Posts Tagged ‘Ballardvale’

Director’s Blog: What can you do at the Historical Society this week?

Monday, July 25th, 2011

Pick up a walking tour and explore Andover by foot

The Society has a collection of eight walking tours including Academy Hill, Andover Village, Andover Village Industrial District, Ballardvale, Bancroft School Neighborhood, Central Street, Shawsheen Village, and West Parish.   Did you know that 14 Highvale Lane was built in 1858 as a wedding present for Job Abbot’s daughter who, so the story goes, refused to marry her father’s choice and did not live in the house for many years?

211 Andover Street, Ballardvale (AHS#1987.598.1134)

All eight walking tours are available on the Society’s blog and can be downloaded and printed.  Print copies are available for purchase at the Society for $3 each.  The Society is open every Tuesday through Saturday 10:00-4:00.

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Posted in All About AHS, Andover History, collections, Community | No Comments »

Photo of the Week

Wednesday, August 25th, 2010

This week’s photograph celebrates baseball, “The American Pastime.”  From the 1880s through the early 1900s, Andover boasted a number of local baseball teams including Andover’s Union Team, the Andover Blackstockings, and the Vale Nine.  Neighborhoods, factories, and schools often sponsored local baseball teams.  Many familiar family names appear in the ranks of local baseball teams including, Cronin, Poor, Dearborn, Collins, and Abbott.  The Andover Townsman ran a series of photographs of “old-time baseball teams” from “Auld Lang Syne” in the 1937.  Copies of the Townsman are available at the Historical Society library if you would like to take a look back at Auld Lang Syne yourself.

We don't know the names of the players in this photograph of the Vale Nine.

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Photo of the Week

Wednesday, August 11th, 2010

Andover has a long history of patriotic celebrations.  Fourth of July features the Horribles Parade and other events, including fire works.  Memorial Day, Veteran’s Day, Flag Day, and war memorials for those who served in World War I, World War II, and Korea are all celebrated by the Town’s Patriotic Celebrations Committee.  In addition, Andover has a lively history of celebrating its own anniversaries, the 250th in 1896, 300th in 1946, and 350th in 1996 were all celebrated in high style

Today’s photograph is of a road race that was part of Ballardvale’s Fourth of July celebration in 1909.

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Who lived in Andover’s Early Textile Villages?

Monday, March 16th, 2009

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Please join us for a special Neighborhood Program at the Andover Historical Society:  Employee Housing in Andover’s Early Textile Villages

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Sunday, March 29, 2009, 2:00-4:00 p.m.
Andover Historical Society, 97 Main Street, Andover

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“All history may be local,” but Andover’s history is a unique mix of local stories with national importance. Take your neighborhood, for example.

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Would you like to learn more about your neighborhood and the role it played in the Industrial Revolution? Please join us for this special program which will include a talk on these important neighborhoods and a special viewing of our new exhibit, “From Near & Far: 350 Years of Making Andover Home.”

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All Andover Neighborhood Programs are open to the public free of charge. For further information, please call the Historical Society offices at 978.475.2236 or info@andoverhistorical.org.

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Ready, Set, Walk!

Friday, February 13th, 2009

Did you know that the Andover Historical Society has walking tour brochures available for seven different areas in town? Thanks to volunteer Jonah Kellman, these walking tour brochures have been digitally scanned and are now available for download  as pdf files by clicking below:

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Academy Hill Walking Tour

Andover Village Industrial District Walking Tour

Andover Village Walking Tour

Ballardvale Walking Tour

Central Street Walking Tour

Shawsheen Village Walking Tour

West Parish Center Walking Tour

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Printed copies are still available for purchase at the Society or by calling 978.475.2236. Are there other downloads you’d like to see here? If so, leave a comment to let us know!

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A Picnic Tragedy: The Pole Hill Murder

Friday, January 30th, 2009

The headline in the August 24, 1900 Andover Townsman read, “A Picnic Tragedy.” The article went on to describe a murder that took place at the Shawsheen River Grove at Pole Hill in Ballardvale.  The murder and events that took place around it is the focus of a new exhibit at the Historical Society this summer.  As a special program for Farmers’ Market shoppers, the exhibit is serialized, with new sections added each week.

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The serialized story is a 19th century concept.  Many famous writers, including Charles Dickens, first published their work in serialized form in newspapers. Today the serial story is once again popular, with the internet being a popular venue for both new and established writers. Stephen King, for example, first released The Green Mile in serial form.

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Smith & Wesson RevolverThe Andover Historical Society’s summer 2008 exhibit, “A Picnic Tragedy: The Pole Hill Murder” was our first serial exhibit.  Each week we released the next installment of the exhibit, encouraging visitors to check back each week to find out what happened next.

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To catch up on the entire story: view “A Picnic Tragedy” as our first online exhibit at: http://www.andoverhistorical.org/exhibits/2008/polehill. “A Picnic Tragedy” is also available as a traveling exhibit. For more information, please contact us at info@andoverhistorical.org.

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