Gilbertville Historic District

Gilbertville is a mill village on the Ware River in Hardwick, Massachusetts, built mostly by the George H. Gilbert Manufacturing Company between 1860 and 1930. Large brick mills dominate the landscape, surrounded by company-built tenement blocks, duplexes and row houses for workers. The company also provided stores, a post office, schools, meeting places, a library and an outstanding Congregational church. Housing was sited by type, with small-unit buildings near the river and larger houses and public buildings along Main Street. East of the company land, a privately developed service community grew along Church Street, with shops, a hotel, two-family houses and the Roman Catholic church, school, rectory and convent. Styles range from Italianate and Stick to Colonial Revival. The village is significant as a largely intact example of a planned single-enterprise textile community, retaining nearly all buildings erected under Gilbert ownership. The district has 133 contributing resources.