Recent Stories

Taconic Hall was one of the three original buildings of North Adams Normal School and served as the only dormitory until the building of Hoosac Hall in 1968. Designed by Pittsfield-based architect J. McArthur Vance, with a budget of $75,000, Taconic…

The Beaver Cotton Mill was first established in 1832 through a partnership between Major Lorenzo Rice and George Bly. The mill was situated on the meeting point between the Hoosac River and the Hudson Brook, where there was a massive beaver dam.…

The North Adams Shoe Company was established in North Adams in 1889 by the Weber brothers. The five brothers who created the company, due to their love of the trade along with their father’s skilled work in the shoe industry, were A. C. Weber,…

The Norad Mill, located at 60 Roberts Drive, is one of the oldest surviving mill buildings in North Adams and now houses a variety of local businesses. Sanford Blackinton was president of the North Adams Woolen Company and one of the area’s…

The James Hunter Machine Company, one of North Adams’ most famous and successful companies, specialized in iron-working and machinery for use with textiles. The factory was originally situated at the intersection of Main Street and Route 8. The…

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Historic North Adams

Historic North Adams is a free website and mobile app that puts North Adams’ history at your fingertips. Explore interesting people, places, and events in North Adams’ history, and take historical walking tours of the city. With a growing list of interpretive stories, each point on the interactive GPS-enabled map includes historical information about the location, along with historic images from archival collections and historical publications.

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