Lanam Club Inc.

The Lanam Club Property, formerly known as “Orlando,” has graced the Shawsheen landscape for more than eighty years. Built in 1916 on a luxuriant hillside overlooking the winding Shawsheen River below, the original house mirrored the vision and spirit of its owner, William M Wood, late president of the American Woolen Company.

William Wood was born in Edgartown on Martha’s Vineyard in the second half of the 19th century. He was the son of Portuguese immigrants who had emigrated from the Azores. He had little money but possessed a driving ambition and an adventurous nature. Positions held over the years in New Bedford and Fall River gained him a skilled background in accounting and exposure to the cotton textile industry. In 1886 Mr. Wood was appointed as an assistant to the manager of the Washington Mills in Lawrence. In 1899, when the historic coalition was formed which merged twenty-six separate mills into the American Woolen Company, Mr. Wood was elected treasurer of the giant corporation.

In 1907 Mr. Wood was elected president and held the position until his retirement in 1924. Inspired by his genius for organization and management, the American Woolen Company thrived as the country’s largest woolen worsted corporation. In 1906, the Wood Worsted Mill in Lawrence, the largest in the world (twin buildings, each 1000 feet long and 125 feet high) was completed. By the time of Mr. Wood’s retirement some sixty mills were in operation with a work force of 40,000 employees.

Ten years after becoming president, Mr. Wood dreamed of developing a model industrial community on the land surrounding the Shawsheen River. This self-contained community would include the company’s executive headquarters as well as carefully designed colonial homes, functionally attractive public buildings, and spacious recreational area. The dream became a reality in 1924, when construction of the total community was completed. Wood named it Shawsheen Village, taking its title from the Indian word, which means “Great Spirit”.

William Wood had a fascination with building and architecture. The prospect of grandchildren gave him another excuse to build. He began construction of a mansion located 150 yards south of his own home, “Arden.” The new home “Orlando” was completed by late 1916. William Jr. moved in, living there until he died in an automobile accident in 1922.

After William Jr.’s death, “Orlando” was divided into apartments and rented for several years, before it was sold to the William Washburn family. In 1957, the estate was purchased by a group of Greater Lawrence business and professional men, who formed the Lanam Club. The name is and original and descriptive one – “L” for Lawrence, “A” for Andover, “NA” for North Andover, and “M” for Methuen.