The Phillips House was built around 1767 and originally stood on High Street in Taunton until 1930, when it was moved to the Eastern States Exposition Grounds in West Springfield to become part of Storrowton. It now houses the Storrowton Village Gift Shop and administrative offices.
The New England Grange Building is located on the grounds of the Eastern States Exposition in West Springfield. It was built through the cooperation of the six New England state Granges (part of the National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry) and was dedicated on September 21, 1938, just before the Hurricane of 1938 struck the fairgrounds. The Connecticut State Grange website has a section with more information about the building.
Now part of the collection of historic buildings that make up Storrowton Village at the Eastern States Exposition grounds in West Springfield, the Union Meetinghouse was originally built jointly by four religious denominations in Salisbury, New Hampshire, in 1834. The Meeting House was moved from the Smith’s Corner neighborhood of Salisbury to Storrowton in 1929. The pulpit came from another New Hampshire town and the 1851 bell is from a church in Neponset, Massachusetts.
In 1806, the members of the Baptist church in Suffield, Conn who were living in Southwick, Mass decided to form their own church, which was later formally incorporated in 1826. The Baptist Meeting House was built around 1822. It was moved to Storrowton, at the Eastern States Exposition in West Springfield in 1930. In 1957, the Meeting House was attached to the Atkinson Tavern to double the size of the popular Storrowton Tavern restaurant.
Atkinson Tavern was built around 1789 in Prescott, MA as a home and tavern business for John Atkinson, a Revolutionary War veteran. In 1938, Prescott was one of four towns to be disincorporated to make way for the creation of the Quabbin Reservoir. With the Tavern’s original location acquired by the Metropolitan District Commission, Helen Storrow moved the building to the Eastern States Exposition grounds to become part of Storrowton. It is now leased by the Big E to be run as a restaurant called Storrowton Tavern.
Built around 1810 in the Federal style, the North Center School is a one-room schoolhouse that originally stood in Whately. It was moved to the Eastern States Exposition grounds to become part of Storrowton. The entryway of the building was modified to resemble one in the Federal style, as seen on a schoolhouse in Vergennes, Vermont (since moved to the Shelburne Museum), by Storrowtown’s benefactor, Helen O. Storrow.
Captain John Potter built his house in North Brookfield, at the corner of South Main and Ward Streets, in 1776. Potter was a clockmaker and craftsman who also served as a captain in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. His mansion, which Potter built with his own hands, was started just before and completed just after the interruption of the war. It was constructed around Potter’s earlier house and features a faux-masonry exterior, actually made of wood. The house also had a large room for dancing on the second floor and a support pole was used in the dining room below whenever the upper room was used for dancing! Later, the Captain’s son, F.A. Potter, ran a shop attached to the house. In 1929, the Potter House, which had passed out of the Potter family’s hands in 1920, was moved to Storrowton, the recreation of a classic New England village, as imagined by benefactor Helen O. Storrow, at the Eastern States Exposition grounds in West Springfield. It is now open to the public for tours.