Windham Historical Society was organized in 1967 with preservation of the town’s history as one of its goals. Thirty years later, it acquired the first of several of the town’s most historic buildings, known as “The Old Grocery.”

The wood framed 30-by-50-foot structure sits at the corner of Route 202 and Windham Center Road and was originally a tailor shop for William Goold. The building was moved to the corner in 1838, and it’s assumed the original location may have been further down Windham Center Road where the Goold family lived.

Goold continued his tailoring here for a short time and then the building was used as a cobbler shop (shoemaker), a grain and grocery store (Hawkes), and decades ago, given to the Crossroads Garden Club. After that, the Community Theater took it over but couldn’t afford to do the renovations necessary and so the old building in 1997 came to the Windham Historical Society.

The Society replaced the roof, the sills, part of the floor, windows, and spent more than $10,000 and untold hours of volunteer labor to create a museum which holds many items originally used in the building, including shoemaking tools, grocery containers and artifacts of an earlier Windham.

Tailor William Goold’s association with his former shop is not forgotten. He was one of the town’s first historians and wrote “Portland in the Past,” a valuable history of that city. When a Portland church, built in 1802, was taken down, Goold rescued the carved wooden trim of oak leaves and acorns, and incorporated them into the pediment of his tailor shop, still to be seen today.

Windham Historical Society plans for the future including the development of the Village Green near its headquarters. This “living history center” will include some of the town’s oldest buildings including The Old Grocery Museum, which will be moved once again.

The building at the corner of Route 202 and Windham Center Road known as the Old Grocery, originally served as a tailor shop.