The Clark Block
In the center of Natick is this prominent commercial building labeled the Clark Block, 1874. Like many buildings constructed during that period, it reflects the growth of Natick as a busy manufacturing and commercial town in the later nineteenth century.
During this time Natick was becoming well known for its boot and shoe industry, which helped transform what had once been a small rural community into a thriving industrial town. Factories, shops and commercial blocks were built around the town center to serve both the growing workforce and the merchants who supported them.
The Clark Block was one of the important downtown buildings. Structures called “blocks” in the nineteenth century were typically multi-story commercial buildings that combined retail shops on the street level with offices, meeting rooms and public spaces above.
One of more interesting features of the Clark Building was the large hall on the upper floor, which included a spacious dance floor. In many New England towns, these upper halls were used for a wide range of community activities. The space would have hosted public dances, holiday balls and musical gatherings, where local bands played waltzes, polkas and other popular dances of the time. Before towns had dedicated theatres, auditoriums or community centers, buildings like the Clark Block served as the social heart of the town.
Today the building remains a reminder of the period when Natick was expanding as an industrial town. The Clark Block still stands as part of the historic fabric of the town center, recalling an era when the upper floor might be filled with music and dancing while the street below bustled with the activity of a growing Massachusetts community.
Read More From Nancy
First Congregational Church in Natick
The church stands prominently in downtown Natick. This is the seventh meeting house of the Natick’s First Church, a congregation established in 1651 by John Eliot. Reverend Eliot was a Puritan missionary known as the “Apostle to the Indians” Worship in those earliest years was conducted largely in the Algonquian language, and the meetinghouse stood at the center […]
Glenwood Cemetery
Walking through the Glenwood Cemetery in Natick, there are many of these medallions and flags on the graves of veterans. All of these medallions are a bit different, but I had to look up what GAR stood for. It turns out GAR means the Grand Army of the Republic. This was a national fraternal organization […]
Horatio Alger’s Gravesite
This gravesite marks the Alger family plot in Glenwood Cemetery in Natick, the final resting place of Horatio Alger, Jr, one of the most read American authors of the late 19th century. Alger was born in 1832 and grew up in Natick, where his father, Rev. Horatio Alger Sr. served as pastor of the First Congregational […]
