The Bridgewater Iron Works is a historic industrial site located on High Street in

Bridgewater, Massachusetts Bridgewater is a town located in Plymouth County, in the state of Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the town's population was 28,633. Bridgewater is located approximately south of Boston and approximately 35 miles east ...

, United States, along the banks of the

Town River The Town River is a river in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. It flows U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 1, 2011 from the northeast end of Lake Nippe ...

. Previously known as Lazell, Perkins and Company, by the mid-19th century, the Bridgewater Iron Manufacturing Company was one of the largest iron works in the United States, specializing in heavy castings and forgings. The property was later acquired by the

Stanley Works Stanley Black & Decker, Inc., formerly known as The Stanley Works, is a Fortune 500 American manufacturer of industrial tools and household hardware and provider of security products. Headquartered in the greater Hartford city of New Britain, ...

, with the surrounding village still known to this day as ''Stanley''. The location was most recently used for manufacturing by the Bridgewater Foundry Company until 1988. It has since been converted into a small public park, with only the remnants of a stone storehouse remaining. The site was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artist ...

in 2002.

Site history

The industrial history of the site began in 1694, when David Perkins was granted permission to construct a dam across the

by the colonial government of Massachusetts. By 1707, Perkins had established a blacksmith shop at the site. In 1785, brothe