Public Buildings

  • Maynard Town Hall / Town Building
    • before 1934 – Departments scattered in multiple buildings
    • 1934 – 1962 – Former Assabet and Middlesex Boarding House  143 Main St
    • 1962 – present – 195 Main Street
  • Demolished: Parker Hall (1908-09) at 9 Parker Street
  • Altered: Sauna (….) on Riverbank Road
  • Maynard Public Library
    • 1881-1885 – Vacant school room in the Acton Street School
    • 1885-1918 – Riverside Co-Operative Building (corner of Nason and Summer)
    • 1918-1963 – Second floor of the Naylor Building (Nason Street)
    • 1963-2006 – Town Building / Library (195 Main Street)
    • 2006- – Former Roosevelt School (77 Nason Street)
  • Maynard Post Office

    • 1850-ca1865 – 152? Main Street (Opposite B&M Railroad Station)

    • ca1865-ca1866 – 115 Main Street (Riverside Block – no details on this at all)

    • ca1866-ca1982 – 30 Nason Street (Johnson’s Drugstore)

    • ca1892-1916 – 100 Main & Walnut Streets (Masonic Block)

    • 1916-ca1952 – 1 Nason Street, corner of Main Street (Naylor’s Block)

    • ca1952-1963 – Nason & Summer Streets (Cox Building)

    • 1963-curr – 143 Main Street

  • Maynard Country Club / Golf Course
  • Boys/Girls Club of Assabet Valley
  • Fire Station
  •   1955-2022 Junction of Acton and Summer St.
  • Police Station
  • Fine Arts Theater
  • Peoples Theater

Schools

  • Main Street School (195 Main Street)
    • 1857-1892  – 2-room wooden school
    • 1903-1952 – Main Street School (6 rooms, brick)
      • 1932 – Renamed to Woodrow Wilson School *
      • 1952 – Destroyed by fire
  • Nason Street Schools (77 Nason Street)
    • 1864-1891  – 2-room wooden school
    • 1879 – Fire
    • 1891 – Building moved to 26-28 Acton Street
    • 1892-1916 – Second school building (12 rooms)
      • Destroyed by fire. Twice.
    • 1918-1988 – Third school building (14 rooms, same foundation)
      • 1919 – Renamed to Roosevelt School
      • 1962 – School administration moves out to Town Hall
      • 1988 – Retired as school, turned over to Board of Selectmen
    • 2006-current – Renovated to Maynard Public Library
  • Garfield School (48-50 Sudbury Street) – aka Great Road School
    • 1881-1892 – School building (details need research)
    • 1892-curr – Private residence
  • Acton Street School
    • 1877-1894 – The school was built in 1877 at the corner of Acton and Pleasant Streets at a cost of $3579.41. It was “heated by a furnace, which is a great improvement over the old system of stoves and wood fires, with long funnels constantly getting out of repair”. The high school was transferred to this building in 1877 from the old Nason Street school where it remained until 1892. Abandoned in 1892 as of no further use and in 1894 it was sold at public auction with the old Garfield school for $2150 and made into a tenement block.
  • Stuart Building (55-59 Main Street)
    • 1892-1892 – One year lease of existing building on Main Street
  • Bancroft Street School (12 Bancroft Street)
    • 1906 – Opened as a single story building, 4 rooms
    • 1910 – Second floor added
    • 1932 – Renamed Coolidge School *
    • 1981 – Retired as a public school
    • 1984 – Renovated as school administration building (artist space, food pantry)
    • 1984-1991 – School administration (moved to MHS)
    • 1995-2000 – School administration again (moved from MHS, along with SACC and MALC)
    • 2000 – Retired as an active town building
    • 2020 – Sold to Civico for redevelopment
    • 2025 – Available for residential use
  • Green Meadow Elementary School (142 Great Road)
    • 1956 – Initial opening
    • 1974 – First addition
    • 1988 – Second addition (major expansion)
    • 2025 – Construction of new school building begins (ETC 2028)
  • Maynard High School (204 Great Road / Tiger Drive)
    • 1964-2013 – Original building
    • 2013-current – Replacement building
  • Summer Street School “Complex”
    • East Building (1916-2000)
      • 1916 – Building for the Maynard High School (no formal name)
      • 1932 – renamed Maynard High School *
      • 1964 – renamed Emerson Junior High School
    • West Building (1926-2000)
      • 1926 – 8 room school next to High School
      • 1932 – renamed to Emerson Junior High School *
      • 1964 – renamed to Guyer W. Fowler Elementary School
    • George Washington Auditorium (1926-2000)
      • 1926 – Constructed as a Gymnasium, connects the West and East buildings
      • 1932 – Repurposed and renamed to George Washington Auditorium *
      • 1960s – Fowler Middle School Library
    • Maynard Memorial Gymnasium
      • 1956-2012 – attached to the East building
    • Complex
      • 1964-1979 – Emerson-Fowler School
      • 1978-1979 – Closed due to fire
      • 1979-1989 – Fowler Junior High School
      • 1990-2000 – renamed Fowler Middle School (July 1990)
  • Fowler School (204 Great Road / Tiger Drive) 2000-current
  •  

  * – Article 21 of the March 1932 Town Meeting renamed nearly all of the school buildings

Churches

  • Altered: St. John’s Lutheran Church (1907) at 30 Glendale Street
  • Union Congregational Church (1852) Main Street
  • Methodist Episcopal Church (1895) at Main/Acton Streets
  • Glenwood Cemetery is on the National Register of Historic Properties (e 19th c.)
  • Some Maynard family members re-interred at Mt. Auburn Cemetery in 1904
  • Holy Annunciation Russian Orthodox Church (1916) at 15 Prospect Street
  • Gone: St. Casimir’s Church, once in the remodeled powerhouse at 65 Great Road
  • St Bridget Church (c.1881) at 78 Percival Street, and its fieldstone-entranced   Chronological History at 2025.513
  • St. Bridget Cemetery on Great  Road (1857-” 75)
  • St. George’s Episcopal Church (1895-97) at Summer Street
  • Maynard family tomb at Glenwood Cemetery  ????
  • Finnish Congregational Church (1923) at Walnut/Thompson Streets with curfew bell
  •  

Streets

  • Main Street – 1848/1849
  • Nason Street – 1849
  • Glendale Street – 1851
  • Taylor Road – 1853
  • Sudbury Street – 1854
  • Walnut Street – 1865, relocated 1872
  • Mill Street – ca 1816, extended to Great Road 1857
  • Powder Mill Road  – ????  (formerly Acton Road? vs Acton Street?)
  • Great Road (Old Fitchburg Road)
  • Main St. and Nason St. made one way in 1986

Houses

  • The Brown Family Land Grant (before 1650) and Parmenter/Marble/Whitney Families
  • Foundation remains of the homestead of the 200-acre William Brown farm
  • George F. Brown house (c.1830) at 93 Acton Street
  • Levi Smith house (c. 1770) at 178 Great Road/Red Fox Inn, 1816-48
  • Asa Smith house (1780) at 84 Summerhill Road. His saw, grist and cider mill (1816) was on Mill Street
  • William Smith house (c.1780) at 206-208 Great Road, later the “poor farm”
  • George Smith house (c. 1785) at 38 Great Road
  • Asa Dexter Smith house (late 18th c./c.1840?s) at 40 Concord Street
  • Jonathan Smith house (c. 1810) at 174 Great Road
  • Haman Smith house (1830-57) at 36 Great Road
  • Benjamin Smith house (1860) at 12/14 Pine Street (son of Haman Smith)
  • Mrs. Smith’s Girls School (1848), moved to 166 Great Road
  • Lucius Maynard house (c.1835) at 114 Summer Street, the former Gibson farmstead (included Summer Hill)
  • Amory Maynard’s 2nd house (pre 1873) at 145 Main Street.
  • Lorenzo Maynard’s 1st house at 147 Main Street
  • Amory Maynard 3rd house / mansion (1873), Darthmouth Street,  apartments 1963, destroyed by fire 1965
    • Dartmouth Street was previously known as Beechmount
  • Lorenzo Maynard’s 2nd house (1877) at 9 Dartmouth Street, the “hill area”.
  • Amory Maynard, II, house ( ) moved from Nason/Main to Bancroft Street in 1935 (NB: INCORRECT)
  • Altered: The Old Brick Schoolhouse (c.1789) at 101 Summer Street was attended by the Maynard family and other early families to 1872.
  • Land donated by Charles Randall whose house ( ) is at 20 Concord Street
  • Silas Brooks house (c. 1764) at 88-90 Summer Street (at Summerhill Road)
  • Thomas Brooks house (1830-57) at 50-52 Summer Street
  • Assabet Manufacturing “Company, housing for millworkers was built (1862-75) on many streets ” nearby, both tenements and single family dwellings (Railroad, Front, River, Sudbury, Elm, and “Pine Streets, et. al., and Florida Court)
  • “New Village” area, the “Presidentials” (1918). many were built by E. B. Ward of Worchester.
  • Managers? homes were 1st built in the neighborhood of Lincoln and Maple Streets
  • Millworkers? Housing: the Russian, Polish, Lithuanian Community Housing (1902) at Florida Court
  • Powdermill Village Area (The American Powder Co. of Acton, an early mill)
    • Mill superintendent?s house (e.19thc.) at 106 Powdermill Road
    • Workers? cottages (e.19thc.) at 116 and 118 Powdermill Road
  • William Parker house (c.1800) now at 9 Elm Street
  • Millworkers? Housing: the Finnish Community Housing (….) in the Elmwood/Fairfield/Hillside Street area, and River and Elm Streets
  • Millworkers? Housing: the English, Scottish, Irish Community
    ” Housing in the Sudbury Street tenements (1885) and in the Pine Street rowhouses
  • Mill Managers? and other Prominent Maynard Businessmen?s Homes
  • Homes on Maple and Lincoln Streets (1870s), the “300s”. Amory and Lorenzo ” number of these lots in 1870
  • Altered: W. B. Case house (1875) at 4 Maple Street
  • Thomas Hillis house (1899) at Summer Street (a Boston attorney)
  • Jeannette and J. Fairchild (“Fay”) Graham (1916) at 32 Great Road (a mill manager)

 

Stone Structures

  • W. A. Haynes watering trough (1904) at Acton/Concord Streets
  • Balcom watering trough (1892) at Rte. 27/117
  • Rafferty watering trough (1892) at Main/Sudbury Streets
  • Lucius Maynard watering trough ( ) at Rte. 27/62
  • Granite marker ( ) at Parker Street and Old Marlboro Road
  • High School track and field house ( ) at Rte. 117
  • Lucius Maynard donated a stone watering trough (1891), now located by the fire station (early 2000s)
  • Luke S. Brooks Water Fountain, part of stone wall in front of Congregational Church (1911 – current)