1864-1865         An 85 Foot Stone Dam Built Across Quinapoxet River at Site of Mill
                        (Later extended to 115 feet)

 

1865(est.)        Springdale Mill Opened

                       (A two-set wooden mill, it contained two sets of machinery, owned by J.L. Smith, employing about 35)

 

1874                Stone Shoddy Mill Erected On Site

 

1875                Springdale Mill Burned

 

1875                Four-Set Stone Mill Built by J.G. Smith

                       (Built of granite quarried near the site)

 

1879                Mill in Full Production.

                       (250,000 yards of fancy cassimeres produced)

 

1881                Mass Central Railroad Completed Between Oakdale and Jefferson

                       (Inaugural run December 19th. Railroad  chartered in 1879, and opened Boston to Hudson

                        early in  1881)

 

1881                Springdale RR Station Opened @ Mile 43.0

                       (Fare to Boston: $1.40, to Quinapoxet: 15¢, to "Jefferson's": 25¢)

 

1883                Massachusetts Central Railroad becomes the Central Massachusetts Railroad

                       (Train service halted on May 16 due to financial difficulties)

 

1885                Train Service Resumed

                       (Line leased to Boston and Lowell)

 

1887                Railroad Line Becomes the Central Mass Division of the Boston & Lowell RR

                       (and several years later, became part of the Boston and Maine.)

 

1892                Glen Woolen Mill Opened

                       (Mill is bought and renovated by James Dorr to manufacture satinets)

 

1892                Springdale RR Station @ Mile 43.00 Discontinued (1892 or earlier)

 

1899                Canada Mill Closed (Shoddy Mill located upstream near River Street)

 

1902                Agreement to route Central Mass RR around the soon-to-be-built Wachusett Reservoir

 

1905                Mill Site Acquired By Department of Conservation and Recreation

                        (Acquired on November 25 for $80,000. Site included mill, picker house, stock house, two barns, a                         four-tenement house, and four two-tenement houses)

 

1906                 Mill Operations Cease

                        (Dam broken, and buildings razed)

 

1938                 Railroad Abandoned

 

2000                 Mill and Village Historic Reclamation Project Begun (Project conducted under the auspices of the                         Metropolitan  District Commission and Wachusett Greenways, and supervised by the Springdale Mill                         Historic Site Committee.

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