 Its first meeting house was built near what is now Amherst Center, but a second parish was established at East Village in 1783.East Village benefited economically from industry on the Fort River, just to the east of the village center, and flourished in the first half of the 19th century, with a number of cottage industries operating in it or nearby.Amherst Center benefited from the founding of Amherst College in 1821, and by the arrival of the railroad in 1853, which led to its subsequent economic dominance.