The East Village

The East Village. Marlborough, Massachusetts. Before 1750, Marlborough's town center was located in the area of the present Walker Building. It included a Meeting House, the minister's house and a blacksmith shop. , In the 1750's, Henry Barnes, British loyalist, built a home at the corner of Main and Bolton Streets. He established the town's first manufacturing firm, first retail store, and a cider distillery. Around these activities, the area known then as the East Village became the commercial center of Marlborough. , After the American Revolution, with Barnes banished as a traitor, William Cogswell bought the Barnes property and ran his store. Cogswell's brother-in-law, William Dawes, “the Other Rider” with Paul Revere, purchased a home at the east end of Main Street and opened a grocery store. The stores owned by Cogswell and Dawes, together with the Sawin Tavern on East Main Street, added to the appeal of residents locating in the East Village. , In 1796, deliberations began on building a new Meeting House. Eventually the town voted to locate it in the East Village at the current site of First Church, but there was an uproar among those living on the west end of town. After a failed attempt to divide the town into two municipalities, a west Meeting House was built on Pleasant Street. In the years ahead, both the East and West Villages would become important manufacturing, retail and residential centers. , [Caption] This map shows the two distinctive villages that had evolved in Marlborough. Over time, the villages gradually converged into the city center we are familiar with today.