A Little History
of “the paige"
“to encourage the improvement of farming industries, and to revive, as far as may be, an interest in agricultural and horticultural pursuits among the inhabitants in said town, and to that end to establish and maintain in said town from the interest of said fund,courses of lectures, free to the inhabitants thereof, upon topics calculated to awaken and stimulate an interest in farming pursuits and domestic industries, and to improve the methods employed therein”
Calvin Paige
• 1740: Jonathan Warner builds his tavern/store on the southeast corner of the Hardwick Common, one year after the town is officially incorporated in 1739, Massachusetts Bay Colony.
• 1788: Jason Mixter at 16 moves to Hardwick from New Braintree and becomes an apprentice to the General Jonathan Warner, son of Jonathan Warner, and becomes his partner soon after.
• 1795-1933: Jason Mixter and his heirs would continue a store or farming/agricultural exchange enterprise
• 1914: Paige Agricultural Fund supports the creation of the Hardwick Farmers Cooperative Exchange is established in the Mixter building.
• 1933: 4 Mixter families give the Mixter store-office building to the town for “Agricultural Purposes”.
• 1937: Fire destroys the building and in its place a faithful replica of the original Warner building is
completed two years later.
• 1974: Hardwick Farmer’s Co-op moves from the Paige Building to its current location.
• 1975: The town makes use of it for years as a home for The Hardwick Fair, 4-H, Scouting and other
community programs.
• 2010: The Paige Building is used less and less, water is disconnected by the town.