Architect various NRHP Reference # 85003384 Added to NRHP 25 October 1985 | MPS North Adams MRA Area 97 ha | |
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Location North Adams, Massachusetts Architectural style Mid-19th Century Revival, Late Victorian | ||
The Blackinton Historic District is a historic district in the western part of North Adams, Massachusetts, roughly along Massachusetts Avenue between Ashton and Doanes Avenues and Church Hill and the Boston & Maine Railroad. The district, which encompasses North Adams' best preserved mill village, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.
The neighborhood
The neighborhood in which the historic district is located grew up around the mills of the Blackinton Company, founded on the north bank of the Hoosic River in 1821 by Sanford Blackinton, Rufus Wells and J.L White. It would become one of the largest manufacturers of woolen goods in Western Massachusetts. By the early 1900s the neighborhood was a self-contained community, with its own school, jail, stores, post office, library and fire department, and the people there considered themselves be residents of "Blackinton", not North Adams. The community – which historically had been disputed between North Adams and Williamstown – had a station on the Boston & Maine, as well as bus service to North Adams. The mill closed in 1950.