{"id":244,"date":"2020-10-13T19:17:19","date_gmt":"2020-10-13T19:17:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/montaguearchive.org\/?page_id=244"},"modified":"2020-11-23T17:10:36","modified_gmt":"2020-11-23T22:10:36","slug":"village-of-montague-center","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/montaguearchive.org\/index.php\/village-of-montague-center\/","title":{"rendered":"Village of Montague Center"},"content":{"rendered":"
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North End of Montague Center -2020<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

From Edward Pressey\u2019s \u201cHistory of Montague\u201d. \u201cWhen Hunting Hills was established as a separate district apart from Sunderland in 1753, it was named Montague . . .<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

Book VI of Pressey\u2019s history offers \u201cWinning Democracy.\u201d Access our DataBase, navigate to Montague Mass Historical Society then to Montague Center and find \u201cWinning Democracy.\u201d Read it in its entirety.<\/p>\n

The development of Montague Center was encouraged by the availability of nearby waterpower sources and surrounding cultivatable land. Agricultural prosperity and the industrialization of the Connecticut River, its major tributaries, including the Sawmill River\u2014that runs through the area\u2014led to a rapid increase in population. Montague Center had grown into an established rural village serving a diverse productive region.<\/p>\n

The growth of industrial sites on the Sawmill River (eleven at its apex of growth) and its location to vital transportation routes, the \u201cCenter\u201d became a hub of commercial activity in central Franklin County during the mid to late 1700\u2019s. The village was ideally suited for settlement because of its\u2019 vital location. As the Connecticut River Valley becomes more industrialized in the mid-nineteenth century, small manufacturers and their families appeared. The community is growing.<\/p>\n

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Montague Tavern ca. 1900
\n(also called Montague Inn)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The industrial economy of Western Massachusetts declined in the twentieth century. Montague Center gradually returned to its earlier rural presence. The factories are gone, the mills repurposed. The \u201cCenter\u2019s\u201d design as a junction community with an attractive village green\u2014richly conveys the image of a mid-nineteenth century New England agricultural community.<\/p>\n

The Connecticut River Scenic Farm Byway winds its way through the village. The village center has the original Town Hall (1858), the Congregational Church (1834) and the Montague Common Hall (formerly the Unitarian Meetinghouse 1835 and Grange Hall 1904) all facing the common. This\u2014the Montague Center Historic District\u2014is listed in the National Historic Register of Places.<\/p>\n

The Montague Plains Wildlife Management Area, is located a short distance from the center. This popular area offers opportunities for nature walks, picnics, bird watching and seasonal hunting (pheasant, deer, small game) for those so inclined.<\/p>\n

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The Sawmill river and site of the Alvah Stone Grist mill 1834. See closing paragraph below.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Montague Mill, formerly the 19th century Alvah Stone Grist Mill, houses a used book store, artist galleries, antique shops, a small cafe and restaurant that overlook the Sawmill River and the remnants of the former dams.<\/p>\n

Got Time? Spend some of it with us . . . you won\u2019t be disappointed.<\/p>\n

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This c 1940s aerial looks to the north at Montague Center’s Main Street. The Grange building is upper-left. The Congregational Church is across the common along the east side of the street. The Montague Inn is the long building with the “L” directly across from the intersection at the bottom third of the image.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

North End of Montague Center -2020 From Edward Pressey\u2019s \u201cHistory of Montague\u201d. \u201cWhen Hunting Hills was established as a separate district apart from Sunderland in 1753, it was named Montague . . .\u201d Book VI of Pressey\u2019s history offers \u201cWinning Democracy.\u201d Access our DataBase, navigate to Montague Mass Historical Society then to Montague Center and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1425,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"right","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"sidebar-primary","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-244","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/montaguearchive.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/montaguearchive.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/montaguearchive.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montaguearchive.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montaguearchive.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/montaguearchive.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/244\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1426,"href":"https:\/\/montaguearchive.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/244\/revisions\/1426"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montaguearchive.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/montaguearchive.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}