Framingham Online: Aerial Photos 19-JUL-1997, Saxonville

Aerial Views of Framingham
Saxonville

Enlarged View of Saxonville / Mill Area, (132K JPEG)

Saxonville - in the 1640's Framingham's first settler, John Stone, used the waters of the Sudbury River to power saw and grist mills at the site of Great Falls in an area now called Saxonville. Origin of the name Saxonville can be traced to the Saxon Factory Company, the original holding company formed and incorporated between 1822 and 1824 for the purpose of constructing a fabric mill at the falls Although the name of the factory, and the types of fabric it produced changed several times, the mill was operated for nearly 150 years until it was last used as a mill by by the Roxbury Carpet Company, (1970's). The mill buildings are now used as office, warehouse, and manufactuing space for several smaller companies.

Many other sites and buildings comprise the Saxonville National Historic District. On the hill leading up from the mill is the Mary E. Stapleton elementary school, (former Framingham High School, then "Saxonville School"), and n the foreground is Athenaeum Hall, first called Saxonville Town Hall, (built in 1847), and the Watson Street Fire Station, (1902), with it's bell tower which was used to hang and dry canvas fire-hoses in the early 1900's. Plans for a Saxonville Historic / Nature Walk are now being developed.

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