LOST MANSFIELD #2: JOHN SALTER HOUSE, MANSFIELD CENTER. This house, built c. 1754 for John Salter, Esq., was one of the landmarks of Mansfield Center.

It was located on the westerly side of Town Street (now Rte. 195), opposite the dwelling of his brother, the Rev. Richard Salter. This large imposing house (60 sq. ft.) while relatively plain on the exterior was architecturally rich on the interior. Its parlors were handsomely paneled and wainscoted and the windows and stairways were highly ornamented in the Georgian style.

The house burned on March 26, 1902. By then it had been unoccupied for some years, occasionally serving as a summer rental. Charlotte Davis recalled the scene: “It burned down on a bitter cold night in the winter of 1902. I remember it well as a child. Charles H. Learned who lived across the road woke the village by running in the streets ringing his dinner bell. No fire equipment so house was completely destroyed with whatever furniture it contained.”

This series is made possible by a Capacity Building Grant from The Last Green Valley, Inc.