Owner: Town of Grafton (not the Historical Society!)
To reserve (“rent”) the Community House, please contact the Community House Oversight Committee through the web page on the town website. As of late 2024, the person running facility reservations is Pat Dowd at (508) 735-4758. The Grafton Historical Society does not own or control this facility, but we do reserve it frequently for programs.
Directions
The Community House, located at 25 and 27 Main Street, South Grafton, MA, is frequently reserved by the Grafton Historical Society for program events.
Click here to generate driving directions
History
The Community House, originally built as the Farnumsville School House in 1872 where workers at the Wuskanut Mill sent their children to be educated, was renovated in 2007 using Community Preservation Act funds (link) as one of the cornerstone projects in the major rejuvenation of South Grafton.
The town built #27 Main street in 1872, to replace a “worn-out, dilapidated” brick structure that was no longer adequate to serve the growing population of schoolchildren in Farnumsville for the families who worked in the Farnumsville Mill. A large, thoroughly modern schoolhouse for its time, the new building was the result of long efforts by the school committee to raise money for a “suitable school building” at Farnumsville, which, along with the Waterville district, was “sadly in need of school accommodations.”
After being used for over 60 years to teach several generations of children, the building was closed in the late 1930’s and turned back to the town. It soon became the home of the Alfred J. Demers Post #37 of the American Legion which prior to then had been meeting in Fisher Hall at Fisherville since its organization in 1919.
