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INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Town Property Address LEXINGTON 805 MASS. AVENUE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD 222 BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE: According to E.B. Worthen, in the late 19'b to early 20t"century there were three buildings on the northeast side of Main Street below Curve Street: the post office(this building),Chisholm's harness shop(803 Mass Ave.)and Carl Mandelberg's carriage house(no longer extant). When Augustus Childs was appointed postmaster in 1867, he was operating a small grocery store in the building later owned by Mandelberg which had originally constructed in 1837 as a schoolhouse. It was only used as a school until 1858 and then it was moved across the street where it became Augustus Child's grocery store and initially the post office was located there as well. In 1875,this building at 805 Massachusetts Avenue was constructed and Childs moved the grocery store and post office here. The cellar was used for a stable and harness room. The second floor was occupied as a barber shop. The post office boxes occupied the left side of the street floor and the grocery counter was on the right side. The large back room stored extra stock. Augustus' son, Carlton Childs was appointed postmaster in 1895. In 1900 Lucius Austin was appointed postmaster and continued to operate here. The office was discontinued in 1909 with the establishment of free delivery(Worthen: 49-50; Hudson, vol. 1,p. 296). Austin continued to operate a groceries and provisions store here until about 1915. By 1942 this building contained Wardrobe's Drug Store. The store remained here until 1973. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hudson, Charles. History of the Town of Lexington. Lexington Directories,various dates. Lexington Minute-man, January 1, 1876(see below). Worthen,Edwin B. Tracing the Past in Lexington, Massachusetts. New York: Vantage Press, 1998. Supplement prepared by: Lisa Mausolf June 2009 NEW IL tib I ,C �,I tIRE1 1,:11 FACILITIES-1 t nNIEILIM r,c:>toc C'IZ rN, C6�z6.9zl.ev-3Ufn1F t2od 3 .'?t�'`I2"'i' (.t1 rel;fr.� f 31k i 7Loitll; h.t x2 :Qv [.<345i�.nua 4rUsarfh.;., ain Street, E. E aixap,to1►. ,, ediieM han S,PPn 1111M iij A-it t All the nild< r.�a srs33rf - 35 t s5ni Sf isi a 35,1: !x `dd-rnz3- I�aw2113a�.<7tin32i�iiitecr7eUy -ra xtm t S e t.f au3e,..za r3s '(n3t'1 of the WWD.1. £�euk2gfur 1! f