Page 10 THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – FriDAy, OCTObEr 17, 2025 The ‘Saving of the Saugus Ironworks’ “ Saugus Historical Society spotlights Louise Hawkes’ role By Laura Eisener Louise Hawkes and the Saving of Saugus Ironworks” was the program for the Saugus Historical Society’s October meeting. Most people in town are unaware of how one woman’s energy and determination helped motivate the town to preserve the Saugus Ironworks site and set the stage for the National Park we enjoy today. Janice Jarosz, whose interest in local history is well known, put together the many parts of this fascinating story. Samantha Hawkes Clark, a descendant of the Hawkes family, and Kathy Blasingame, who married into the family, provided some fascinating angles of Louise Hawkes’ genealogy and the seeds of her interest in our town. Members of the DAR and Saugus Historical Society contributed some information about Louise’s role in the Ironworks saga, and the Saugus Iron Works National Historic Site park ranger (and Saugus Historical Society vice president) also provided some information. The 17th-century industrial site in Saugus was the first successful ironworks, with workers in several buildings completing the process: refining the iron ore, creating iron bars and producing finished goods to be shipped throughout the colonies. It had a workers’ village called Hammersmith, named after the town in England where there was a famous ironworks. While there had been some iron production in Braintree (near what is now known as Furnace Brook Parkway), they did not produce finished goods, and that business was less successful because they were too far from the raw materials they needed. In Saugus, there were frequent M. Louise Hawkes is shown sitting in the Ironworks House in the mid-20th-century after persuading several groups to raise enough money to keep the house in Saugus and prevent it from being shipped to Henry Ford’s Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan. (Photo courtesy of Saugus Historical Society) lawsuits with nearby farmers whose land was flooded by the dam, which created a pond large enough to provide power for the many waterwheels that operated the machinery. When the Ironworks on the Saugus River went out of business, the dams were broken, the buildings decayed, and homebuilding and road construction in later centuries altered the landscape. A 17th-century house remained on the property (no one knew exactly when it was built), which housed workers from the later Scott’s Mill at 222 Central St. The house was generally assumed to have been built for the “Ironmaster” and was sometimes called the Ironmaster’s House. In 1915 Wallace Nutting, a historian, furniture maker, artist and author of books, such as “Massachusetts Beautiful,” TOWN ELECTION 2025 | FROM PAGE 1 “The Sounds of Saugus” for more details.) “No” to expansion of ash landfill Board of Selectmen Chair Debra Panetta, a longtime critic of WIN, was among the four candidates declaring their opposition to any expansion of the The Ironworks House is the first building visitors to the Saugus Iron Works National Historic Site see when they enter the gate from the parking lot. (Photo courtesy of Laura Eisener) Speakers Janice Jarosz, Laura Eisener, Kathy Blasingame and Samantha Hawkes Clark led a discussion about the role Louise Hawkes played in saving the Saugus Iron Works. (Photo courtesy of Paul Kenworthy) bought the house to display his furniture and recreate historic interiors for tinted photographs. He restored the building to what he considered its original 17th-century appearance and named it “Broadhearth.” When he had to sell the house in 1920, an antiques dealer bought it, then sold it again. In 1938 the Parson Roby Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) bought the site of the Ironworks — then known as the cinderbank because the waste ash landfill, which is expected to close when it reaches capacity within the next few years. “I will not support any expansion of the WIN Waste facility,” Panetta said in her statement. “I’ve attended several neighpile from the original blast furnace was the only visible remnant of the industrial site — for one dollar. In October 1941 the alumni association of Henry Ford’s trade school in Michigan bought the house, planning to dismantle it and ship it to Ford’s historic village in Michigan as a birthday present for Henry Ford. Many buildings, including homes, barns and at least one toll house had already been shipped from other New England towns to Ford’s museum village. M. Louise Hawkes grew up in borhood meetings to discuss the various issues (e.g., noise, odor, fires) surrounding WIN Waste, Saugus. I helped coordinate various education forums Malden but was a descendant of the first European settler in Saugus, Adam Hawkes, who settled near the corner of what is now Walnut Street and Route 1. She was well aware of the genealogy and moved to Saugus, where she got a job as clerk in the Assessor’s Office, where she worked for approximately 35 years. Her volunteer positions were impressive: She was president of Saugus Historical Society from 1936 to 1960 and treasurer of the Parson Roby Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution for a similar length of time. When she heard of the sale of the historic house and plans to remove it from Saugus, she prodded every influential person she could find to raise funds to keep it in town. Henry Ford said that if she could raise money to reimburse the alumni association for what they had paid, the house could stay in town. However, despite the town pledging some money, the state kicking in more, the DAR contributing some, and Louise’s penny campaign, which involved Saugus schoolchildren offering their pennies, it took several years to gather the necessary amount. By 1948 an organization that named itself the First Ironworks Association came up with a plan to dig for the remnants of the original buildings and to reconstruct the casting shed, forge, cutting and slitting mill and blacksmith shop. They made it a tourist destination and charged an admission fee, opening in September of 1954. Eventually, in 1968, the National Park Service took it over and it remains a unique site for discovering part of the nation’s industrial history. Without Louise Hawkes, however, the story would likely have had a very different ending. on incineration, landfills, and waste alternatives,” she wrote. Selectman Michael Serino cited several WIN-related issues in his Environmental Vision stateTOWN ELECTION 2025 | SEE PAGE 11
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