166 North Main Street –

These four duplex apartment houses were built by the M. T. Stevens & Co. about 1910 on the former north lawn of the Nathan Frye estate. The property was once owned by Abraham Marland from 1828-1849 and after his death Nathan Frye succeeded Marland as the company president from 1849 - 1879.

Abraham Marland established a cotton mill in 1807 on the Shawsheen River at Abbott Village, which continued until 1811 when he began production of woolen goods. In 1821 “Marland leased from Peter C. Brooks of Boston a mill privilege on the Shawsheen, together with new buildings erected on the site of what had been a powder mill. This is now known as Marland Village. The buildings, which were leased for a term of twenty years, comprised a brick mill, the oldest of the present buildings at Atria Marland Place, and a row of brick tenement houses.” Abraham Marland built his homestead estate at 29-33 Shawsheen Rd.

In 1828 Marland bought the entire property which included the mill privilege, old paper and grist mills, and thirty acres of Land. In 1834 the business was organized under the name Marland Manufacturing Company. Abraham Marland was the president until his death on Feb. 20, 1849.

Nathan Frye was born in Andover and at age 14 entered the employment of Marland Manufacturing Co. He worked his way up to Superintendent of the mill and was elected president in 1849. The company sold Nathan ten acres land on the hill overlooking the mill pond and factory on December 31, 1852. The lot went from the Shawsheen River and mill pond, along Stevens St. to North Main St. and south to Railroad Street including the site of the Andover Commons, (former Tyer Rubber Co.) to the Free Church land and back along the ridge behind Bakers Lane and back down to the river. Nathan may have built the house (#166 No. Main St.) on the property prior to owning the land as his house and buildings are assessed 1850 at $4000. Through the years his entire family lived with them in the mansion house.

Nathan Frye married on Apr. 4, 1833 to Amanda Gleason, born Oct. 14, 1807, dau. of Jonathan & Sarah Gleason. They had two sons, Charles Horatio b. June 25, 1835 and William b. Feb. 12, 1840. Nathan built the house 1852-1853 and continued as president “for nearly thirty years, maintaining a name for probity and energy.”

The company defaulted on an 1873 loan from the Andover Savings Bank and the mill was sold at auction to Moses T. Stevens of North Andover in 1879. Sarah Loring Bailey notes, “In the recent financial crisis of the country, this manufacturing company became embarrassed, and, in July 1879, the mills, machinery, and all the property were sold to Mr. Moses T Stevens,”

Stevens began improvements at the Marland mill and in 1884 relocated the road, building a causeway across the mill pond, a new bridge, and additional operative housing on North Main Street and Stevens Street. As the 1913 Andover directory does not list any residents living at the addresses 170 – 184 North Main St. and with a downturn in the market in 1914, we currently give a date of construction circa 1916 for the four duplexes.

In 1896 the Marland Mill operation, now M. T. Stevens & Sons, Co. , employed 200 operatives and manufactured 875,000 lbs. of wool yearly. The company later became known as J. P. Stevens & Co. Inc. after World War II.

In 1953 the J. P. Stevens Co. began to divest itself of all its housing stock in Marland Village which was then subdivided into separate parcels and sold to public residents. Approval of the subdivision plans #2619 and #2020 by the Andover Board of Appeals occurred in Nov. 1952 and plan #3356 in Oct. 1955. Many of the 62 homes were occupied by employees of the mill and it appears as if the Steven’s Co. may have given them “first right of refusal” as many homes were purchased by those who had been renting.

C. Lincoln Giles purchased the property at #166, the Nathan Frye house on Aug. 2, 1958. Giles completely renovated the historic Nathan Frye house into professional office space and added a small cozy apartment in the former attic space. The carriage house was converted into retail space and opened as an old country store.

The former front yard of the house was sub-divided off into a separate lot on July 12, 1959 and sold to The Andover Realty Company. The building may have been designed by C. Lincoln Giles too and is a definite nod to the Italianate style of the Nathan Frye House.
The Andover Realty Company was comprised of:
Marion Real Estate, Trustees; John Bolton Jr. Ruth M. Bolton & Samuel S. Dennis III.
D & G Real Estate, trustees; Daniel E. Hogan, Gisela B. Hogan and Samuel S. Dennis III
Andover Realty Trust, trustees; Daniel E. Hogan, Gisela B. Hogan, Samuel S. Dennis III and Mary Devine
and then the trustees, Samuel S. Dennis III, Norman B. Asher & John Bolton Jr. on Aug. 6, 1962. sell their off the 8th parcel in the deed to the Andover Realty Trust.

The Empire Realty Trust; Sebastian & Anna P. Corzo, Ernest & Elvira Kaufman,Trs. purchased the property on Feb. 26, 1966 the now "six parcel" named in the deed. Helen A. Britton transfers the property out of the Trust on Jan 2, 1968 back to Sebastian & Anna P. Corzo, Ernest & Elvira Kaufman that day, rec. b. 1100 p. 21 as the 13th parcel.

Sebastian Corzo then sells to James P. & Rita Gordon, Richard & Rosemary Harrington, Kenneth & Elaine Osborn - on Jan. 13, 1969. William B. & Barbara M. Maren purchased the property on Jan. 9, 1978 and ran their real estate business from this location. They also acquired the neighboring duplex home at 170-172 North Main St. The two parcels were combined under Maren Co. LLC; Wm. & Barbara, Mgrs. in July 24, 2000.

The property is now under the name North Main LLC as of June 4, 2012.
Andover Realty Company operated here for many years. In 2007 Keller- Williams occupied the building for a few years. Grecoe Jewelry Store, the longest operating Jewelry business in Andover, moved to this location in 2013 from Park Street.