Since Kennebunk’s first settlement in the mid 1600s, the Mousam River site has hosted many industries, including sawmills, textile and matting mills, shoe mills, iron mills, paper mills, grist mills, trunk and leatherboard manufacturers, and sash and blind manufacturing mills. The present brick building, now known as the Lafayette Center, was built after a destructive fire in 1903, became the site of the Goodall Worsted (Matting) Company, then in 1926 became home to the Kesslen Shoe Company, which closed in 1972. The building now houses several businesses.
