July Meeting and Potluck Picnic Supper

[UPDATE 7/2/2023] Notice: Because of the weather, our regular monthly meeting and potluck picnic must be postponed from tomorrow to next Thursday, July 20, at 6 p.m. at the Pitt House. I hope you can come. We’ve assembled an exhibit of never-before-seen items from the collection for you to enjoy.

 

Undated photo of Colrain Center viewed from the location of the current school looking south to the village and surrounding hills.

The Colrain Historical Society will hold their July meeting and potluck picnic supper behind the Pitt House at 8 Main Road in Colrain on Thursday, July  13  20. 

Picnic at 6 p.m. will be followed by a brief meeting and show-and-tell of interesting items from the society’s extensive collection, including a lace and tulle wedding dress worn by a Colrain bride in 1909.

For the picnic, bring a main course, veggie, salad or dessert to share. Iced tea will be available.

Undated photo of Colrain Center.

Colrain Annual Reports through the Internet Archive

Screenshot of the Internet Archive website showing the cover of the 1957 Annual Report with a photo of the Griswold Memorial Library.

Griswold Memorial Library, in collaboration with Boston Public Library, is working to digitize materials in the library’s local history collection, starting with their collection of Annual Reports. See them here: https://archive.org/details/griswoldmemoriallibrary

Screenshot of the Griswold Memorial Library page on the Internet Archive website.

Screenshot showing the available years of the Colrain Annual Report.

Some of the recent years of the Annual Report are available on the Town of Colrain website:  https://colrain-ma.gov/p/8101/Annual-Reports

Screenshot of the Annual Reports page on the Town of Colrain website.

The Red Mill

The Red Mill, on the bank of the West Branch River across from the cemetery, operated the first electric power generator in Colrain, beginning in 1904. Operator Frederick Purrington provided current to local homes until midnight, when he went to bed. On request, he would stay open until 1 a.m. for house parties, unless he forgot. 

But the mill had a long history as a grist mill operated by Joseph Smith beginning in the early 1800s, also producing wooden grain measures, soap boxes and later butter boxes, and heavy shipping boxes called shooks. Leo and Lawrence Lively operated the box shop until 1943, when Carl Sewell bought and operated the business. Destroyed by fire in 1947, it was remodeled as a home for the Sewells. ​

In this photo, dated sometime after 1913, you can see the box shop to the left of what became the Sewell home.

Program: “The Canal at Montague”

Screenshot from the video showing a historic photo of the canal and factory buildings.

This fascinating video, tracing the history of the industrial canal around which Turners Falls grew, will be shown and discussed at a program following the 7 p.m. meeting of the Colrain Historical Society on Thursday, June 8, at 7:30 p.m. in the Stacy Barn behind the Pitt House at 8 Main Road. 

Built after the Civil War, the canal made possible the expansion the Griswold Manufacturing Company, long the major employer in Colrain. Videographer Chris Clawson will be present to answer questions about this important era of local industrial history. 

The program is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served. Questions? Call Belden, 624-3453.

Screenshot from video showing an aerial view of the canal, Connecticut River, and the village of Turners Falls.