The Old Center of Dover

THE EARLIEST MAP OF DOVER DRAWN in 1794 showed only one road through town - called "The Main Road to Boston". Coming down present Farm Street from Sherborn and Medfield it made a sharp turn east onto what is now Springdale Avenue and went on past the Meetinghouse in the present center. To early travelers this bend in the road came to be called "The Corner".

1794 Map of Dover
Massachusetts Archives

When Cheneys built their house at the foot of Pegan Hill before 1762 people called it the "Corner by Cheney". In the early 1800's it was Bigelow's Corner named for Calvin Bigelow who lived in the old Cheney house and had a blacksmith shop across Main Street at the corner of Springdale. Starting in the 1860's the Bliss family was prominent in the area and the Corner took their name. Later still it was called Skimmings Corner for the Skimmings family who kept a general store in the house at 1 Pegan Lane.

THE TIME OF GREATEST ACTIVITY at the Corner was in 1876 when development there reached its peak as the center of Dover. At that time Chapel Street cut across the side of the hill at the northeast side of the intersection.

Map of Bliss Corner, 1876

THIS MAP OF BLISS' CORNER IN 1876 is based on Ben Sawin's insurance sketches, deed records, a plan of Springdale Park and local newpaper items of that time. The original blacksmith shop built at the corner of Springdale and Main was raised to become the upper story of the general store. The Baptist Chapel was relocated here about 1860 from a site beside the river near Fisher Bridge on Centre Street. In 1911 it was moved to Whiting Road to become the "fire engine house".

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