Sharon and Walpole, Massachusetts, were the home towns of Henry P. Kendall. He grew up in Walpole, where several generations of his mother’s family lived. A section of the town is still known as Plimptonville. Walpole was also the site of the Lewis Batting Company, Henry Kendall’s first mill, and became the headquarters of the Kendall Company. The Plimpton Iron Works were also located in Walpole, and the Plimpton Press in nearby Norwood.
Harry and Evelyn Kendall spent most of their married life in Sharon; it was also the primary home of Henry W. Kendall as an adult, and for some years of John P. Kendall and his family. Henry P. Kendall had extensive real estate holdings in Sharon, took an active part in Sharon town affairs, and was devoted to the preservation of public open lands there.
The Sharon and Walpole archives include:
- 19th and 20th century maps, plot plans and surveyor’s reports of various areas in Sharon and Walpole
- A large plan of Sharon Center hand-drawn in 1926, showing lots, property owners, hydrants and existing and proposed streets and parks
- Maps showing Kendall-owned and abutting lands in Sharon and Walpole in various years from the 1930s onward
- Photograph albums and individual photographs of Kendall family-owned properties and their neighborhoods in Sharon and Walpole, most from the early 20th century
- Glass slides and glass plate negatives of Walpole scenes taken by J. Edward Plimpton ca. 1890–1910
- Photographs of the Homestead and Lewis Farm in Walpole
- Historical remembrances of the village of Plimptonville
- Correspondence and records related to the Moose Hill Trust, the Plimpton Trust, and management of various properties
- Construction plans for Bluff Head Circle and other Kendall-owned Sharon properties
- Correspondence and documents related to the layout and construction of Interstate Highway 95 in Sharon in the late 1950s and 1960s
- News coverage related to Kendall properties in the towns
nct-archive.org 