From the Foster School to Foster Place

The building at 940 Main Street opened as a school in 1894. Today it is home to one- and two-bedroom apartments.

Call (978) 815-9869Call 7 days a week · Tours by appointment

Then and now

1893

The town votes for a new high school
Tewksbury sets aside $8,000 to build it.
1894

The Foster School opens
Tewksbury’s third high school is named for Enoch Foster, a local businessman and farmer. The third-floor hall is named for J. C. Pickering. Both helped pay for the building.
1900

An elementary school
High school students move to classes in Lowell, and the Foster School becomes an elementary school.
1906

The Spaulding Bell arrives
The 1887 bell from the old District No. 2 schoolhouse is hung at the Foster School.
1924–25

A rear wing is added
The school grows with a rear addition.
1934

Tewksbury turns 200
The school is decorated with flags and bunting for the town’s 200th anniversary, the moment on our postcard.
1951

A police station next door
The Tewksbury Police Station is built on the Foster School lot.
Late 1990s

Foster Place
JDS Enterprises restores the building and converts it into apartments, adding an elevator, a fitness room and a koi pond.

Walk up Main Street and look for these.

The hip roof and dormers
The steep hip roof and clipped dormers are classic Queen Anne details from 1894.
The entry portico
The projecting front entrance on Main Street is part of the original design.
Stone, brick and shingles
A rusticated stone and brick foundation, vertical siding and wood shingles.
The Spaulding Bell
The school’s bell now stands in front of Tewksbury’s Central Fire Station, rededicated in 1986 to the town’s firefighters.

Source: Massachusetts Historical Commission inventory form for 940 Main Street (recorded 2010, published by the Town of Tewksbury). Postcard from the Foster Place collection.

Call (978) 815-9869, 7 days a week, or send an inquiry to ask about current availability or a tour.

We aim to reply to every inquiry within 24 hours.