on foot through factory point
O
ld maps show that the area called
Factory Point was a sizeable
district. By the mid-1880s, the
Manchester Historical Society writes, this
part of Manchester wanted “to remove the
industrial stigma,” and by then, much of the
manufacturing had closed down. As businesses
began to cater to “the summer people,” the
name was changed to Manchester Centre, and
later, with a change in spelling, to Manchester
Center. (This is not to be confused with
Manchester Village, which is a National
Register Historic District in the vicinity of the
Equinox Hotel, a mile and a half south.)
Begin this easy walk
at Adams Park at the
intersection of Main
Street (VT 7A) and
Center Hill Road.
There is free parking
around the park.
This three-tenths of
a mile route slopes
gently downhill, and
the terrain is city
sidewalks. End at
the Factory Point
Town Green on Depot
Street, overlooking the
spillway on the
Battenkill.
Drawing waterpower
from the Battenkill,
which you’ll see more
of as you walk along,
there were at various
times a gristmill,
tannery, textile mills,
sawmills, marble
works, tin shops,
cheese and butter
makers, furniture
makers, carriage works,
blacksmiths, and a
distillery operating
along the riverbanks.
That explains the
original name,
Factory Point.
“It hasn’t changed all that much,” says Shawn
Harrington, curator of the Manchester
Historical Society. “Look!” he says, pointing
high over the rooftops. “The mountains over
Manchester Center are the best part of
46 manchester life | manchesterlifemagazine.com
Main Street.” He is absolutely correct—not
that many Main Streets in America feature
such a spectacular backdrop for their busiest
commercial district. He says, “The Grand Old
Equinox. That’s what they always called it.”
So, while enjoying the view of the high ridge
of the Taconic Mountains beyond, start
this walking tour by looking for the bronze
plaque that is mounted on a boulder in Adams
Park. It states that Harry L. Adams was “an
outstanding citizen whose life centered around
this park for 90 years.” His residence, built
in 1806, still stands at 18 Park Place. Adams
ran a business dealing in “Watches, Clocks,
Jewelry, Spectacles, Sewing Machines and
Musical Goods.” If you’re in Adams Park on
a Thursday afternoon in the summer or fall, it
bursts with activity as local growers and food
producers arrive for farmers’ market day.
From the park, glance across the street at the
restaurant, 5103 Main Street. This attractive,
twin-chimneyed brick building is quite early,
dates back to the 1840s. It is called the Zullo
House, for a family that lived there for a
time, but Myron Clark built it. He is best
remembered as the businessman who made
Factory Point “a thriving part” of Manchester,
and, as president of the Bennington &
Rutland Railroad Company, Clark was
instrumental in bringing the line to
Manchester in the mid-1800s. Fifty years later,
electricity came to Manchester; population
around that time: 1,955.
The brick building at 5081 Main Street, built
as a general store, also dates to the mid-1800s.
Note how the size, scale and placement of the
second- and third-floor windows allow a great