Twin lions guard the entrance to the Spruces Mobile Home Park. They serve as illuminated beacons to guide residents heading home on dark and stormy nights. Some people say the concrete beasts originally came from the Mount Hope Farm. This is not…

It was in 1894 that F.E. Rice, a native of Charlemont and a resident of Florida, came down from the mountain and formed a partnership with E.A. McMillian and began a shoebox manufacturing facility on Washington Avenue to supply the booming local…

Twenty year old Charles H. Cutting formed a partnership with J.W. Silsby resulting in a men’s wholesale-retail clothing store which would last for 89 years. The C.H. Cutting Company opened in a modest building on State Street in 1870. Within a few…

The mid to late 1890’s was a banner time for the North Adams School System. Between 1896 and 1897, three new schools were built, Houghton, Brayton and Johnson Schools. Houghton stood tall in the east end of the city on land purchased from the…

Born in 1878 in Nyack, NY, he moved with his parents at age 6 to North Adams where his mother had roots. She was Ellen (Cady) Hadley, a member of one of the city’s oldest and most prominent families in town. His father was John C. Hadley. In 1897,…

John J. Fachini was the master of many Big Band shows during the age of the Depression. He promoted dances in the upstairs ballroom of the Wellington Hotel under the name of Johnny’s Dance Palace. On one such night 2,000 people showed up to see Rudy…

In Stan Pasierbiak junior and senior year, between 1937-1938, he was considered one of the best high school pitchers in Western Massachusetts. During that span, he won 17 games while losing only one. His 2-year winning record stands to this day at…

Does anyone remember the 2-alarm fire which occurred on March 31, 1971 totally involving this old mill? I sure do. I walked right by it on my way home from Drury High School. Here’s a little history of that building. The first Eagle Mill was built…

President William McKinley visited this area in the fall of 1897 arriving at the home of W.B. Plunkett approximately at 9:45 AM after traveling by train through Williamstown and North Adams. “The arrival of the presidential party was an event…

Lloyd’s Bakery was one of the first successful bakeries in North Adams. It was opened in 1912 by Ralph and Harold Lloyd on the corner of River and Houghton Streets. By 1916, business was so brisk that the brothers realized they had to update their…