Chelmsford Historical Society

Historic Places

If you are visiting our town, make sure to visit some of our historic landmarks. If you have a picture of an historical site you would like to share, please contact chelmhist@comcast.net to discuss scanning or donation of hardcopy, or e-mail high resolution electronic files directly to the webmaster.

We are open by appointment and during special events. See our calendar for a list of scheduled events. To see these and other historical locations and houses throughout the Town, see the Chelmsford Historical Commission website.

The Forefathers Burying Ground is located in Chelmsford center, behind the First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church originally known as the Church of Christ in Chelmsford. It was originally Congregational in denomination, as the Rev. John Fiske favored the Cambridge Platform. The official and legal name of the society is now the First Congregational Society (Unitarian) of Chelmsford. The town was named after Chelmsford in Essex County, England, which derived its name from the River Chelmer on which it is located. If you would like to take a tour of the Forefathers, we suggest you purchase Touring the Forefathers Burying Ground, by Marti Spalding. This publication introduces you to some of the first settlers of the town.

The Revolutionary War Memorial is just across the street. This native granite memorial, designed by architect Greely S. Curtis of Boston, was dedicated May 2, 1859 to the Revolutionary soldiers of Chelmsford. The cost for building and erected the Chelmsford monument was $1627.38. An ash tree stands nearby the memorial, under which the "Chelmsford patriots" met to discuss important town issues as early as 1775 in the time that tried men's souls. The memorial is twenty-seven feet tall, with a thirty-foot terrace, with a shaft four feet in diameter. There was a hollow somewhere in this tree into which money was placed for the use of soldiers who were about to enlist in their country's service.

North Side Erected 1859 Let the children Guard What the sires have won. East Side Lt. Col. Moses Parker and Capt. Benj. Walker wounded at Bunker Hill June 17, 75 Died prisoners in Boston July 4 & Augt. 75 Lt. Robt. Spalding Died at Milford Ct. 76

Courtesy Harry Taplin

South Side In Honor of the Townsmen of Chelmsford who served their Country in the War of the Revolution This monument is erected by a Grateful Posterity   West Side John Bates Died in army in Cambridge David Spalding Jr. Died in army at  Ticonderoga Pelatiah Adams Killed at Cherry Valley Noah Foster Shot at Capture of Burgoyne Henry Fletcher Killed at White Plains

The Spalding/Fiske house in Central square, Chelmsford, MA, was built in 1798 by Simeon Spalding. The present house occupies the site of an earlier building owned an occupied by major John Minot, when the homestead contained but four acres, including the public square in front of the present house. In 1784, John Minot deeded about one-half an acre with the buildings thereon, just south of the present house, to his son-in-law, William Bridge (son of the Rev. Ebenezer Bridge, fourth minister of the town), who had married his daughter Rachel. The old well may be seen on the lower Terrace.

A barn once stood where the road now runs between this lot and the square, and remained some time after the road was laid out in 1829, so that it was necessary to drive around or through it, in going that way. In 1784 Minot also sold his own place to Elijah Proctor. The next year, Proctor sold to Simeon Spalding, who added six acres to the farm and in 1798 built the dignified Colonial home. But in 1807 he was obliged to mortgage the place, and in 1812 sold it to Azariah Spaulding and Joseph Bailey. In 1818, Simeon Spaulding re-purchases the place and kept it until 1830, when he sold to Mathias Spalding. within three years it was owned by William Fletcher, John Foster and Joel Adams, whose grandson, Captain C. E. A. Bartlett was born there. In five years the house had another owner, Thomas Moore, and it became a tavern, known as the LaFayette House, where in the spring of 1839, Mr. and Mrs. John Minot Fiske of Boston and their three sons came in search of a country home, thinking to buy the old house which had belonged to Parson Bridge, Mr. Fiske’s great-grandfather. But his wife took a fancy for the tavern, which was bought by Mr. Fiske in April, 1839 and has since remained in the family. The tasteful and delicate looking through well made fence in front of the house, the late John Minot Fiske told the writer, was built in that year. The lower northwest room contained the bar, which with its furnishings are still in the house.

The Old Garrison House, designated as a National Historical Place, is located at 105 Garrison St, Chelmsford, Massachusetts. This structure was one of 19 British garrisons in Chelmsford in 1691.

"It is a rare example of where and how the common man and his family lived in the early days. Inside, the house is furnished with beautiful antique furniture and dishes, clothes, cooking equipment, and many other items which a family would have used in their everyday life. The buttery contains a really interesting display of early dairy equipment." - Garrison House web site.

The Garrison House was formerly owned and occupied by Benjamin Haywood. It was built in 1692 and was said to have been purchased by Benjamin from Thomas Adams in 1726. Pictures were taken by A. I. Emerson.

This picture was taken looking up from below the Haywood house Miss Haywood appears in the photo in the white dress.



Photos courtesy of Chelmsford Historical Society, All Rights Reserved. Copyright 2007.

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