Monks' Block Has Anchored Medfield's Center for 123 Years

This Medfield landmark has watched the 250th, 325th and 350th Anniversary parades march by.  It has seen our veterans honored every Memorial Day since 1888. It has witnessed automobile accidents, felt the trolley go by, listened to the youth of Medfield go marching off to war and it has seen the once sleepy and dirt Main Street become the second busiest undivided highway in the state.

It survived the Great Ice Storm of 1921, the Hurricane of 1938 and the Blizzard of 1978.  There is a love-hate relationship surrounding it.  But no matter what your view, Monks’ Block, on the corner of North and Main Street is uniquely Medfield.

It has housed the retail and commercial interests of Medfield and has given employment over the years to countless Medfield citizens, young and old. Medfield’s youth over the years have hung out around it and drank frappes from its soda fountain.  It has been called the Odd Fellows Hall, Thayer Block and Sauer’s Block.

Banks, the original Medfield telephone exchange, dentists, dancing lessons, piano lessons, bakery, drug stores, luncheonettes, ice cream parlor, insurance offices and the Boston Edison Company have occupied its spaces. Today, Royal Pizza faces Main Street from the Block and Medfield Properties and Hurley-Testa Construction Company occupy its North Street side.

 Its original owners were John A.S. Monks and Olive Thayer Monks. The Thayer family had owned the property and their estate was located there. John A.S. Monks, the famous artist and etcher of sheep, had married into the Thayer family in 1877. When it was first built in 1888 the Block was occupied by four stores which had entrances on North Street; James W. Conger Dry Goods, Edward Newell Meat and Provisions, the Post Office and the dress making parlor of Elizabeth Sewell.

There were and still are eight rooms on the second floor, which originally contained a hallway that had an entrance leading into the “Old Thayer House,” which was then a boarding house. The “Old Thayer House” was torn down in 1923 shortly after the Block and the house had been sold to George H. Sauer. The third floor contains Thayer Hall, one of the most impressive halls in the town.

Due to today’s parking, zoning, fire and handicapped restrictions, the hall goes unused, but it remains as impressive today as it was 123 years ago. The 40 foot by 42 foot hall with 17 foot ceiling adorned with four six-light chandeliers also contains a dining room, dressing rooms and anterooms and one of the best views of downtown Medfield. This hall was later, for many years, used by the Odd Fellows as their hall and meeting place.

Many a concert, ball and dance were held here. The Independent Order of Odd Fellows is a fraternal organization. They are dedicated to improving and elevating the character of mankind by imparting the principles of friendship, love and truth and making the world a better place to live by aiding the community, the less fortunate, the youth, the elderly, the environment and the community at large in every way possible. The Medfield order was very active for many years.

 Before the building of the Church of the Advent, the first Episcopalian church services in Medfield were held in Thayer Hall in 1900. Medfield’s early telephone station, the Central Telephone Station, was located here, and included a private apartment for telephoning. Its operators listened in to all the town gossip. The vault now located in the Historical Society used to be in Monks’ Block when the bank was located on its second floor. The vault was lowered out the second floor window and brought over to the 6 Pleasant St. building when it opened as the Medfield Cooperative Bank in the 1920’s.

In the 1960’s the bank moved and the building with the vault became the home of the Medfield Historical Society.