Frye Village Stories: the little-known mills of Frye Village
A Shawsheen Village 100 Story
Before William Wood began building his model community, Shawsheen Village, in the early 1900s, there was Frye Village. This is part of a series of Frye Village stories.
If you know Frye Village (before Shawsheen Village), you might have heard about Smith & Dove and the Hardy Brush Company.
But what about the early history of the area?
1872 map of Andover, Frye Village detail
Water powered the mills of Andover. Early mills in this part of town were powered by a brook, a pond, and a river. Hussey’s Pond sits in Shawsheen Village, behind the Shawsheen Luncheonette on Poor Street.
Before Hussey's Pond, there was Rowell’s Folly
The pond was created when a spring-fed brook was dammed. The brook, called “Rowell’s Folly” as early as 1692, begins its journey near Juniper Road to the west. It meanders through the Andover Country Club before meeting up with the dam at Poor Street, where the pond we know of as Hussey’s Pond, is formed.
Early records of a dam in this location date back to October 1765 when “flowage rights” and a grist mill were included in a deed from Capt. James Parker to Samuel Frye for whom Frye Village was named. Samuel Frye was the grandson of John Frye, one of the charter founders of Andover.
Samuel Frye also had a saw and grist mill along the Shawsheen River, built in 1718. He likely purchased the flowage rights to ensure a steady flow of water to his mills.
“Flowage rights” for a dam ensure a predetermined level of water behind the dam to ensure a steady flow of water serve mills located downstream.
Illustration from:Mills on the Tsatsawassa: Techniques for Documenting Early 19th Century Water-Power Industry in Rural New York, by Philip L. Lord, Purple Mountain Press, Fleischmanns, New York, 1983.
The pond changes names
March 22, 1830 Andover miller Elijah Hussey purchased two lots, water rights, and dam on the pond from the Frye family for $1,200. He operated a grist mill, saw mill, and machine shop all powered by the waterways that would be named for his family: Hussey’s Brook and Hussey’s Pond.
Elijah Hussey also bought the flowage rights for the dam to power his saw mill downstream, on the corner of North Main and Haverhill Streets, where Woodworth Motors is today.
The Hussey homestead stood where the Aberdeen Building stands today at 348 North Main Street. The home faced south, looking at the pond, stream, mill, and laundry (more about the laundry in another email!).
ACHC #1983.027.1, Hussey homestead c. 1900
A few lesser-known Frye Village mills
In 1838, Ephraim Everson and Job Cole purchased property and operated a machine shop in one of Elijah Hussey’s buildings along Hussey’s Brook.
In 1856, William C. Donald moved his printing ink manufacturing mill to his home on North Main Street in Frye Village. The factory was located on what is now Kenilworth Street. The company started closer to downtown Andover in 1853. Donald’s ink factory burned to the ground in 1866. He rebuilt the factory out of brick with a fire proof roof. Again in 1873, expanded his printing ink by building another structure for his “lamp black” business.
William Donald retired from the ink manufacturing in 1892 and his son continued the business with two other partners. The Donald house remained with the family until 1919 when it was sold to create Shawsheen Village.