Most everyone in the vicinity of North Adams is aware of the cliff face known as Coca-Cola Ledge. But do you know it’s true name and how it eventually became a symbol for a soda company? The…

Did you know that the city once had an opera house?  In fact, there were two.  The Wilson Opera House was located within the Wilson Hotel on Main Street.   The second one, the Columbia Opera House,…

In the late 1800’s the growing Italian community in North Adams was mainly centered around the church, for both religious and social needs.  These first generation immigrants, however, did not have a…

Plans to erect a brand-new theater in downtown North Adams began with the Sullivan brothers in the early part of 1901. They already owned the Wilson House and Sullivan Block, both on Main Street. The…

In the aftermath of the Rice’s Corner fire in February 1916, a proposal by E.M. Loew was put forth to build a theater where the badly burned Bradford Block stood. The store owners in that block…

Sometime prior to 1891, a school was built in the Greylock section to service children whose parents worked at the Greylock Mills. The school educated many young minds through the year 1927 when it…

The building of Johnson School began in 1896 and it was completed the following year. When it officially opened in September 1897, 313 students entered its doors. Grade 6 (41 students) and grade 5 (83…

Three years after the city of North Adams built Johnson, Brayton and Houghton Schools, it was deemed necessary by the school committee to expand yet again when it voted to build Freeman School on the…

The idea of a new school on or around the State Street area began when Fire Chief H.J. Montgomery spoke to the school committee and stated that the State Street School, on the corner of Hooker and…

Brayton was part of three school buildings constructed between 1897 and 1898. The other schools were Houghton and Johnson Schools. Brayton was on the west side of the city and facing Pine Cobble, was…