Pictures from Mansfield's Past

Old Meeting House

The old meetinghouse was built in 1766 and was the center of village political affairs as the line between church and state was indistinguishable in early New England. The building originally sat on the South Common, as this photograph from about 1870 indicates (note the Lovell Block in the background). In 1872, it was moved to a plot on Union Street next to the old cemetery, and was torn down in 1888.

The Fred Paine

Mansfield Train Station Agent Fred Paine and the locomotive of the same name, circa 1888.

The Lovell Block

The Lovell Block, which stands at the corner of North Main and West Streets. Built around 1870 by Isaac Lovell, it long housed the store of his brother S. Crocker Lovell. At the time, the building faced West Street, but the current address is 4 North Main Street. It is now widely known as George's Cleaners.

Lowney Chocolate Factory

Antique postcard of Lowney Chocolate Works, undated but the stamp area says "Domestic One Cent, Foreign Two Cents"

Mansfield Train Depot

Close up of waiting carriages