Wendell, Massachusetts, founded 1781

TheWendell Historical Society

Wendell’s first history museum

In the 245 years since the town was founded, Wendell has never had its own history museum. The Wendell Historical Society (WHS) is now restoring the former Wendell Depot Store & post office as the home for the town’s artifacts, photographs, documents, maps and stories.

Donate = Renovate Follow the restoration
The Wendell Depot Store and post office in 1971, with its Gibbs Package Store, Post Office and Light Lunches signs over the front porch
Wendell Depot Store and post office, 1971

Our Building Project

Wallace Goldsmith built the house in 1930 as a home and barbershop. It became a general store, luncheonette and post office in 1958. The WHS acquired it in 2023 and in just three years we have given new life to this historic structure.

WENDELL HISTORICAL SOCIETY
BuildingFormer Wendell Depot Store and Post Office
Built1930, by Wallace Goldsmith, age 74
His helperD. O. Perry
Next lifeWendell's first history museum

Progress Report

  • Added museum store extension
  • Removed old roof over side entrance
  • Installed new clapboards and trim
  • Installed energy efficient windows
  • Beautified exterior with new paint
  • Gutted the interior
  • Started new electrical wiring

This facelift was paid for by donations from our community!

Front of the Depot building during the exterior work in October 2026: light blue clapboards and shingled gable, white trim, the front porch with rocking chairs and the Wendell Historical Society sign
Exterior work, October, 2026

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Our wish listWendell Historical Society
Wendell, MA 01379
  1. Porch deck
  2. Porch stairs
  3. New roof
  4. HVAC upgrade
  5. Electric upgrade
  6. Insulation
  7. Bathroom upgrade
  8. Access ramp repair
  9. Plumbing upgrade
  10. Septic
  11. Drainage upgrade
  12. Interior sheet rock
  13. Interior paint
  14. Floors
  15. Outdoor museum
  16. Tourist information kiosk

Our 200 year wait is just no fun, now is our chance to get the job done!

Don't wait, donate!Donate = Renovate

Our Building Project

An Exceptional History Museum

Wendell Historical Society exhibits will be displayed with a professional and artistic approach. Our interior design embraces creative layouts, beautiful wall colors and dramatic lighting to give the visitor a pleasurable and fulfilling history museum experience.

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The society’s Old Home Day exhibit in August 2025: photographs on black display panels, a framed landscape painting and an old portrait on a yellow wall
Old Home Day exhibit, August, 2025

Our Building Project

Where the Community Meets Again

Cut away view of the planned interior: the Goldsmith Museum Store, the Gibbs Coffee Bar with its lunch counter and stools, and the Hartjens Center Museum with exhibits and a small concert

The Wendell Depot Store was always a center of community activity where folks chatted over a cup of coffee or where children bought penny candy after school.

Our Gibbs Coffee Bar will bring this long-lost tradition back home where it belongs. The original 1958 lunch counter has been saved and fully restored. The accompanying bar stools will have new paint, new chrome and will be named for prominent citizens who ‘reserved’ them back in the day.

The Goldsmith Museum Store is where you will find original works by local artists, antiques and collectibles, WHS merchandise and yes, even penny candy for the kids... just like it was a long time ago!

Our Hartjens Center Museum will also serve as a performance venue for readings and living room style concerts.

The Wendell Historical Society is where friends will once again gather year-round in a newly renovated climate resilient building they know and love.

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Our Building Project

History in the Depot, Inside and Out

The side of the Depot with the Outdoor Museum sign, large historic photographs on the clapboards, the Goldsmith Museum Store door and the access ramp

Friends and visitors from out of town will learn about Wendell in different and innovative ways. As you make your way up our side entrance, the Outdoor Museum begins our story with theater-size reproductions of historic images that are back-lit for day or nighttime viewing.

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Our Building Project

The Wendell Historical Society: A Regional Hub

A red tourist information booth on the porch of the Depot
Pamphlets about the region: the Swift River Valley Historical Society, antiques, Western Mass and driving tours of the Mohawk Trail

We are located at the north end of Wendell just off Route 2, the historic Mohawk Trail, and Route 2A, near the former Fitchburg Railroad and the Millers River. The towns of Orange, Warwick, Northfield and Erving, Massachusetts are all close by. Our research work is centered in Wendell and extends to neighboring towns, the Commonwealth and beyond. For those traveling through the area, the WHS is your destination for local history, genealogy and even information about nearby tourist attractions.

Three friends talking in rocking chairs on the Depot porch

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MUZE · Online museum and digital collections

Preserving Wendell’s Past

Artifacts, photographs, books, maps, ephemera and genealogy: a sample of what the WHS collects and protects in our climate controlled repository. Exhibits in the Hartjens Center Museum will reflect our extensive and growing collection which is always available online for you to enjoy.

Step into the past →
The Wendell Depot railroad station around 1900, with a freight car, a baggage cart and people on the platform

Wendell Depot Station ca 1900

Wendell had its own train station from 1848 until it was demolished in 1942.

2023.6b.2Photographs
Rusted iron d-ring from a horse bridle

A horse bridle d-ring

This item was discovered under an exterior wall at our museum during renovations in June, 2025. We think it slipped between the wall during construction in 1930.

2023.1.49Physical Objects
1858 map of Wendell Center with roads, houses and family names

Map of Wendell Center, 1858

By H. F. Wallings with historic family names and buildings that have been lost over time.

2023.13.4Maps and Plans
Victorian chain mesh purse with an ornate metal frame

A Victorian chain purse

Found at the Wendell Parsonage in 2003 at the location of an old carriage shed.

2023.1.37Physical Objects
Landscape painting of blue hills under a pale evening sky

“Landscape” by Michael Brenneman, 1993

One of several Brenneman works donated to the WHS by Edward Judice.

2023.9.26Fine Art
Wendell Town Hall around 1900, a clapboard building with a tall flagpole

Wendell Town Hall ca 1900

The town hall building became the Center School in the 1930s and then housed town offices again in the 1970s. It was destroyed in the 2006 tornado.

2023.6c.6Fine Art

News · Events · Auctions

News

What is happening at the society, posted by the society itself.

News

Two women holding the Ballard tavern sign in front of a red barn
Dottie Frye (left) of the Swift River Valley Historical Society presents the Ballard Tavern sign to WHS board member Pam Richardson.

New · New Salem, Mass.

The Ballard Tavern sign comes home

The tavern was in the two story house that still stands at the corner of Jennison and Old Stage Coach Roads, on the stage coach route from Greenfield through Wendell to Petersham and Worcester. Daniel Ballard, Josiah Ballard and then Josiah's brother James ran it for three or four decades.

The sign went to the Swift River Valley Historical Society in 1939. It came back to Wendell 86 years later, at the request of Josiah Ballard's great-great-granddaughter, the genealogist and centenarian Fay Hunting Bennett.

Read the full story (PDF)

Events

  1. Aug92025

    PHOTO: Sixty-five years of Edward Judice art

    Old Home Day · 10 Center Street · 10 am to 5 pm

    Photographs by Edward Judice, who lived in Wendell for over 20 years. The exhibit had a huge turnout.

    Poster for the Edward Judice photography exhibit
  2. Jul232024

    Troubled Waters

    Wendell Free Library, Herrick Room · 6:30 pm

    Wendell's doomed power plant, 1909 to 1938. Co-sponsored by the Wendell Free Library.

    Watch on YouTube

New events appear here and on the calendar as soon as the society posts them.

Auctions

WHS eBay store
Poster for WHS eBay auction number one, with antique collectibles
ClosedSept. 28, 2026

ClosedRan through September 28, 2026

Auction No. 1

Antique collectibles from Europe, Asia and the Middle East: a Florentine wood letter box, a brass duck oil lamp, brass and bronze powder flasks, a Dhokra bronze horse rider and a hand carved Tembe hair comb.

The next auction will be posted here.

Visit the eBay store

At the picture show

Wendell on film

Talks and films from the society about the town: its farms, its people and its doomed power plant.

All films on YouTube →
Title card for Troubled Waters, Wendell's doomed power plant, 1909 to 1938

Troubled Waters

Wendell's doomed power plant, 1909 to 1938.

▶ Admit one
Painted title card for Farm on the Common

Farm on the Common

The story of agriculture in Wendell, Massachusetts.

▶ Admit one
Old photograph of Jack Ellis as a smiling boy in a white cap

The Night Jack Ellis Died

A tribute to a beloved Wendell citizen, by WHS President Edward Hines. Part of the 2025 Ashfield Film Festival.

▶ Admit one

On television: WWLP Channel 22, Mass Appeal, May 23, 2023.

Stories

Wendell, in print

Clippings and an old parsonage: the long story of the town, written down.

Cover of the Charles Ballou collection, with an engraved cow and horse and two portraits

The Mayor of Wendell

Charles Martin Ballou, one of our most influential and controversial citizens, in clippings and stories.

1867 to 1946 · clippings 1892 to 1946

Open the collection

Portrait of Wallace M. Goldsmith in a bow tie

The man who built our house

Wallace M. Goldsmith built the WHS building in 1930, originally as a home and barbershop.

1856 to 1939 · clippings 1885 to 1939

Open the collection

Watercolor of the Wendell Parsonage, a white two story house among trees

The 1823 Wendell Parsonage

The former home of the ministers of the Wendell Congregational Church. Watercolor by Christine Texiera.

Read its story

Pam Richardson's Wendell MA History blog →

Historical societies don't grow on trees

They grow with your financial support.

NameA friend of Wendell
Gift$15 a month

The Wendell Historical Society is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. TIN 92-3299944. Wendell, MA 01379.

Support the society

Donate = Renovate

1

Become a monthly donor

Just $15 a month helps pay the utilities, the insurance and the heating.

Give monthly
2

Give through your fund

Donor advisors with Fidelity Charitable, Schwab Charitable and the BNY Mellon Charitable Gift Fund can give through DAF Direct.

DAF Direct
3

Drop by the Country Store

Donate to the WHS at the Wendell Country Store, and say hi to Donna!

Donna at the Wendell Country Store holding the WHS donation jar

Our good neighbors · local businesses that support the WHS

Pete's Tire Barns
Diemand Farm
Dean's Beans
Greenfield Savings Bank
Wendell Country StoreWe're all here, 'cause we're not all there!
Greenfield & Northampton Cooperative Bank
Scotty's Potties
John's Paint Store
StamellStringed instruments · violin, viola, cello, bass

Who we are

A society of neighbors

The Wendell Historical Society actively collects, archives, preserves and displays items from our shared past. Once the Depot opens as Wendell's first history museum, it will be where research and learning take place, with museum shows, events, readings and concerts.

Read our mission

The board

President
Edward J. Hines
Treasurer
Joyce Flynn
Clerk
Jackie Hunt
Directors
Pamela Richardson, Florrie Blackbird, Joseph Coll, Kristina Hartjens, Michael Hartjens
Two people holding the society's registration papers at the town office

Registered with Town Clerk Anna Wetherby on April 1, 2023. No April fool!

Take a little Wendell home

Every purchase supports the society and the museum in the old Depot Store. Shipping rebate with pickup or delivery in Wendell. Payment is through the society's own PayPal account.

Apparel

Made for the society, to wear around town.

WHS T-shirt

WHS T-shirt

Artwork by Susan (Dunlaney) Von Ranson. 100% heavy cotton, white with a purple print.

WHSAP-001, plus shipping

$25
Wendell Train Hat

Wendell Train Hat

For men, women, girls and boys. One size fits all.

WHSAP-002, plus shipping

$25
Wendell Apron

Wendell Apron

One size fits all. Brown stripes.

Currently on back order

WHSAP-003, plus shipping

$25

Books and postcards

Wendell as it was, on paper.

The Early History of Wendell, MA

The Early History of Wendell, MA

Non fiction. Paperback, 5 7/8 by 8 7/8 inches.

WHSPB-001, plus shipping

$20
Wendell Depot Railroad StationPost Office and Putnam StoreAthol Orange Power PlantMain Road, Wendell DepotWendell Depot SquareMillers River and Bears Den Mountain

Vintage Views of Wendell Depot

A set of six 5 by 7 inch postcards of Wendell Depot around 1910. Each view is also available as an 8 by 10 inch framed photo print for $25; contact the society to order one.

  1. Wendell Depot Railroad Station
  2. Post Office and Putnam Store
  3. Athol Orange Power Plant
  4. Main Road, Wendell Depot
  5. Wendell Depot Square
  6. Millers River and Bears Den Mountain

WHSPC-001, plus shipping

$10

Visual art

Paintings and prints by local artists.

Wendell Parsonage, Painting by Christine Texiera

Wendell Parsonage

Painting by Christine Texiera

The original watercolor, or a print on photo paper.

WHSVA-009, price includes shipping

$20
Autumn View of Kentfield and Wendell Depot Roads

Autumn View of Kentfield and Wendell Depot Roads

Photo print, framed.

WHSVA-010, plus shipping

$25
August, Print by Donna Horn

August

Print by Donna Horn

Print, framed, 8 by 10 inches.

WHSVA-001, plus shipping

$45
Norman the Cat, Print by Donna Horn

Norman the Cat

Print by Donna Horn

Print, framed, 8 by 10 inches.

WHSVA-002, plus shipping

$45
Water Goddess, Print by Donna Horn

Water Goddess

Print by Donna Horn

Print, framed, 8 by 10 inches.

WHSVA-003, plus shipping

$45
The Artist in Its Studio, Painting and print by Donna Horn

The Artist in Its Studio

Painting and print by Donna Horn

A framed print, or the acrylic on unstretched canvas.

WHSVA-004, contact the society for pickup or shipping rates

$45

Photography

Signed prints by Django Skorupa, on Red River Palo Duro Etching 315 paper, unmounted. Contact the society for mounting and framing.

Born in Light

Born in Light

Signed print, 11 by 14 inches.

WHSPA-005, price includes shipping

$70
The Last Harvest 1

The Last Harvest 1

Signed print, 5 by 7 inches.

WHSPA-006, price includes shipping

$35
The Last Harvest 2

The Last Harvest 2

Signed print, 5 by 7 inches.

WHSPA-007, price includes shipping

$35
Crumbling, Fading

Crumbling, Fading

Signed print, 10 by 10 inches.

WHSPA-008

$50

Music

Recordings by Edward J. Hines. The CD price includes shipping; downloads arrive by email.

The Best of Anatolia

The Best of Anatolia (2019)

Turkish and Arabic folk music performed on traditional Middle Eastern instruments.

$14.95
Aksak for Piano

Aksak for Piano (2021)

Classical piano music inspired by Turkish folk songs.

$14.95
An American in Istanbul

An American in Istanbul (1999)

The Yeni Makam series of classical chamber music.

$14.95

Are you creative?

Local artists and makers can sell their work at the museum store. Write to the society to ask.

Have something for the museum?

Tell us all about it.

Thank you. A WHS representative will contact you shortly. This information will not be shared with the public without your consent.