Mapping the Oval

The Milford Inn

When a Sunday evening fire heavily damaged the Milford Inn in May 1959, not everyone saw it as a great tragedy. The late 1950s were an era when old buildings often disappeared with little ceremony, and plenty of people were happy to replace aging landmarks with something newer and more modern. Standing on Union Square since 1786, the inn—known over the years as Buxton's Tavern and later Hotel Howison—had certainly seen better days. One of Milford's oldest frame buildings, it had long since ceased to attract travelers and instead housed mostly single male boarders.

Looking back more than 60 years later, though, it's hard not to wonder if Milford gave up something it would now treasure. Today, towns like Concord and Groton proudly anchor their downtowns with beautifully restored colonial inns. A restored Milford Inn would almost certainly have become one of the architectural showpieces on the west side of the Oval.

Then again, history rarely gives us a clean choice. The old inn's footprint also includes today's Riverhouse Café, and suggesting Milford trade away its "damn good grub" would be asking an awful lot in the name of historic preservation.