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What is most striking about this 1871 map of Montague Center is how little the town's configuration changed over the next 130 years. The rail line on the northern edge of town, crossing the Northfield Road at Montague Station, is now owned by the New England Central Railroad, but is rarely used. The grist mill of H.D. Capin & Co. on the Saw Mill River now houses the Book Mill. But the two major churches of the town -Unitarian and Congregational - still face each other across the small town park, and the line of houses and stores remains essentially intact. The industry, evident in the town in 1871, has disappeared, including the furniture manufactory and planing mill on the east side of town, and the rake manufacturing plant on the south side.

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