Important Buildings and Landmarks

Christmas Eve 1917 wasn’t such a cheery day for West Boylston. The townspeople awoke to find that, during the night, Town Hall had burned to the ground. The fire started around 2:30 in the morning and raged until the whole structure had crumbled. Neighboring homes and businesses caught fire as well but were extinguished quickly…

The Beaman Oak has been mentioned several times in previous historical posts, but we have never before we shared an actual photograph of the tree. The Beaman Oak existed long before Ezra Beaman settled in what would become West Boylston. The tree overlooked Beaman Cemetery, where Ezra and his descendants were buried for generations (their…

The Beaman Watering Trough originally stood outside Beaman Tavern, the historic home constructed in the mid-1700s by town founder Ezra Beaman. It stood beside a large buttonwood tree at the edge of the property which Ezra himself planted. Horses could stop to drink from the trough when their owners visited the Tavern. The picture below…

The Beaman Memorial Library is officially listed in the National Register of Historic Places! Here’s some information about the history of West Boylston’s library and the construction of the Beaman Memorial Library:  West Boylston’s library was founded in 1878 with a donation of $100, left by noted lawyer and abolitionist, David Lee Child, in his…

“Realization That Day of Doom Has Dawned on the Town”–a headline which accurately summed up 1897 in West Boylston. For two years, the townspeople suspected the reservoir would soon flood the town. However, there was always that feeling that things could change for the town. Then, once 1897 rolled around, the truth was undeniable: buildings…

    Water Trough (1700’s)     Trains (1889-1908)                     ‘Day of Doom’ (1897)     Town Change (1897)                     Town Halls (1900’s)     Town Hall (1900’s)                  …