5. Additional Concord Mill Dam Company Properties, [not before 1826]

Additional properties owned by the Concord Mill Dam Company include Heywood’s Block at 23-25 Main Street, which displays many Federal-style details, including the high parapet double chimneys on the end walls. It is similar in appearance to 29 Main Street, another Mill Dam Company property. A one-story structure, 36-40 Main Street, is less sophisticated than the other properties, and there is speculation that it may be the oldest building on the Mill Dam.

The company’s most significant structure is undoubtedly the Concord Bank-Middlesex Mutual Insurance Company building at 46-48 Main Street. Unlike the other, more utilitarian buildings on the Mill Dam, the bank is Concord’s only commercial example of Greek Revival architecture. Built in 1832, the identity of the designer has been disputed, but recent scholarship points to Squire Rufus Hosmer of Stow, a director of both the bank and the insurance company. Even if he did not design the entire structure, he may well have been responsible for the columns and pediment that grace the façade of the building.

The ca.1845 document (popup window) from The Middlesex Institution for Savings lists a number of Concord Mill Dam Company principals who were also acting as trustees of the bank and members of the Committee of Investment. They include Nehemiah Ball, John Keyes, Daniel Shattuck, and Abel Moore. Attorney Nathan Brooks often performed legal services for the company, and the first meeting of the bank corporation was held in his office, which was located in the building. John Stacy was either an owner or tenant of the company, and David Loring was an investor.

The insurance company occupied the first floor of the building, while the bank was on the second. (Lawyer Nathan Brooks also had an office here.) Prior to its establishment, Concordians had to go to Lowell or Newton to conduct their banking business. The bank greatly impacted the appearance of the Mill Dam and was instrumental in elevating the town’s economic and commercial profile.