Staff photo by Adam Urquhart The Gatehouse, located just up the trail at the Mine Falls Park entrance near Stellos Stadium, is a piece of history from Nashua’s textile mill days. Paula Lochhead and Greg Andruskevich, with the Mine Falls Park Advisory Committee, opened the doors Friday to give guided tours.

The Gatehouse, located just up the trail at the Mine Falls Park entrance near Stellos Stadium, stands as a historic reminder of the Gate City’s textile mill days, as it was constructed in 1886 as part of the canal system.

“This building was built to make the canal more efficient,” committee member Paula Lochhead said. “Up until the building of this, they relied on guard gates that opened and closed to accommodate the river.”

Lochhead said the canal, itself, was built in 1823, and was built just after Lowell in 1821. In 1823, the Nashua Manufacturing Co. purchased the land that is now Mine Falls Park, a 325-acre piece of land that’s primarily undeveloped. The purchase was made in order to construct a canal and gate system to power a mill complex that manufactured textiles. The Gatehouse, Nashua Canal and Mill Pond are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

“There are five sluice gates that open underneath the building and five gates use a counterbalance system,” Lochhead said. “So, when the two ton block goes down, the gates go up.”

Staff photo by Adam Urquhart A two-ton block had fallen on this piece of machinery, causing the chip seen in the lower right corner. The block has since been replaced with a Styrofoam replica.

Committee member Greg Andruskevich said one of the two-ton blocks had fallen and chipped a piece of machinery below. It’s since been replaced with a replicated Styrofoam block.

However, by the 1920s, the Gatehouse was no longer operating, and in order to make the power dam viable, they had to close those gates.

“There’s only one culvert under one gate which feeds into the Mill Pond,” Lochhead said.

However, she said it wasn’t until the 1990s that the sites were added to the National Register of Historic Places. Lochhead said it was due to a middle school teacher and her students.

“They recognized the historic significance and did research, and got this building listed on the National Register of Historic Places,” Lochhead said. “It’s all thanks to the kids with their teacher at Fairgrounds Middle School – a huge compliment to those kids.”

That teacher is Mary Coe-Foran, who lead the Student Historic Preservation Team. At the time, the Gatehouse was in disrepair. Partially due to their involvement, federal grant money was awarded to partially restore the building and surrounding area. They cleaned up the inside, ridding the walls of all the graffiti that coated the interior bricks. Now, in part because of their efforts, this historic site opens up its doors once a year to give tours.

Adam Urquhart can be reached at 594-1206 or aurquhart@nashuatelegraph.com.

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