Draft:WD Cowls

WD Cowls, founded in 1741, is a forestry, development, and building supply company in Amherst, Massachusetts. It is one of the oldest continuously operating businesses in the United States and one of the largest landowners in Massachusetts.

History
The Cole family arrived in 1634 to the Hartford, Connecticut area, changing their name to Cowles to avoid confusion with an existing family. Successive generations slowly moved up the Connecticut River until Jonathan Cowls' purchase of the farm and timber parcels that would become the core of the Cowls farming and timber businesses. A saltbox famhouse, or the "Home Farm" was built at 134 Montague Rd, and is the company's address as of 2024.

The 1896 Amherst-Sunderland Street Railway was spearheaded by Walter D. Cowls, who sold the company gravel and timber and offered his own front porch as a trolley stop. The Cowls Road trolley depot, which connected directly to the B&M Railway line, was a local freight hub for farmers and tradesmen.

Cowls Building Supply, opened in 1980 by Paul C. Jones, an eighth-generation Cowls, is a building, lumber, and paint supply store. A sawmill was built behind the store, but closed in 2010. The site of the sawmill is now home to North Square at the Mill District, a 130-unit housing development with 22,000 square feet of retail space.