Old Curtisville Historic District is a historic district in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.
The area is now known as Interlaken, due to its position between Stockbridge Bowl (originally Lake Mahkeenac) and Lake Averic (also known as Echo Lake), which is the town of Stockbridge's water supply. Massachusetts Route 183 transects the community north to south.
It is historically significant as the site of the first wood-based newsprint paper mill in the United States. The area has an industrial history dating back at least to 1782, when a grist mill and a saw mill were established on the brook flowing out of Stockbridge Bowl. Industrial development continued in the area through the first half of the 19th century.
Among other noteworthy historic buildings are the Interlaken Congregatiional Church (1824), the Citizens Hall (1870), and the Bancroft-Curtisville Hotel, once the location of the St. Helen's Home. The church and hotel are now private residences and the hall is the site of the IS 183 Art School of the Berkshires. St. Helen's Home was sponsored by the New York Tribune's Fresh Air Fund in the opening decades of the twentieth century. The Fund enabled children from some of New York City's poorest neighborhoods to experience several weeks of summer respite in rural locations in upstate New York and New England.
See also
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Berkshire County, Massachusetts
References
