Willard House and Clock Museum
About this property
The Willard House and Clock Museum is a museum located in North Grafton, Massachusetts, United States. Located at 11 Willard Street, it is located at the former farm homestead of the Willard brothers (Benjamin, Simon, Ephraim, and Aaron). The brothers made clocks there in the late 18th century, before they moved the business to Roxbury, where they became pillars of the emerging American clockmaking industry. The house was built about 1718 and is on the National Register of Historic Places. It stands in a rural setting, in the middle of a field that was part of the Willard farm back in the 18th century. Like other contemporaneous horologists, the Willard family originally divided its life seasonally, between farming and the clock workshop. Eventually the business became profitable, at which point the house was further enlarged. While in Grafton, Simon, the most innovative and most famous of the Willard brothers, developed his first so called banjo clock, more properly called the "Willard Patent Timepiece", which was patented in 1802.
Location
Categories
Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).
Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Everything a full report reveals about Willard House and Clock Museum
This page lists Willard House and Clock Museum. A full Aubrey report for an address near it pulls together this listing alongside battlefield records, land patents, and every other historical record within a chosen radius:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Questions about this property
When was Willard House and Clock Museum listed on the National Register?
Willard House and Clock Museum was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 31, 1982.
What type of historic resource is Willard House and Clock Museum?
Willard House and Clock Museum is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.
What is the period of significance for Willard House and Clock Museum?
The period of significance for Willard House and Clock Museum is recorded as the industrial era.
Can I research the history near Willard House and Clock Museum?
Yes. Aubrey Research reports search National Register listings, battlefield records, land patents, and other primary historical sources within any radius of a US address. A report for an address near Willard House and Clock Museum will include this listing and all other historical records in the area.
More in Worcester County
Historic places, battles, and census history across Worcester County.
Explore WorcesterCounty ›More historic places in Massachusetts
Browse all historic places in Massachusetts.
View Massachusettshistoric sites ›Massachusetts history
Colonial settlement, territorial period, and statehood narrative.
Massachusettshistory ›Research the history near this site
An Aubrey US report for an address near Willard House and Clock Museum will include this listing alongside battlefield records and other historical sources within your chosen radius.