Tannery Flats (1666 -1768)

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Known simply as the Wyman tannery or tan-yard, this enterprise laid the groundwork for what would become one of the region’s most important leather-producing communities.

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The site’s industrial origins predate formal business naming conventions, tying it directly to the Wyman family’s role as both landowners and early entrepreneurs. He owned a tannery  at the present Main and Wyman Streets near Central Square. Francis’ house has not been recorded, but John’s house was a two story frame house 34 by 26 feet with 13 windows having 40 rods of land adjoining. The Wymans effectively started an industry. By 1865 there were 21 tanning and currying establishments in Woburn, and by 1884 the city contained 26 large tanneries employing 1,500 men, rivaling Philadelphia and Lynn as the leading manufacturer of tanned leather. The industry eventually declined, and by 1940 only six tanneries remained in Woburn. SERCSERC

 

The land on which the Wyman School would eventually stand had its first recorded commercial use in 1666, when brothers Francis and John Wyman — among the original thirty-two settlers of Woburn — established the town's first tannery near the intersection of what are now Main and Wyman Streets in Central Square. The Wymans had emigrated from Westmill, Hertfordshire, England around 1636, and had apprenticed as tanners before signing the Woburn Town Orders in 1640.

The tannery drew water from a local brook and provided the raw material that would define Woburn's economy for generations. By the 1670s, the Wyman brothers owned approximately one thousand acres stretching into what are now Burlington and Billerica. Their tanning business operated continuously — passing through at least two to three additional Wyman generations — until 1768, when it was sold to David Cummings.

Source: Miner Descent (Francis Wyman genealogy); Francis Wyman Association; Burlington Historical Commission.