Historical Sites

Church Park Monuments

The First Meeting House Monument

The First Meeting House Monument is a simple marker made of local Lee marble nestled among native shade plants in the Chamber of Commerce pollinator garden. The original meeting house was erected on this site in 1780. For the first several years, it was an austere structure with unglazed windows, no heating, and no stationary seats.

The Monument Marking An Ancient Housatonic Campsite

The Monument Marking An Ancient Housatonic Campsite is a commemorative stone placed by the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) and located on the West side of the park. Local historical tradition based on early colonial records, maps, and journals holds that the fertile oxbow valley alongside the Housatonic River served as a seasonal settlement and stopping ground for the Indigenous Stockbridge-Mohican (Housatonic)People.

The Marble Drinking Fountain

The Marble Drinking Fountain is located at the north end of the park and was designed by the famous sculptor Daniel Chester French. The fountain, dedicated in 1899, is a memorial to Miss Kilbon, a member of the Loyal Temperance Legion. The design includes a bas relief of Chief Konkapot, tribal leader of the Stockbridge Mohican Indians.

First Congregational Church

The 195-foot tall steeple is the tallest timber-frame steeple in New England. The cornerstone for the building was laid in 1857 and has a 141-year-old clock system built by Turret and Marine Clock Co. of Boston and a Seth Thomas Clock Movement to drive the four dials that strike the bell. The clock is hand-wound and is designed to run for seven days. The church is a fine example of Romanesque architecture. The interior was decorated by German artists using a technique called trompe l’oeil [fool the eye]. It is regarded as one of the finest examples of this work in the United States. The church is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Memorial Hall

The Town of Lee erected this hall in honor of her 38 sons who died of wounds or disease in the Civil War. Their names are listed on three tablets inside the building. Included are three names representing the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, Company A. These honored soldiers were members of the famed 54th Massachusetts Regiment, Afro-American soldiers who proved their valor in the attack on Battery Wagner, SC in 1863, as depicted in the film Glory. Memorial Hall also houses town offices and the Lee Police Station. At the rear of Memorial Hall young Arlo Guthrie was put on trial for littering in 1965. “Blind Justice” James Hannon’s law offices are still at 184 Main Street. Other Guthrie sites are in Stockbridge and Great Barrington. These events are memorialized in the song and movie Alice’s Restaurant.

Main Street Architecture

40-52 Main – Baird and Benton Block

Built in 1879 by Prentice Baird and the Benton brothers, the first floor has long been used for a variety of retail space including grocery stores, gift shops, hair salons, and Johansson’s Five and Dime. The upper floors housed legal offices, the Knights of Columbus, and a bowling alley at one time or another. The upper floors were empty when the College Internship Program (CIP) revitalized the entire building with the help of state grants. CIP specializes in helping young adults on the autism spectrum transition into college life and now has classrooms and administrative offices on the upper floors.

54-56 Main – Phelan Block

This historic 1912 Victorian building is constructed from native Lee marble. Today, the building serves as a traditional downtown mixed-use property with residential apartments on the upper floors and commercial space at street level.

60 Main – Oman Block

The Alpamayo Peruvian Restaurant is on the first floor, with apartments above. Officially known as the Oman Block, the structure dates from 1879 when Thomas Oman built it following a fire that destroyed “Apothecary Hall”. Before the restaurant, a long series of drugstores occupied the store. In 1911 a fire partially damaged the building and its brick façade was replaced by Lee Marble blocks.

62-66 Main – Morley Block

Rebuilt after a fire in 1879 by B. A. Morey, this building has variously housed a drug store, newsroom, meat market, jewelry store, cleaners, and a succession of shoe stores. The Lee Men’s Club was on the second floor, where today there are apartments. It now hosts Yoga Lee at 62 Main Street, and Bella Soul Salon and Beauty at 66 Main Street.

68-78 Main – Baird Block

This mid-19th-century Renaissance Revival brick building is best known historically as the long-time home of Lee’s local newspaper, The Valley Gleaner, until the paper finally ceased publication in the 1940s. In 1954, physical culture pioneer Joseph Pilates, alongside local shopkeeper Ben Slaminsky (who ran “Ben’s” store in the block), collaborated upstairs to launch an early fitness and exercise studio.

Lee Library

Built in 1907 using Lee marble in the Beaux-arts style, paid for with a generous Andrew Carnegie grant and local funds. Marble from the Lee Quarry was also used in constructing the 1977 addition. The library sits on the site of Peter Wilcox’s log cabin, the first downtown building. The first town meeting was held here in 1777. Veterans Park fronts the building with plaques honoring James M. Burt, winner of the Congressional Medal of Honor in World War II.

St. Mary’s Church

This Roman Catholic Church was built in 1856 in response to the influx of Italian and Irish families that settled in Lee to work in the paper mills and the marble quarries. The cornerstone was laid on September 21,1856 by Father Cuddihy who celebrated the first Mass on Sunday, March 15, 1857 in the unfinished church. A picket fence was built to enclose the property. In 1873, the fence was removed and a marble stone wall and ornamental fence were erected to enclose the property. Extensive interior renovations were made in 1904 and 1982. A 1235 pound bell was purchased and installed in 1914. Attendance at St. Mary’s exceeded that of any other Lee church at its very beginning and that continues to be true.

Historical text provided by the Town of Lee Historic Commission and local historians, Phil Smith and Bill Matthews.