image description
The pieces of Mather House are moved in Williamstown on Wednesday morning.

Williamstown's Mather House Moves to New Location

Staff ReportsPrint Story | Email Story

Students from Williamstown Community Preschool watch Mather House make its way down Main Street on Wednesday morning.

WILLAMSTOWN, Mass. — Traffic came to halt for several hours Wednesday morning as the 1840 Mather House made its way up Main Street and around the corner at Field Park.

The move of the 170-year-old building in two pieces required the closure of Route 2 west of Spring Street and removal of the phone and electrical wires that crossed Stetson Court, where the house has been since being relocated in 2002.

Spectators gathered in the chilly temperatures to take pictures of the structures making their way down Main Street. Street signs had to be removed and a few tree limbs cut to make way for the two-story house.

"This is something," said one man watching Mather's back addition move up Main Street toward Field Park. "You don't see this every day."


This is at least the third time the building has had to be moved. Its most recent relocation was to make way for the '62 Center for Theatre and Dance; this trip is to get out of the way of Williams College's planned  dormitory on Stetson Court.

Mather House is moving around the corner to 63 North St., where Guntlow & Associates will use it for offices and possibly apartments.

Its next-door neighbor Harper House hasn't been so lucky. No buyer had come forward for the building, and so the 1850 structure is expected to be demolished.

The move had been scheduled for Monday but postponed because of the wet, snowy weather.

 

 


Tags: Williams College,   Williamstown,   

If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

Letter: Vote for Someone Other Than Trump

Letter to the Editor

To the Editor:

I urge my Republican friends to vote for someone other than Donald Trump in November. His rallies are getting embarrassingly sparse and his speeches more hostile and confused. He's looking desperately for money, now selling poor-quality gold sneakers for $399. While Trump's online fans embrace him more tightly, more and more of the people who actually worked with Trump have broken with him, often issuing statements denouncing his motives, intellect, and patriotism.

Mike Pence is the most recent, but the list now includes William Barr, former attorney general (who compared him to a 9-year-old); former NSC Chairs Bolton and McMaster; former Defense Secretaries Mattis and Esper; former Chiefs of Staff Kelly and Mulvaney; former Secretary of State Tillerson; former Homeland Security chief Bossert; and former Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, who referred to Trump as a "wannabe dictator." This level of rejection by former colleagues is unprecedented in American politics.

Are these people just cozying up to the Establishment "Uniparty," as his fans would have it? No. Most of them are retired from politics. It's just that they see the danger most clearly. General Milley is right. Trump's most constant refrain is his desire to hurt his critics, including traditional conservatives. Although Liz Cheney lost her Wyoming seat in Congress, he now wants her jailed for investigating him.

This man should not be president of the USA.

Jim Mahon
Williamstown, Mass.

 

 

View Full Story

More Williamstown Stories