Our New Home, Fayville Village Hall

Changing Visions:

Founded in 1965, the original mission of the Southborough Historical Society was “to educate, study, collect and preserve historical records and antiquities relating to the history of Southborough and its people; to preserve items of current events that may have historical interest in the future; to interest and unite the townspeople through programming that reveals the history of our town and its neighboring communities.”

However, as the decades passed, it became clear that the model that our Society was founded on, like many other similar organizations, was becoming increasingly untenable.

Firstly, membership was based on the premise of large numbers of stay-at-home individuals available to volunteer and socialize during the day—a population which entirely evaporated as most households began to rely on dual earners.

Secondly, over the last few decades, the entire concept of what constitutes “history” has been vastly expanded. Historical societies can no longer be just a dusty collection of curios and expect an active membership. To stay relevant, historical organizations like ours need to embrace a much broader spectrum of cultural programming in order to fulfill another of our primary goals — “increasing a sense of community and place among the townsfolk.”

That is not to say we are abandoning historical education or our preservation advocacy—far from it. We are, however, going to bring historical instruction into the 21st century by emphasizing its arts and culture components. If you take a ballroom dance class with us, for instance, you are going to learn about the origins of 20th century jazz. A still-life painting class might focus on the women of the Boston School, like our own Helen Sears. A genealogy class may reveal the hardships of Catholic immigrants moving to places like protestant Southborough. Wreath-making? The home factory system so prevalent in Southborough in the Civil War Era. Everything we do will have an historical aspect, and we believe this unique blending of history and the arts will set us distinctly apart from any other organization in this area.

The sina qua non to all this, however, is an appropriate facility. One has not existed in Southborough—until now.

Making Vision REALITY:

In the autumn of 2022, the Southborough Historical Society acquired and began renovating the historic 1911 Fayville Village Hall as our town’s new home for history and arts education. The hall, originally built to house municipal offices and to provide meeting space for Fayville residents, had over the years become exceedingly run down, and was sold by the town in 2017 on the proviso that the exterior be substantially retained.  The Society remains faithful to that charge, and has embarked on an ambitious plan to entirely reimagine the gutted interior.

Basement Plan

The basement is being entirely finished, and will include a catering kitchen and a “makers’” space that will allow for classes and workshops in the arts and crafts, as well as mouth-watering culinary explorations.

First-Floor Plan

The ground floor, of the same size, has been converted into a combination of offices and archival storage space to house the Society’s ever-growing collections. It is also home to an exciting new rotating exhibition space, the Long Gallery, which will host changing arts and history programming.

Second-Floor Plan

The second floor, with its 20′ high gambrel ceiling, is now an open museum and exhibit space, and will be used to host lectures, events, group instruction, and other income generating functions.

The exterior of the building will be completely restored to its 1911 appearance, complete with cast iron entrance fountain. Once work is completed, a preservation restriction will be placed on the property, which will hopefully then serve as an historical anchor in a part of Southborough that has faced considerable development pressure.

Plans also being contemplated include hosting a small farmer’s market in the parking lot on certain Saturdays to allow local growers a place to sell their wares, as well as other outdoor events throughout the year.

Work is expected to take 9 months and cost 1.5 million dollars, with the goal of providing Southborough with a thriving new history and cultural center for the 21st century (and hopefully beyond!)