George Rumford Baldwin - Baldwin Mansion

Baldwin Mansion

The Baldwin Mansion, also known as Baldwin House (Woburn, Massachusetts) was built in 1661 by Henry Baldwin and still stands today, although not on the original site having been moved to accommodate commercial real estate development and the construction of U.S. Rt 95 . The following description of the house and contents predates the transition of the house from Baldwin family ownership in the 20th century.

"The land of the original Henry Baldwin held by his descendant George R. Baldwin at the time of this death in 1888, included between 500 acres (2 km2) and 600 acres (2.4 km2). The mansion is on the noteworthy survivals of our earliest times in size, arrangement, adornment, and in its well preserved relics. Within it are to be found implements, household utensils, paintings, ornaments, and sundry furnishings, with luxurious appliances, gathered by the generations which have occupied it from birth to death. Piles of trunks and boxes contain their private papers and settlements of estates. Most interesting among its contents is a large, select, and valuable library of many thousand volumes, collected principally by the father and brothers of George R. Baldwin and by himself, giving evidence of their scientific and literary tastes. Learned tomes in many languages, costly illustrated works, series of scientific publications on construction and engineering, and sumptuous editions of the best writers in various departments of literature, are among its treasures. This library later went to the Baker Library at MIT. The house and its contents is a memorial of one of the oldest and most distinguished families of its citizens."

His father, Loammi Baldwin, was the earliest civil engineer in Massachusetts, and a leading promoter, surveyor, designer, and engineer of the Middlesex Canal, chartered in 1793. Its course lay through his own estate, the several hundred acres belonging later to George R. Baldwin, and it was completed in 1803. The canal served its uses until superseded by the Boston and Lowell Railroad.