Spicket Falls Historic District

Methuen's commercial and industrial center grew around the falls of the Spicket River, whose power ran a grist mill in 1709 and a fulling mill in 1806. The district takes in about 30 buildings between Gaunt Square and the 1909 railroad station on River Street. Its core is the Methuen Cotton Mills, begun in 1825 with the brick A Mill of 1826 and expanded under David Nevins, who bought the mills in 1864 and added six brick mills between 1879 and 1882. Nearby are the 1853 Town Hall, designed by H. D. Clement, the 1899 Central Fire Station by John Ashton, and hotels, stores and the 1904 Oddfellows building along Broadway. The brick railroad station was built in 1909 with a donation from Edward Searles. The mill complex is described as the best preserved textile mill site in the Lower Merrimack Valley. Nine intrusions are noted, but most are small in scale. Views of the falls are considered important to the district's setting.