Attleboro Falls Gasholder Building

The Attleborough Falls Gas Holder Building located at 380 Elm Street in North Attleborough is one of only six documented, intact buildings of its type in Massachusetts. These round industrial buildings housed gas holders - or "gasometers" - which were storage tanks for coal gas, a popular industrial and domestic illuminant during the second half of the nineteenth century.

The North Attleborough Gas Light Company was organized in 1855 with a capitalization of $42,500. Coal gas manufacture began in November 1855 at a plant at the intersection of what is now Mount Hope Street and Commonwealth Avenue. The first of the town's three gas holder buildings was constructed at that time, close to the site of the plant. That gas holder building no longer exists.

The second gas holder building still exists and is located on East Street in downtown North Attleborough. This gas holder, built in 1865, has lost much of its historic character due to renovations that included the addition of garage doors.

The third gas holder building at 380 Elm Street was built in 1882 and is the one that most residents are familiar with today. The Attleborough Falls Gas Holder Building is a rare industrial artifact representative of a bygone era and a technology no longer in use. Its prominent location, at the intersection of two busy roadways, makes it one of the most prominent of North Attleborough's historic landmarks.