South Lancaster is revealed in this northward view along Main Street. Though not shown, the Thayer family's "Red House," demolished about 1935, was situated on the rise of the hill to the left when this card was printed about 1900. The headquarters for the Atlantic Union Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists has been located on the spot since 1964.
Called an "American masterpiece" by William Pierson in American Buildings and Their Architects, the fifth meetinghouse (First Church of Christ, Unitarian), on the Lancaster Town Green, is one of the town's finest architectural jewels. Designed by Boston architect Charles Bulfinch and erected in 1816, it is regarded as his greatest ecclesiastical work. It was constructed from local materials under the direction of local master builder Thomas Hersey in 157 working days. The building is a National Historical Landmark.
Shown here is the Lancaster Town Green as it was represented in Ballou's Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion in 1856. Shown from left to right are the First Church, the Lancaster Town House, and the Lancaster Academy.
This is the Lancaster Town Green as it looked in the latter half of the 19th century. Note the drab trims on the First Church and Memorial Hall as it looked before any additions were made. The extra horsesheds and the bandstand have long since been removed.
Men are cutting the ice in blocks to be stored away in the icehouse on Fuller Pond. Longtime residents may remember putting cards in the windows of their homes to specify the size of the ice blocks they wished to purchase from the iceman as he made his rounds.
An orchestra, ready to perform, is shown here on the stage in the Lancaster Town Hall. The Lancaster Town Hall has been the scene of many orchestral concerts through the years. The first was performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra when the building was dedicated on September 11, 1908.
This tombstone, like many from the town's burial grounds, has an unusual epitaph. Other burial grounds in Lancaster are the North Lancaster Burial Yard, the Middle Cemetery, the Old Common Cemetery, the North Village Cemetery, and Eastwood Cemetery. There is also an old Shaker cemetery near the Lancaster-Shirley line.
This wood-frame home is typical of those located on property taken over by Fort Devens in the late 1930s and 1940s. More than 200 properties were purchased, forcing residents to move.
A young man pursues the timeless art of fishing along the banks of the Nashua River near the Sprague-Vose Bridge, between Lancaster Center and South Lancaster.
In 1946, Lancaster resident Arthur W. Blood donated approximately 125 acres of forestland to the town. This, added to some town land, brought the amount to the 150 acres making up the original Blood Town Forest. It has approximately 600 acres today. This photograph shows the stone erected in 1956 to mark the Wheelwright Memorial Entrance on Brockelman Road. George W. Wheelwright was the original chairman of the town forest committee.
Ready to go out on the road are B.K. Gallup (in wagon) and his horse. They are seen here in Lancaster Center, just off Main Street and near the general store. This photograph was taken c. 1886.