The Dorchester-Milton Lower Mills Industrial District is a

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains historic building, older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal p ...

on both sides of the

Neponset River The Neponset River is a river in eastern Massachusetts in the United States. Its headwaters are at the Neponset Reservoir in Foxborough, near Gillette Stadium. From there, the Neponset meanders generally northeast for about to its mouth at ...

in the Dorchester area of

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

and in the town of

Milton, Massachusetts Milton is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Milton is an immediate southern suburb of Boston, Massachusetts. The population was 28,630 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Milton is located in the relatively hilly ...

. It encompasses an industrial factory complex, most of which was historically associated with the Walter Baker & Company, the first major maker of

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cocoa beans that can be a liquid, solid, or paste, either by itself or to flavoring, flavor other foods. Cocoa beans are the processed seeds of the cacao tree (''Theobroma cacao''); unprocesse ...

products in the United States. The industrial buildings of the district were built between about 1868 and 1947. They were listed as part of the district on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1980, with a slight enlargement in 2001. The buildings have been adapted for mixed industrial/retail/residential use.

Description

Lower Mills Village is located on either side of the

, which demarcates the southern boundary of Boston and the northern boundary of Milton. The river is crossed by Adams Street, which roughly bisects the district. The district is bounded on the south by the

MBTA The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (abbreviated MBTA and known colloquially as "the T") is the public agency responsible for operating most public transportation services in Greater Boston, Massachusetts. The MBTA transit network in ...

rail right-of-way in Milton and River, Washington, and Adams Streets in Dorchester. The historic district includes sixteen industrial buildings, all but one of which were directly associated with Water Baker & Company. Most of the buildings are constructed of brick, with numerous additions and ells. They are stylistically diverse, having been built between 1868 and 1947, reflecting styles from the Second Empire to the Queen Anne, Romanesque Revival, and utilitarian modern.

History

Native Americans had lived near this area for thousands of years. Members of the historic

Massachusett The Massachusett are a Native American tribe from the region in and around present-day Greater Boston in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The name comes from the Massachusett language term for "At the Great Hill," referring to the Blue Hills ...

tribe in this area encountered English colonists in the 17th century. They had occupied parcels of land near what is today the Ventura Street Playground in the Neponset River Reservation and Dorchester Park. In the early 1630s

Israel Stoughton Israel Stoughton (c. 1603 – 1644) was an early English colonist in Massachusetts and a colonial commander in the Pequot War. Returning to England, he served as Roundhead, Parliamentarian officer in the First English Civil War. Life Born in Eng ...

acquired land to build a grist mill for grinding corn. Later chocolate factory buildings were built on that site. site. In 1637 early settler John Whipple, an apprentice to Stoughton, settled on land near Butler and Bearse streets.Whipple, ''Captain John and Sarah Whipple'', https://www.whipple.org/charles/johnandsarah.pdf pg. 13 Chocolate-making in the immediate area has a history dating to the mid-18th century, when Dr. James Baker and John Hannan established the business in 1765. The company they founded grew to national prominence in the first half of the 19th century under Walter Baker, James Baker's grandson. Additional expansion took place in the late 19th century, when a major portion of the present complex was built beginning in 1868 under the leadership of Henry Pierce; it continued under his successor, H. Clifford Gallagher. In 1926 the company was acquired by

General Foods General Foods Corporation was a company whose direct predecessor was established in the United States by C. W. Post, Charles William (C. W.) Post as the Postum Cereal Company in 1895. The company changed its name to "General Foods" in 1929, a ...

, which continued to manufacture chocolate under the Baker name on these premises until 1965. That year it consolidated operations at a plant in upstate

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

References

{{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Dorchester, Boston Milton, Massachusetts Historic districts in Norfolk County, Massachusetts Historic districts in Suffolk County, Massachusetts Neponset River National Register of Historic Places in Norfolk County, Massachusetts National Register of Historic Places in Boston Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts

Description

History

See also

References