The traditional industrial and commercial heart of the village on the east side of the brook, lining the highway, with a general store and 19th-century Greek Revival church.

Most of the residential architecture is 19th century, reflecting the area's importance in that period as a small-scale manufacturing center.

[5] The town of Calais was incorporated in 1786, and grew in the early 19th century as a collection of independent villages.

The first sawmill in East Calais was built about 1800 by John Lilley, a settler originally from Charlton, Massachusetts.

A major fire in 1873 destroyed ten buildings at the heart of the village, including its only hotel, the Moscow House.