Mills Hale Owen Blocks

The Mills—Hale—Owen Blocks were a collection of three historic mixed-use commercial and residential blocks at 959—991 Main Street in the South End of Springfield, Massachusetts. They occupied an entire city block on the east side of Main Street, between Union and Hubbard Streets. The Mills and Hale blocks were both built in 1874, and were two of the best examples of Italianate architecture of the period in the city. They were also the first major buildings built in a push to extend the downtown area to the south, and introduced the mixed use style of building use. The Owen block was built in 1899 in a Classical Revival style reflective of the further expansion of Springfield's downtown area. All three buildings housed a variety of retail businesses on their ground floors. The upper floors of the Mills block were first used as a boarding house, while those of the other two served as residential tenement-style housing. The buildings were rehabilitated in the 1980s, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. All three have since been demolished.