HAY SCALES EXCHANGE (1825)

The current Federal Style building was erected and owned by Captain Nathaniel Stevens. His first tenant was his cousin Warren Stevens who ran a dry goods and grocery store from 1825 to 1875. Warren Stevens must have been successful as he purchased the property in 1837. The property remained owned by the extended Stevens family until 1959 when it was transferred to Center Realty Trust, a subsidiary of the North Andover Historical Society.

The building is known to many as the Hay Scales Exchange because of the local crafts shop founded by Caroline Stevens Rogers, Caroline R. Stevens, and Polly Bridges. From 1957 until 2006 the shop sold handmade clothing, note cards, decorations, and wooden items until globalization made it financially unrewarding.

Nathaniel Stevens is well known for founding a textile mill in 1813 on the site of the current Mill Pond Town Houses. However, prior to that he ran a dry goods and grocery store from 1811-1812 in the building that previously occupied this site. Surviving cash books tell the story of life two hundred years ago. Payment for goods was some times in cash, some times in hours of work, or some times in goods which were resold to another customer.

Hay scales Exchange then & now