The Eastman Hill Farm History

As written by the Lovell Historical Society, Yesterday's News, Volume 19, Number 1, Winter 2012​

The Roaring Twenties is distinguished as a period of sustained economic prosperity. The popularity of movies, the automobile, jazz, radio, baseball, and horse racing skyrocketed during this decade. It was a time of major lifestyle changes and the small town of Lovell, population 575. influenced the nation during these years, thanks in part to Robert Eastman and his development of Eastman Hill Stock Farm.The focal point of Eastman Hill Stock Farm is the Federal/Greek Revival style brick house built in 1833 by Phineas Eastman ( 1787-1847 ). Phineas had occupied the site since 1816, and this is where he constructed Lovell's first brick home for his wife Dorothy (Charles) Eastman (1799-1873) and their nine children. When he died, the house was left to his widow and sons, and stayed in the family until 1877.  The property then passed into the hands of a succession of owners-John Abbott, John Walker, William Kneeland , and Hilton McAllister and in 1912, Robert Maurice Eastman (1869-1932) purchased his grandfather's Lovell homestead for use as a summer home. 
Eastman grew up in Minnesota and became a highly successful printer in Chicago. He had taken a small printing business, F.W. Hall Printing Company, and transformed it into the world's largest catalogue and magazine printing concern. The business had over a thousand employees and published Photopay, the Sears & Roebuck catalogue, and National Geographic, among others.  After purchasing the brick house with forty-five acres, Robert Eastman began to expand his Lovell holdings.  In 1913, he purchased the property across the street, including the house with attached ells and barn, known as the Jonathan Charles House . This became the home of the farm's superintendant. The Town Poor Farm was purchased in 1920 and became the focus of Eastman's stock farm operations.  In 1926, he purchased the Isaac Eastman property, comprising four acres and a Greek Revival style house.