Shawsheen Village was named after the Native American name for the river Shawshin, which means Great Spring. Prior to Shawsheen Village this area was known as Frye Village. All the streets in the Village were named for Castles & Cathedrals in Great Britain. Riverina Rd however is the exception.
"Riverina takes its name from the Australian rich lands where the finest wools in the world are grown and is the name of a large territory in Australia."
George M. Wallace, who lived in Aberfoyle, was the private secretary, close friend and confidant of William M. Wood. Wallace was the agent for the Riverina Mills, in Medford, MA from 1918-1926. It was Wallace’s suggestion to Wm. M. Wood that the waste wool of the company’s mills could be reclaimed for the manufacturing of carpets. The Riverina Mill was extremely successful under his direction.

The entrance to Riverina Rd from Haverhill St. was once the site of the Smith & Dove Mill, the first mill in the country built for the production of linen threads from flax. The street and this building now occupy the site of that mill on the west side of the river.

This building was not part of the original Shawsheen Village development 1918 - 1924 by William M. Wood, President of the American Woolen Company. Homes and stores were leased through the Homestead Association who had offices in the Post Office building on the corner of North Main & Poor Streets. Most of the business blocks were held in the Arden Trust by the Wood family.

After the death of William M. Wood on Feb. 2, 1926 most of the residential and commercial buildings were then sold. Some were held by the Wood family in the "Arden Trust" and others with the American Woolen Company, which had been deeded the property in December 1920. The A.W.Co. Board of Directors authorized its President, Lionel J. Noah, to deliver all deeds, as deemed necessary to the Textile Realty Co. for sale on Dec. 29, 1931.

The Textile Realty then transferred ownership to the Andover Shawsheen Realty Company on June 30, 1932, holding the mortgage on the properties. T. Edwin Andrew, treasurer, was authorized to sell or lease the properties. With the Great Depression sales were sluggish and most of the homes were rented until the economy rebounded.

This site was once a portion of the property developed for the Shawsheen Laundry building built next door on Haverhill Street. That site held a right of way to the Hussey property which, in the days of Frye Village, held the Husseys family laundry building. It backed up to the traceway out of Hussey's Pond on Poor St. into the Shawsheen River. Portions of the tunnel still exist and were discovered last year (2014) when Hussey's Pond mysteriously drained one night. The plugged entrance to the old trace gave way.

The Shawsheen Market was however in Wood's plans to have an up to date market in the village. The market was first located in the Post Office building in Shawsheen Sq. The market occupied the north end of the building with entrances at 344 North Main Street and on Poor Street.
May 14, 1920 AT – Shawsheen Market Opens Tomorrow – Manager William Kenney formerly of Houghton & Dutton of Boston assisted by Miss Glenzel of Lawrence as cashier and Alex McLauchlan of Red Spring Road as head cutter, assisted by Harry Chipman of Malden, formerly with Arthur Dorr of Boston
and Mrs. Elizabeth Merrick of Shawsheen Village.

The market was taken over by Victor Stelandre of Lawrence in 1930. Stelandre had operated his business on South Broadway for 17 years before moving to Shawsheen Village. The Merrimack Mutual Insurance Co. bought the PO building and needed space to expand. Stelandre's daughter Martha C. Robinson purchased the portion of the Shawsheen Laundry lot on March 14, 1940. The one story market building was built and opened on Friday July 12, 1940. Martha Robinson was the store manager. Martha died in 1951 and the building was then sold to George & Marie McCracken on July 6, 1951.