Shawsheen Village Historic District

Shawsheen Village is a planned community in northern Andover, Massachusetts, laid out on about 600 acres along the Shawsheen River. William M. Wood, president of the American Woolen Company, bought the land in 1918 and the company built the village between 1919 and 1924. It absorbed the small settlement of Frye Village, whose mills were demolished while most existing houses and streets were kept. The village has three main parts: brick houses for senior executives west of the river, a central area of shops, offices and manufacturing, and smaller frame houses for middle-level office workers. More than two hundred homes were built, along with an administration building, post office, school, restaurant, creamery, community garages, power plant and brush mill. Georgian Revival design predominates. The district is described as a self-sufficient company town, and many of its buildings, including the 1924 Shawsheen School, remain in use.