Massachusetts History

From an 1826 history…

“Lancaster’s fertility is owing to the annual overflowings of the river, when the ice and snow melt in the spring. The waters become turbid by the rapidity of the current, and the earth, that is washed into its bosom, is deposited on the land, and serves all the good purposes of every kind of manure. These freshes, undoubtedly, sometimes occasion much immediate injury: for by reason of the elevation of the country in which the river has its sources, and through which it passes, the stream rises rapidly, and is borne along to the valley of the Nashua by an accelerated and furious current, filled with large cakes of ice, destroying mill dams, and sweeping away bridges, in its destructive course.

In the spring of 1818, it was very busy in the work of ruin : most of the bridges were dashed in pieces by the ice, and none, I believe, escaped uninjured.

Since that time, only two bridges have suffered; one in the spring of 1823, called the Centre Bridge, just below the confluence of the two branches of the river, and the other, during the last spring, (1826,) on the south branch, between the first mentioned bridge, and the late Dr. Ailierton’s residence.”

The Lancaster , Massachusetts Center school building was built in 1904. Used as a High School until 1961 when Lancaster became part of Nashoba Regional.

The plaque is from 1999.

Doesn’t look too bad today. Could use a scrape and paint. From what i could see in the windows, it’s being used for storage. Would love to get pictures of the inside.