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  SUTTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC.
  • Home
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  • Cemetery Project
    • Revolutionary War Soldiers
    • General Information
    • Resources
    • Donate - Volunteer
    • Cemetery Conservation Presentation
  • Brochures
  • Self-Guided Historical Site Information
    • Sutton Center Walking Tour
    • General Rufus Putnam Museum
    • World War I Memorial
    • Town Center Cemetery
    • Cattle Pound and Hearse Shed
    • M. M. Sherman Blacksmith Shop
    • "Big Ben" and Cannon Shed
    • General Rufus Putnam Memorial
    • Eight Lots School House
    • First Town Meeting Marker
    • Mile Markers to Boston
    • Manchaug Diorama

Manchaug Diorama

​9 Main Street, Manchaug Mills

Manchaug Diorama Creators
circa 2005

Gene Zabinski and Donna Decoteau
Generously Donated to the Sutton Historical Society - 2019
Picture
​The Diorama was built based on the 1891 map of Manchaug as
created by
O. H. Bailey & Co., Lith & Pub, Boston, MA
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​
dimension scale: 1/16" = 3' 2-5/8"
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National Historic District

Named a National Historic District in January 2018, the Village of Manchaug was developed in the 1820s around textile mills on the Mumford River, it was the largest industrial area in Sutton, with at least three mill complexes in operation.

The workers were mainly of French-Canadian descent.  The district was a "petite Canada" with French being the main spoken language and Catholicism the main religion.

The district is centered on the junction of Main Street with Manchaug, Putnam Hill, and Whitins Roads. To the north, west, and south of this junction stand collections of mills, mill sites, and worker housing. The surviving mill buildings are typically large stone structures, while the housing units a multifamily wood-frame dwellings with gabled roofs.
The mill operators also built some single-family housing, for supervisory and specialized technical personnel.

The Greek Revival Manchaug Baptist Church is one of the buildings not related directly to the mills; it was built in 1842 to serve the workers

Only Mill No. 1 remains.  Mill No. 2 was destroyed by floods in 1936 and 1938.  Mill No. 3 was destroyed by fire in September 1975.  At the time, Mill No. 3 was housing 80,000 chickens.

The St. Anne's Church Complex, which consisted of the church, a rectory, convent and school, was burned in the devastating fire of April 17, 1924 which burned 10 acres of the "Flats", the non-company owned retail section of town, on the Wednesday of Holy Week.  Church services were held in the Community Room of the Manchaug Store until the early 1950's when a new St. Anne's Parish was built on the site of the ruins.  This parish was closed in 2013 and is now the St. John's Anglican Church.
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Image source:  Massachusetts State Archives

PHOTOS OF LEGEND ITEMS

Picture
MAP LEGEND WITH LETTER IDENTIFIERS
​A - Manchaug Mill No. 1
​       (currently 9 Main Street)
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B - Manchaug Mill No. 2
​       (destroyed by floods 1936 & 1938)
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C - Manchaug Mill No. 3
​      Burned September 1975

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D - Office Manchaug Mills
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E - Manchaug Store and Post Office
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F  - Manchaug Farm Barns
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G - Manchaug Mills Superintendent Residence
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H - Public School
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J- Baptist Church
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K - St. Anne's Church
        Burned April 17, 1924
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L - St. Jean Baptiste's Hall
        Burned April 17, 1924
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M - Vasseur & Benoit Dry Goods and Groceries
       The Belisle Brothers operated the store circa 1905
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N - Joseph M. Malo Dry Goods & Groceries, F. A. Lavoie, Druggist, A. Dube, Boot and Shoemaker
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O - J. D. Provost, Dry Goods and Clothing
​      NO IMAGE

P - Edward Adams, Livery Stable
         Currently 31 Whitins Road
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  • Home
    • About
    • Officers and Board of Directors
  • Scholarship
  • Newsletters
    • Sutton Musings
  • Research
  • Contact
  • Archives
    • 2022 Speaker Series
    • 2021 Speaker Series
    • 2019 Speaker Series
    • 2018 Speaker Series
    • 2017 A Year in Review
  • Cemetery Project
    • Revolutionary War Soldiers
    • General Information
    • Resources
    • Donate - Volunteer
    • Cemetery Conservation Presentation
  • Brochures
  • Self-Guided Historical Site Information
    • Sutton Center Walking Tour
    • General Rufus Putnam Museum
    • World War I Memorial
    • Town Center Cemetery
    • Cattle Pound and Hearse Shed
    • M. M. Sherman Blacksmith Shop
    • "Big Ben" and Cannon Shed
    • General Rufus Putnam Memorial
    • Eight Lots School House
    • First Town Meeting Marker
    • Mile Markers to Boston
    • Manchaug Diorama