The Great Depression and competition forced the closure of the Arnold Print Works. Similar issues prompted the closure of the Sprague Electric Company. Local figures sought ideas how to use the buildings for future use. Soon enough, the idea for an arts center arose and years of effort led to the opening in 1999.

The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art

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The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art is the country's largest institution dedicated to contemporary visual arts. It opened in 1999 in a large complex of former factory buildings that were once owned by the Arnold Print Works (founded in 1860) and the Sprague Electric Company (operated from 1942-1985). The museum features 200,000 square feet of art exhibition space and the same amount for businesses to help offset operating costs and to stimulate economic growth in the region. There is also an indoor and outdoor theatre, outdoor cinema, workshop and art fabrication facilities, and a large rehearsal and production space. Thus far, the museum has facilitated the creation of over 80 new works of art and 50 new performances. At 160,000 visitors per year, the museum is one of the most visited contemporary art museum in the country. The museum buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.    

Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art

This twelve-mile drive takes visitors to northwestern Massachusetts to several art and history museums as well as historic landmarks such as the Blackinton Mill and Historic District. The tour concludes at the Susan B. Anthony Birthplace Museum.

Williamstown and North Adams Massachusetts Driving Tour

Sterling Clark considered opening a museum in New York City (in Manhattan) but his connections&nbsp;to Williams College—his grandfather and father both served as&nbsp;trustees—drew him here. The museum opened in 1955 and drew immediate acclaim. The Clark has expanded over the years, in terms of space and number of works of art. The most recent expansion came in 2014.

Located on the southwest corner of the Williams College Campus, The Clark is a combined public art museum and art research and higher education center. It is one of the few institutions in the world to have this dual mission and as such it is highly respected nationally and internationally. The building itself was constructed in 1955 and named after its benefactors Sterling and Francine Clark, who donated their extensive collection to the college a few years earlier. It has been significantly expanded since then. The museum's primary focus is on American and European art, consisting of paintings, drawings, sculptures and decorative art. It holds an impressive collection of impressionist paintings by Monet, Degas, Renoir and others. The museum also features a well respected art history library which holds 230,000 volumes. 

The Clark (Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute)

The Williamstown Historical Museum is preserves the history of Williamstown through exhibits, lectures, and other programs. It was founded in 1941 and its collection includes photographs, documents, and artifacts from the 1700s to today. The Society also publishes works chronicling various topics about the city's past. Many of the materials in the Society's collection are no digitized and can be accessed through the website. There is also the Children's Discovery Room, where children can play with antique toys, dress up in period clothing, read children's books from the 1800s, and other activities. The museum is located in the back of the Williamstown Public Library.

Williamstown Historical Museum 

Established in 1926, the Williams College Museum of Art holds 14,000 works of art ranging from ancient to contemporary times. Specifically, it features ancient Egyptian art, modern Chinese art, African art, Indian art, prints and photographs. Its strength is modern and contemporary art. It also houses the largest collection of works by brothers Charles and Maurice Prendergast. The college is regarded as one of the finest college art institutions in the country. 

Williams College Museum of Art

In 1822, three North Adams businessmen by the name of Sanford Blackinton, Rufus Wells, and J. L. White came together to construct a wool mill on the edge of the Hoosac River.&nbsp;The mill’s financial success wavered throughout the decades but never enough that it was not a staple of the small city’s economy.&nbsp;&nbsp;The district around the mill began taking form when Wells and Blackinton built their homes across the road that led to it.&nbsp;&nbsp;Though they were not the first homes near to the area of the mill, they were the most prestigious, and they invited others to build their homes nearby.&nbsp;These homes still stand to this day, albeit modified in part.Much like the mill that still stands, many of the homes that were originally built around the mill saw continuous use.&nbsp;&nbsp;In fact, it was the Civil War – over fifty years after the mill's construction -- that brought Blackinton and his mill the most success.&nbsp;&nbsp;A surge in military orders for wool from the mill made Blackinton the richest man in North Adams, forever solidifying the mill and the mill owner’s story as part of the historical tapestry of the town.&nbsp;Over the course of the mid-1800s, a number of buildings were constructed in the neighborhood around the mill that would prove to be vital to the heart of North Addams.&nbsp;&nbsp;The Union Church, Episcopal Chapel, and the Company Store were all funded by Blackinton and the mill, each of which was a cornerstone of the mill community.&nbsp;&nbsp;The Company Store was home to the first library of North Adams as well as the post office and the telephone which was shared by the community. &nbsp;&nbsp;Blackinton and his family moved closer to the center of North Adams shortly after the Civil War, using the money they had made during the war to purchase a much larger home and construct another mansion for Blackinton’s son, John, near the mill.&nbsp;&nbsp;This period also marked the beginning of the dissolution of the “mill community” that had characterized North Adams for decades.&nbsp;In the coming years, more and more people who were not associated with the mill in any business capacity moved into the neighborhood around the mill, building new homes around the church and store.&nbsp;&nbsp;This area continued to grow throughout the late 1800s into the early-1900s, slowly transitioning out of the traditional and characteristic appearance of New England mill towns.Regardless of the area’s subsequent growth, the core of the district has been well-preserved as a snapshot of mill town style that is both rare and historically beautiful.

The Blackinton Historic District of North Adams, Massachusetts is a collection of buildings constructed throughout the early 1800s around the Blackinton Mill. The Blackinton District has been well preserved, and now serves as an iconic representation of 19th-century mill communities in the region. Stanford Blackinton’s mill was a major influence on the city of North Adams, and Blackinton himself was incredibly influential on the development and growth of the town.  

Blackinton Mill and the Blackinton Historic District

The North Adams Museum of History and Science is located in building 5A in Western Gateway Heritage State Park. It preserves the history of the town and surrounding area through its 25 exhibits which feature items ranging from Native American artifacts to scientific objects. The are building in the park used to belong to an 1800s freight yard.

North Adams Museum of History and Science

Designed by E. T. Barlow, a New York native and Cornell graduate who came to Massachusetts in the mid-1890s, the Boardman represents a characteristic time for the small city of North Adams. Barlow designed a number of other buildings since his arrival near the turn of the century, at which time the town of North Adams was in a period of economic and residential transition.



The town largely rose up around the Blackinton Mill, which was the heart and soul of the town until the late 19th centry. A business boom came to the Blackinton Mill area during the Civil War as large military orders from the Union Army reflected growing demand. This sudden prosperity attracted many newcomers to the town, most of whom were not directly associated with the mill. As more residents arrived, the town shifted further and further from its roots as a mill town.&nbsp;



When Barlow arrived in North Adams, his first architectural work was the Johnson School.&nbsp; Following the construction of the school, he designed a number of homes in town as well as a commercial block which is no longer standing.&nbsp; The Boardman, however, is the longest lasting of his North Adams designs, even if it has undergone some exterior modifications.



The structure is designed after the conventions of the Colonial Revival style, featuring a mixture of stone and clapboarding that had not been built in North Adams before. The Boardman is the namesake of those commissioners -- Walter and Susan Boardman Penniman -- who ordered the construction of the rowhouses on land that had once belonged to the Blackinton family.&nbsp; The building was originally designed to be upper-class housing for wealthier occupants, evidenced by the inclusion of servant’s quarters in each of the units, though the building proved to serve a much more diverse population than initially intended by the commissioners.&nbsp; In fact, the commissioners themselves made residency at the Boardman for a period of years.&nbsp; Over the years teachers, chemists, managers, and many others who would not have been associated with the upper class at the time.



Behind the Boardman was a lot that was once devoted to a commercial garden, though it has been replaced by a parking lot for businesses that now exist in North Adams.&nbsp; The Boardman itself has changed only on the exterior, and those changes are only skin deep.&nbsp; New siding has been applied to the building, and owners over the years have applied upgrades to the building’s utilities.

These nine individual clapboard row houses feature the Colonial Revival style of architecture that collectively represent a snapshot of the work of Edwin T. Barlow, an architect and builder who made his home in North Adams. Constructed over a stretch of years between 1898, when the first four rowhouses were built, and 1901, when the last five were constructed, The Boardman is a single building that occupies the length of the block, with nine rowhomes included within.

The Boardman of North Adams

The Anthony family owned the land since before the Revolutionary War. They and other Quakers made their way to Adams from Rhode Island and southeastern&nbsp;Massachusetts. Her father, David, established a cotton mill and was a strong advocate of education; he also worked as a teacher. The house remained in the family until 1895. It was&nbsp;privately owned until 1926 when it became a museum. It was restored in 2006-2009. Reflecting the way that historical interpretations are often employed to make contemporary&nbsp;and political arguments, Anthony has increasingly been cited as an anti-restillist (opposition to abortion). Documentation for this claim is difficult to support conclusively given the taboo nature of abortion in Anthony's lifetime, the lack of modern medical technology, and the fact that very few women or men openly considered or discussed the topic publicly. In her life, Anthony may have breached the topic in a handful of journal entries, once predicting that a relative would regret "tampering with herself" after reportedly ending her pregnancy. Anthony also refused advertisements for dangerous and illicit drugs that were sometimes used to abort a pregnancy. At the same time, Anthony refused to publish other advertisements&nbsp;for "quack' medicines and she maintained friendships with women who openly discussed abortion despite the taboo nature of the topic at that time. In an interview Slate Magazine, Ann Gordon, editor of the six-volume "Selected Papers of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony" dismissed claims that Anthony's stance on abortion was clearly identified in any way that might be applicable to the modern practice or debate about abortion and reproductive rights. Given Anthony's consistent position in favor of women's rights and the stark differences between the modern practice and debate about abortion and the taboo nature of the topic in Anthony's time, Gordon concluded that those who claim the suffragist as a Pro-life activist are choosing that interpretation rather than exploring the question and adjusting their thesis in the face of evidence and historic context.&nbsp;

Susan B. Anthony, one of the most important figures of the 19th century, was born in this house in 1820. Born into a Quaker family, Anthony was a staunch abolitionist, a supporter of temperance, and an advocate for women's rights. Over time, she became best known as one of the most significant leaders in the movement to pass laws that would recognize and guarantee women's right to vote. 

The house now serves as a small museum and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The house was built by Anthony's father in 1817. The museum features period items, literature, and memorabilia related to Susan's early life and legacy as a suffragist. Her Quaker upbringing is central to her life and work and is a central theme in the museum. Perhaps the most striking part of the museum is a visit to the room in which Susan was born. 

Williamstown and North Adams Massachusetts Driving Tour

Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art

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Backstory and Context

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