Skip to content
Lower Mills
Dorchester.MA:Image:Bakermill
Enlarge
Located where Adams Street hits Dorchester Avenue near the Neponset River Reservation. The Massachusetts tribe, who greeted the English settlers when they arrived in 1630, used the Algonquin name "Unquity", meaning “lower falls,” for this place on the Neponset River that later came to be known for its manufacturing. Four chocolate companies were at one time located here: Baker, Preston, Ware and Webb and Trombley. Lower Mills spreads across formal border of Dorchester into the town of Milton and is located within walking distance of the Milton MBTA station, as well as the Central Avenue stop further down the line. Historic buildings such as the Baker Chocolate Factory Apartments remain. The Lower Mills became:
  • - the site of Israel Stoughton’s gristmill in 1634,
  • - location of the first gun powder mill in New England in 1665,
  • - and in 1765, site of one of the first chocolate mills (Walter Baker's & Co., 1765-1965) in America
  • - the historic location of the Triumphal Arch where then Ambassador John Adams was welcomed back to America in 1798
  • - location or Roswell Gleason's famous pewter and silver works.
The Lower Mills section of Dorchester is a pleasant, quiet neighborhood that feels like it is far away from the city, but is in fact only a couple of minutes off the Southeast Expressway. With its attractive main street, stress-free parking, and easy access to the Neponset bike path, Lower Mills is one of Boston's hidden gems.