Society History

Knox Building before Renovation

The Groveland Historical Society is a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation established in 1973 in order to preserve the history of Groveland, Massachusetts.  Today, the Historical Society maintains a museum at Washington Hall that collects and archives information and artifacts to share with the community through its museum displays and educational programs.

The first home of the Groveland Historical Society was the Knox Building located at 423 Main Street.  The Knox Building, built by Alfred Knox in 1908 as a dry good store for his wife was originally located at the corner of Elm Park and Gardner Street.  The store was later converted to a grocery store.  Dr. Billy Darke later ran a dental office on this site for many years prior to donating the building to the Historical Society in 1992.

After renovation, the Knox Building was the Groveland Historical Society offices until they moved to Washington Hall

After moving and restoring the Knox building, it was used as a meeting place and small museum by the Groveland Historical Society until the contents of the building were moved to the historic Washington Hall at 101 Washington Street.  The Historical Society then converted the Knox building to a private residence.

Washington Hall was built in 1874 by E.J.M. Hale as a community center for his mill workers who migrated from England and Ireland.  Washington Hall is believed to be the oldest or one of the oldest community centers in the United States.  With the use of community preservation funds, Washington Hall underwent extensive renovations, was dedicated and re-opened to the public in 2015.  The building had been closed and boarded up for over 20 years and had been on the state’s most endangered building list.