Major Bibliographical References (Cite the books, articles, and other sources used in preparing this form on one or more continuation sheets.) Previous documentation on file (NPS): Primary location of additional data: - preliminary determination of individual listing (36 - State Historic Preservation Office CFR 67) has been requested - Other State agency - previously listed in the National Register - Federal agency - previously determined eligible by the National - Local government Register - University - designated a National Historic Landmark _ Other - recorded by Historic American Buildings Survey Name of repository: - recorded by Historic American Engineering Record # North Brookfield Town House Name of Property _Worcester, MA County, State 10. Geographical Data Acreage of Property _approx. 9,300 sq. ft. UTM References See continuation sheet.
(Place additional UTM references on a continuation sheet) 1. 19 Zone 740340 Easting 4683500 Northing Zone Easting 2. Zone Easting Northing 4. Zone Easting -See continuation sheet Verbal Boundary Description (Describe the boundaries of the property on a continuation sheet.) Boundary Justification (Explain why the boundaries were selected on a continuation sheet.) 11. Form Prepared By name/title_Susan McD. Ceccacci, consultant, with Betsy Friedberg, NR Director organization_Massachusetts Historical Commission _ dateAugust 2001 street & number_ 220 Morrissey Boulevard _telephone - 671-727-8470 city or town Boston _ state MA _ zip code_02125 Additional Documentation Submit the following items with the completed form: Continuation Sheets Maps A USGS map (7.5 or 15 minute series) indicating the property's location.
A sketch map for historic districts and properties having large acreage or numerous resources. Photographs Representative black and white photographs of the property. Additional items (Check with the SHPO or FPO for any additional items) Property Owner (Complete this item at the request of the SHPO or FPO.) name Town of North Brookfield Northing Northing street &number. 182 North Main Street _ telephone _ 508-867-0200 city or town North Brookfield _ stateMA _ zip code 01535 Paperwork Reduction Act Statement: This information is being collected for applications to the National Register of Historic Places to nominate properties for listing or determine eligibility for listing, to list properties, and to amend existing listings. Response to this request is required to obtain a benefit in accordance with the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended (16 U.S.C. 470 et seq.).
Estimated Burden Statement: Public reporting burden for this form is estimated to average 18.1 hours per response including the time for reviewing instructions, gathering and maintaining data, and completing and reviewing the form. Direct comments regarding this burden estimate or any aspect of this form to the Chief, Administrative Services Division,National Park Service, P.0. Box37127,Washington, DC 20013-7127; and the Office of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reductions Project (1024-0018), Washington, DC 20503 Mes farme 10-800- United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet 8 Section number Page 1 OMa Aaprorel Na 1021-0018 North Brookfield Town House North Brookfield (Worcester), MA HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE The North Brookfield Town House meets National Register Criteria A and C at the local level.
It is significant under Criterion A for its important role in North Brookfield history since 1864. During this time, it has served not only as the seat of town government but has also played an important part in the commercial, social, and cultural life of the town. Under Criterion C, the town house is architecturally significant as an early example of the use of the French Second Empire style for a public building in Massachusetts. It is also significant as a well-preserved example of the work of the locally well-known and very active mid to late-19th century Worcester, Massachusetts, architectural firm, Elbridge Boyden & Son. EARLY HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF NORTH BROOKFIELD North Brookfield as Part of the Town of Brookfield The town of North Brookfield was established in 1812, but before that it was part of the town of Brookfield.
Brookfield was first settled as Quaboag Plantation in 1665. In 1675, following an attack by Native Americans known as "Wheeler's Surprise" ", that settlement was abandoned. Reoccupied in 1688, the town was thereafter a permanent settlement. The original size of Brookfield was diminished as parts were gradually broken off over time to form separate towns. From the original town were formed all or part of the towns of Western (now Warren) (1742), New Braintree (1775), Ware (1775), North Brookfield (1812), West Brookfield (1848), and East Brookfield (1920). The Establishment of Brookfield's North Precinct North Brookfield gained semi-independence from Brookfield in 1750, when it was declared the town's "Second Parish," or "North Precinct." This action was the result of agitation by citizens of the northeast section of town for a more conveniently located meetinghouse.
With the loss of town land that occurred when the town of Western broke away in 1742, Brookfield's meetinghouse was no longer positioned near the geographical center of the town. People in the northeast section of town felt that the meetinghouse should be moved northward, since they had to travel a greater distance than those living in other sections of town to Sunday religious meetings and to the less frequent town meetings. Since there was no consensus to change the location of the meetinghouse, a second parish was formed for the benefit of those in the northeast corner. Before 1831, when the Commonwealth of Massachusetts declared the separation of church and state, town meetinghouses were used both for town meetings and for the religious services of the local Congregational society.
Congregationalism was the established religion in Massachusetts and the Congregational minister was the most important town leader. Town taxes went to pay not only for the secular needs of the town and the care of the meeting house, but also for the salary of the Congregational minister. A New North Preeinct Religious Society and Meeting House A meeting house for the new Brookfield North Precinct was built on land provided by local resident, Captain William Ayres, at a place that later became known as "Lower Village," about one mile south of the present town center (Illustration # 9, see Old Meeting House). Building the meeting house was a slow process. The frame was raised in 1749, even before the new precinct was authorized, yet finish work was still being completed as late as 1757.
(continued) MPS Forme 10-9001 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet 8 Section number Page 2 OMB Aaprovel No 1024-0016 North Brookfield Town House North Brookfield (Worcester), MA After the establishment of the new precinct, the inhabitants went about forming their own religious society. The precinct's first minister, Rev. Eli Forbush (later changed to Forbes), accepted their call and was ordained pastor in 1752. The first "seating" of the meetinghouse took place in 1757. At that time a committee assigned, for a period of three years, each person's seat in the house "according to age, station in life, and what he paid for real and personal estate on the last two years tax lists." From early in its history the North Precinct meetinghouse began serving a role in town government as well as religious purposes.
In 1758 the town of Brookfield began alternating the site of its annual town meetings among the meetinghouses of what were by then three town precincts (West, South, and North). The first of those alternating town meetings was held in the North Precinct meetinghouse in that same year. It is believed that the North Precinct meetinghouse continued to serve as the site for Brookfield town meetings triennially until North Brookfield was incorporated as a separate town in 1812. Town of North Brookfield and the Location of its Earliest Town Meetings history of use for Brookfield town meetings. The old precinct meeting house served town and religious purposes through 1823, when an elegant, church-like new Federal style meeting house (seen on far right in Illustration # 8) was built on designs of the acclaimed master builder, Elias Carter of Brimfield.
The Location of the 1823 Meeting House and the Formation of the Present Town Center The 1823 meetinghouse (the present First Congregational Church, MHC # 3) was not built in "Lower Village". Instead it was placed in what is now North Brookfield town center. Like the earlier meeting house, it served both religious and town purposes. According to the 1987 Brief History of the First Congregational Church in North Brookfield, there were only three houses standing near the new meetinghouse site at the time of its construction. Those houses included the Batcheller house, on the former Skerry Farm on Elm Street, and two houses a short distance further north near the present cemetery on Main Street. The 1823 location was chosen by a committee of three men selected from surrounding towns.
The History of North Brookfield gives few details about the history and development of the present town center, although it credits shoe manufacturer Tyler Batcheller (b.1793) as "the founder of the now [1887] large and flourishing central village of North Brookfield." Batcheller, who had begun manufacturing shoes in 1819, bought the Skerry farm here in 1821. At first he lived in the farmhouse and, in an outbuilding on the property, manufactured rough shoes to be worn by southern slaves. Shipping the shoes south on the route from Boston to Havana in flour barrels carried by ocean-going packets, he was able to make a large profit. With the growth of his company, he built a larger, two-story shoe shop on his property in about 1825. The success of Batcheller's business surely encouraged some nearby real estate development. He growth of the center village.
The 1830 Bonum Nye map of North Brookfield (Illustration # 9) shows that the S.H. Skerry Store stood on the northwest corner of Main and Summer streets (the site of the present Town Hall). Immediately north of it was the inn of W. Walker, (continued) MPS form 10-800- United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet OM6 Approvel Na 1024-0016 North Brookfield Town House North Brookfield (Worcester), MA Section number - Page. Jr. In all, there were about thirteen dwellings and businesses in close vicinity of the meetinghouse in 1830. By 1833 the town's first town house was added to the number of buildings in the town center. Further research is necessary to better understand the time frame and sequence of development of the town center.
Careful deed research of properties in the area would give a better picture of the early development of the center village. The new meetinghouse site near Batcheller's shoe manufactory proved to be a good one. Batcheller's enterprise continued to grow after 1830 so that it greatly assisted the development of a true "central village." From a population of 1,241 in 1830 the town grew to 3,343 in 1870, with the town center being the most thickly populated settlement within town boundaries. The 1870 map of North Brookfield (Illustration # 10) shows a fully developed town center, concentrated along Main Street but extending well beyond it. Illustration # 8 shows the North Brookfield town common and the 1823 meeting house, on the right, as they looked in the late 1880's. On the left is seen Batcheller's large shoe manufactory, which gradually grew up and took the place of his farmhouse.
During the mid and late 19th century, as machinery was developed to carry out more and more of the steps in the shoemaking process, shoe manufacturing was increasingly carried out in centralized factories. Previously this had been a mostly artisan industry relying largely on outwork by individuals at home. It is presumed that the increasing centralization of Batcheller's production was a major cause of the expansion of the North Brookfield town center during this period. By the beginning of the Civil War T. & E. Batcheller & Company had expanded its business to include not only the original southern market but also a large trade with the western states. In addition, "Batcheller's Retail Brogans" were sold throughout New England, as well. In 1870, known as E. & A.H.
Batcheller & Company, the boot and shoe manufacturer had reclaimed its strength after a major setback as a result of the Civil War. By the mid-1880's Batcheller employed 1,300 persons and manufactured about three million dollars' worth of goods. In 1887, according to the History of North Brookfield, Batcheller was the largest boot and shoe manufacturing concern in the United States and had already held that place for a quarter of a century. During the 19th century.New England supplied shoes to the nation. Massachusetts shoe manufacturing was concentrated in Essex, Worcester, Middlesex, and Plymouth counties. Until the 1880's Worcester County was second in production only to Essex County. The towns of the Brookfields (including North Brookfield) and Spencer formed a major core of shoe production in the county. The Batcheller company went out of business in 1903.
Although today the heyday of New England shoe manufacturing is past, the Batcheller site, on Elm Street near the North Brookfield Town House, is still used for a shoe-related purpose by Quaboag Rubber Company, makers of Vibram soles for shoes and boots. NORTH BROOKFIELD TOWN HALLS The present North Brookfield Town House is the longest-lived of the three town halls that have served the town since 1833. It is also the largest and probably the most architecturally elaborate of the three. All three were built with rental space available for commercial purposes as well as to provide a meeting hall and offices for town government.
Although the earlier buildings were smaller than the present town house, comparison of descriptions of their layouts suggests that (continued) Nos Farm 10-800 e R09 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet OME Aapronel Na 1021-0016 North Brookfield Town House North Brookfield (Worcester), MA Section number - Page - the hierarchy of use was more or less the same in all of them. Commercial enterprises and school rooms were located on the ground level and the meeting hall and its anterooms on the second level. At least one, if not both, of the earlier town houses had a belfry for a bell as does the present building.
1833: First Town Hall After Massachusetts' separation of church and state in 1831, North Brookfield built a "town house" for the conduct of town business and the 1823 meetinghouse was turned over to the Congregational society for religious use. The first North Brookfield Town House, or town hall, was built in 1833 on Main Street opposite the 1823 meetinghouse. It stood near where the Union Congregational Church was later built. The approximate site can be identified in Illustration # 11, which shows Union Church on the far left. To the right of this same view is seen the present town hall with its tower. The first town house was built not by the town, but by a group of fifty-three shareholders, on land deeded in 1832 by Daniel Gilbert, Esq. and his sister (?), Esther Gilbert, to the town and the parish for such a purpose.
The building was used by the town, the Congregational society, and by School District #2. Unfinished space on the ground floor was rented out as commercial storage. In November of 1836 the town house shares were transferred to the school district as owner and the lower rooms were finished as classrooms. Space in the basement was leased as a paint shop. For a fee, privileges for use of the hall were given to the town and to the Congregational church. Local organizations and churches of other denominations also rented the hall. According to the History of North Brookfield, the citizenry of the town heard in this hall "some of the most stirring speeches and debates upon American Slavery... that ever resounded from the walls of any edifice in this place." Speakers who delivered addresses there included William Lloyd Garrison, Abby Kelley, Elihu Burritt, Charles Sumner and others.
Current research has uncovered no illustration of this building. However, descriptions written in 1864 by Charles Adams, Jr., give some idea of its general character: There was a basement under the west half and at first there was no inside finish in the building except the entry -- stairs, which ran up on each side from the front door, - an anteroom on the upper floor between these two flights of stairs -- and the Hall itself not more than about 30 x 40 with a desk at the west end. The whole establishment was of the cheapest and plainest style. Subsequently a small cupola was placed upon the east end, and furnished with a bell, which was presented by Mr. Freeman Walker.
He further noted that the first town house was: ...a building without any pretensions to architectural beauty -- very limited in its size - furnished in the plainest and cheapest manner and yet one of the most useful buildings the town ever had or ever will have - It was put to the greatest possible variety of purposes. When first built it was all we needed, but from that time the most rapid period of the growth of our village may be dated. It had become to (sic) small for our accommodation...
(continued) MPS Formu 10-9001 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Page - OMB Aaprovel Na 10210018 North Brookfield Town House North Brookfield (Worcester), MA Section number In 1847, during the worship services of a Methodist congregation in the town house meeting hall, it was discovered that the building was on fire. By the time the alarm was called, it was already so involved in flame that there was no saving it. 1847: Second Town Hall A New Site and Its Earlier Use The second town house was not built on the same site as the earlier building. Instead, a new site was selected -- only a short distance north of the first town house at a prominent intersection in the town center. At a cost of $2,000, the town bought from George H. Lowe the "Old White Store"on the northwest corner of Main and Summer streets.
Before the new town house could be built, the old store, sold to Edmund Smith for about $350.00, was moved to the corner of Main and Maple streets. The move cost the town $66.00. It is not known if the building that stood there at the time of the sale was the same building that is shown on the 1830 map as Skerry's Store. It is assumed that it is, since the term "old" was part of the name it was known by. Hardly anything is has been learned about the "Old White Store" when it stood on its original site. George H. Lowe, who sold the property to the town, is described both in the deed and in the History of North Brookfield as a "merchant". He is said to have been a merchant in town from 1841to 1856. Yet, it is unclear whether he, himself, operated a store at Main and Summer streets. The deed for the property does not indicate when or from whom Lowe acquired it.
Further deed research is necessary to learn the complete chain of ownership of this lot and its history before it was the site of Skerry's Store. After the move to its new location, the old store building served as a shoe factory. By 1887 it housed the Knights of Labor store and meeting hall. The building can be glimpsed in a view of North Brookfield center shown in Illustration # 11. It is the two-story, gable-front building at the far right edge of the illustration, standing immediately to the right of the temple-front Batcheller House Hotel. The gable-front building seen at this location today appears to be the same this same building (see far right of Photograph #6). The New Building The second town house was about 50 x 75 feet in size. The cost to build it was a little more than $9,000.
Like numerous other mid-19th century central Massachusetts town halls, it contained rental commercial space, as well as accommodations for the town and for the District # 2 School. The North Brookfield Savings Bank occupied the north store on the Main Street façade.For a period of time, the south store housed the North Brookfield Post Office. Current research has not discovered any illustrations of the exterior of the new building. However, the History of North Brookfield and lecture notes written by Charles Adams, Jr., give descriptions that help somewhat in visualizing it. By associating details from these descriptions with the date of construction, it seems quite possible that the building was Greek Revival in style, the most popular style of the day. With its main façade fronting on Main Street, it may have been a two-and-a-half-story temple-front building with a two-story colonnade.
According to Adams: The ground floor for about 2/3ds of its length was finished into 2 stores which were connected by a doorway -- and sometimes both occupied by the same store or firm and at other times by different parties -- a door opened into each from the colonnade in front and between these two store doors opened the wide door and stairway leading to the Town Hall above.
(continued) MAS forme 10-900-e United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet 8 Section number Page 6 OMG Approvel Na 1024-0018 North Brookfield Town House North Brookfield (Worcester), MA Temple's History of North Brookfield tells that: ....the basement story was occupied by a stove and tinware shop, meat-market, etc.; the ground story on the Main Street as a store or stores; and the rear or west end was finished off as the " Lower Town Hall," and used for small meetings, schools, etc., until the partition was removed, and the room added to the rear end of the stores. The Town Hall and ante-rooms occupied all of the next story above, and the upper or attic story was used as a pocket-book manufactory, and for other purposes.
Access to the "Lower Town Hall," according to Adams, was "by a hanging walk supported by brackets, running along outside the south wall of the building." Destruction by Fire North Brookfield's second town house, like the first, also had only a very short life. It was lost prematurely on October 14, 1862 when an accidental fire got out of hand in Hiram Knight's North Brookfield Savings Bank in the north end of the building. The entire town house and almost everything in it were destroyed. North Brookfield's town records and papers, the records of School District #2, and the books of the North Brookfield Savings Bank were all lost in the conflagration. Before it was put out, the fire also consumed several buildings nearby. Not only the town hall, but also the Walker Block, Gulliver's Shoe Manufactory, James Duncan's livery stable, O. A.
Tomblen's livery stable, and a large barn in the rear of the hotel to the north were all lost. Many of the surrounding buildings that did survive were partially damaged and scorched by the fire, even including those to the south of the town house on the opposite side of Summer Street. This was the largest and most destructive fire North Brookfield had ever had. 1863: Present Town Hall Built on the site of its immediate predecessor, the present town hall was designed by Elbridge Boyden & Son, a well- known architectural firm from the nearby city of Worcester and completed in 1864 at a cost of about $17,500, including furnishings. The architect originally supplied two different designs for the building, including plans and elevations and cost estimates for-each. Current research has not discovered any surviving plans or elevations.
However, it is possible to know something about the designs that were under consideration, since the building committee submitted a report that outlined details and merits of each. Comparison of the actual building with details outlined in the report (Illustration # 13, pages 1 and 2) suggests that Design # 1 was finally selected. Design # 1 had a ground plan measuring about 76' x 50'. It allowed for an extra store and slightly more space in the building than did Design #2. An important aspect of Design # 1 was that the south façade along Summer Street was better adapted to the irregular shape of the lot than it was in Design #2. In Design # 1, a projecting tower section at the southeast corner of the building was to be topped by a cupola.
Design # 2 would have had the tower projecting from the center of the south end, creating an awkward look and preventing the line of the south facade from repeating the line of the street. Although the building committee recommended brick, the town hall was built of wood, instead. (continued) MPS Form 10-800 e United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet 8 Section number Page 7 OM8 Aaproval Na 1024-0016 North Brookfield Town House North Brookfield (Worcester), MA The ground floor and basement space in the new town house was originally planned for commercial rental. Only one room was set aside for use as town offices.
According to the History of North Brookfield, the new building, as it was built, included three stores and a "good sized room for town officers and town books" on the ground floor at the Main Street level. In the basement were a market, a stove store, and the town "lock-up." The "lock-up" may have been located in the southwest corner of the basement where there can still be seen a small brick room with a segmented-arched vault for the ceiling (Photo # 16). On the second floor were the meeting hall and several anterooms. The third floor provided storage space and an office, used at some time as the assessor's office. The third floor corresponds to the level of the balcony of the meeting hall. The attic seems to have served some purpose other than storage, despite its unfinished state. Money was spent to install additional flooring and to buy tables for the attic.
A two-story brick section at the rear of the building corresponds to an ell already in place as early as 1870, as shown on the map published in Beers' 1870 Atlas of Worcester County (Illustration # 10). It appears that the ell is the same structure referred to as the "Bell furniture shed" in notes written in 1864 by Charles Adams, Jr., a member of the building committee. According to Adams, this addition was voted for by the town and cost $2,500. The date of Adams notes would seem to document a date of construction for the ell that is concurrent to that of the main body of the building.
Current research has not uncovered any more information about the "furniture shed." Photographs of the town house taken in about the 1880's (Illustrations # 2 & 3) show a store located immediately west of the town house marked with signs as "Furniture Ware Rooms." It is possible that the "furniture shed" addition was built specifically to rent to a furniture store in this adjoining building. Sanborn maps show that from as early as 1892 until as late as 1913 the ell was attached to the adjoining store building by a one-story structure. Further research is necessary to discover the history of the "furniture shed" section of the town house. The 1913 Sanborn map shows that, by that date, the ground floor level of the brick ell was used as a "lock-up." The original lock-up, previously mentioned, was in the basement of the main body of the building.
A study of Sanborn maps for the late 19th and early 20th centuries shows that the occupancy of the. commercial spaces in the town house was very stable. The Sanborn map of March 1892 tells us that, at that date, three stores occupied the ground floor of the Town Hall. They included, from north to south on Main Street, a general store, a general store/dry goods store, and a barbershop. A hardware store is shown in the west end of basement. The 1896 Sanborn map shows an additional store in the basement, a meat store in the east end. The 1901 Sanborn map shows the all of these same stores in the same locations. By 1913 the hardware store had been replaced by a tin shop. In 1929, the arrangement of the stores was the same as 1913. In 1929 the location of the former tin shop was shown as an office.
A 1975 photograph of the town house indicates that at least two stores were then currently (or recently had been) occupied by commercial enterprises. Tick's Barber Shop was located in the center store on Main Street and a fruit and vegetable market occupied the easternmost store on the Summer Street side. Uses of the Meeting Hall Over time, the meeting hall in the town house has served a multitude of uses. Not only has it been the site of town meetings, but it has also served as a place where local social events and dramatic presentations have been held.
The annual town report of 1865 lists uses of the meeting hall including a Lyceum for seven evenings, a Temperance Lecture, (continued) MPS Forme 10-800- OME Aaprovel Na 1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet North Brookfield Town House North Brookfield (Worcester), MA Section number - Page - ten (lectures?) of the Lecture Association, Methodist Festivals, and Catholic Society meetings on four Sabbaths. The so- called "South Men's Room," one of the anterooms to the meeting hall, was often rented that year. Groups using it included the Historical Society, Republican Caucus, the Ball Club, and the Cheese Factory Company. In local, state, and federal elections the hall served as a polling place.
For a time during the mid-20th century it also was used as a gymnasium, where high school basketball games were held. Until recent years, it was traditional to hold public school dances here. Today fewer events are held in the meeting hall, since the second floor is not accessible to the handicapped as is required by the Americans with Disabilities Act. The Cohan Family and George M. Cohan on the Stage of the North Brookfield Town Hall Of the hundreds of dramatic presentations held on the stage of the North Brookfield Town Hall, the best remembered are those of the wildly popular Broadway playwright, performer, producer, and composer George M. Cohan and his family. In the 1880s and early 1890s the Cohan family vaudeville team regularly gave performances of their shows at the North Brookfield Town Hall before taking them on the road. After he had become famous in his own right, George M.
Cohan starred in the Eugene O'Neill play "Ah, Wilderness" on the stage of the North Brookfield Town Hall on October 29, 1933 (Illustration # 12). George M. Cohan (1878-1942), who got his start on the stage at the age of nine, went on to earn the nickname "The Emperor of Broadway." Born in Providence, Rhode Island, Cohan lived during his youth with his show business family in North Brookfield when they were not performing on the road. In North Brookfield, according to his obituary in a local paper, he was "captain of a baseball team and staged his own juvenile plays in the neighborhood barns." Cohan kept up friendships from his North Brookfield boyhood for the rest of his life. As a playwright, George M. Cohan had his first play staged on Broadway in New York in 1901. His first real success was the 1904 musical, "Little Johnny Jones," in which he also starred.
In it he played Yankee Doodle Boy, the role with which he is most often associated. During his career he wrote about twenty plays and musical comedies in which he often played the lead. Some of the best known are "Forty-five Minutes from Broadway" (1905), "Seven Keys to Baldpate" (1913), "The Song and Dance Man" (1923), and "The Merry Malones" (1927). Today, probably the most widely known works of George M. Cohan are popular musical compositions, such as "Give My Regards to Broadway," "You're A Grand Old Flag," "I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy," and the World War I hit, "Over There." For his numerous patriotic songs Cohan won a Congressional Medal of Honor. George M. Cohan also took dramatic roles in Broadway plays written by others. For one such play, Eugene O'Neill's "Ah, Wilderness," he received outstanding critical review in the national press.
Of Cohan's acting, other critics called it "surely the richest performance of his long career" and "the best performance most of us have ever seen him give." It was apparently through the efforts of one of Cohan's North Brookfield friends, Mortimer J. Howard, that "Ah, Wilderness" was performed here. Cohan visited his lifelong friend, Howard, in North Brookfield almost yearly through his life. The North Brookfield performance of "Ah, Wilderness" was a streamlined production, apparently adapted to the small meeting hall facility. The play was presented on a bare stage (built in and screened off), without costumes, and with props gathered from the neighborhood. Yet, a local reviewer noted: "This company could have presented [the play] in Mrs. O'Leary's cow pasture and it would still have seemed beautiful.
The little stage of the town hall became in reality the American home it was supposed to portray...." Of Mr. Cohan's performance, the reviewer remarked: "Here is an actor (continued) VPS Forme 10-900e United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet 8 9 OME Aaproval Na 1024-0016 North Brookfield Town House North Brookfield (Worcester), MA Section number . Page who has never grown weary of his art. Thus he has remained free of all affectations and has developed an instinct for timing that comes not from an acquired trick of the stage but from an acute sensitiveness to each moment's psychological impulse." Since the hall as it was set up for the play could hold an audience of no more than 513, a public address system made it possible for many more to hear the play going on inside from the public square outdoors.
A newspaper article published before the event called this "something new in show business" and said that "Ah, Wilderness" would be given "its world's premiere as purely auditory entertainment." It was expected that as many as 3,000 would be able to hear the play over loudspeakers. North Brookfield Town House Today The space originally set aside for commercial use in the North Brookfield Town House came in handy during the 20th century when there was an expansion of town services. Today town offices require more than the original single room in the town hall dedicated to town office space. The building now houses no commercial tenants. Former stores have been adapted for use as offices for the town clerk, treasurer, assessor, the water department, health department, planning board, and for the administrative assistant.
Space on the ground floor is also used for a town senior center while the basement level serves as the headquarters for the town police department. THE NORTH BROOKFIELD TOWN HOUSE IN ITS ARCHITECTURAL CONTEXT American Town Halls 17th and 18th Century Town Halls Early American town halls, in the 17th and 18th centuries, were often modeled after English prototypes with an open market on the ground floor and a meeting hall at the second level. The original 1657 Boston Town Hall, was such a building. Other town halls sometimes housed uses other than markets. In any case, it was not unusual for an early town hall building to serve more than a single purpose. 19th Century Town Halls Despite the fact that Boston built a town hall in the 17th century, few other Massachusetts communities built them before the 1830s.
Until 1831, when the commonwealth declared separation of church and state, town meetings in most towns were held in the town-owned meeting house, which also served as the regular meeting place for the Sunday religious services of the established Congregational society. With the separation of church and state, there was a flurry of building in Massachusetts towns to adapt to the change. Some towns built separate town halls. Others made physical changes to their meeting houses that provided separate spaces in the existing building for town meetings and religious meetings. Mid-19th century town halls were often planned, as previously; to serve multiple purposes. Since town and city governments offered only limited municipal services before the American Civil War; there was little need for office space in the town and city halls of the day.
The expense of town hall construction could be put to good use in a slightly larger building, large enough to accommodate not only the needs of town government but also other community needs. During this period, it was not unusual to combine a meeting hall and a room or two for government purposes with a space devoted to public schoolrooms, a town library, or even to commercial rental space, as was the case in North Brookfield. (continued) VPS Forme 10-9004 OMB Aaprovel Na 1024-0016 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet 8 10 North Brookfield Town House North Brookfield (Worcester), MA Section number Page By including rental space in the town hall building, it was possible to lighten the cost to the public of maintaining the facilities needed by the town.
A few Worcester County towns identified as having built commercial rental space into their 19th century town halls include, the nearby towns of West Brookfield and Warren, as well as Gardner and Shrewsbury. From the 1830s through the 1850s the Greek Revival style was the most popular style for town and city halls in Massachusetts. During the 1850s and 1860s the Italianate style was also widely popular. North Brookfield Town House and Its Architecture The North Brookfield Town House is a mixture of both the Italianate and French Second Empire styles. These were the two most popular architectural styles in the United States during the 1860s and 1870s for commercial, institutional, and public buildings. Both were also widely adopted for residential use. Although each is a distinct style, the two are closely related by their common use of Renaissance style Classical ornament.
A building in the Italianate Palazzo style is typically boxy in shape with a seemingly flat roof and with strongly projecting Classical ornament concentrated around the doors, windows, and at the roofline. By comparison, a Second Empire building typically depends on the use of projecting pavilions and other strongly three-dimensional features to create a more highly articulated and massive form. Its mansard roofs, together with elaborately ornamented dormer windows, create for it a more dramatic and picturesque skyline. Although exterior symmetry is characteristic of both the Italianate Palazzo and Second Empire styles, the North Brookfield Town House is unexpectedly asymmetrical in its arrangement.
In adapting the specific requirements of the building to the small size, irregular shape, and difficult topography of the lot, an asymmetrical design seems to have been the only good solution. Because of the shallowness of the lot and other inherent site and design restrictions, it was necessary to arrange the offices and anterooms on the narrower south end with the meeting hall to their north. Since the ideal arrangement of the meeting hall required the placement of the entrance at the narrower end of the hall, a Summer Street main entrance would have been desirable from a practical point of view. Yet, the site was restricted by the less than ninety-degree angle of Summer Street and by the way the land falls off there. This fact made it impossible to take full advantage of the lot size and also to create a graceful main entrance to the building on Summer Street.
The previous town house on this same site was criticized for the awkward and ungraceful appearance of its Summer Street facade. For this reason, the building committee made every effort to avoid a similar mistake in the planning of the new town house. The solution was to have the entrance on the Main Street façade. The main entrance was positioned asymmetrically at the corner, since a center entrance on this façade was impossible due to the required placement of the meeting hall. To create something of an effect of symmetry on the main facade, the architect created a pavilion at the far right side of the main façade to counterbalance the tower pavilion on the left. Both the tower pavilion and its mate are about the same width and are treated similarly; yet, predominance is given to the corner tower.
Although one expects symmetry of design from both the Second Empire and Italianate styles, asymmetry was not foreign to the mid-19th century period when the North Brookfield Town House was built. In fact, asymmetry was a requisite of the Gothic Revival and Italianate Villa styles that were popular from the 1840s through the 1860s. With asymmetrical styles easily at hand, the question is: why did the architect choose an inherently symmetrical style for a building that, for practical reasons, could only be asymmetrical? Current research has not supplied enough information (continued) NPS Forma 10-900e 0MB Approvel Na 10240016 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet 8 11 North Brookfield Town House North Brookfield (Worcester), MA Section number Page to answer that question based upon documented facts.
However, it seems likely that the reason was the growing popularity of the French Second Empire style in Boston and the desire to have an up-to-date building as the symbol of the town. French Second Empire Style Town Halls The North Brookfield Town House appears to be one of the very first town or city halls in the state built in the French Second Empire style. Massachusetts Historical Commission MACRIS listings of surviving historic town and city halls, show those of Boston, North Brookfield, and Royalston to be the only recorded Second Empire style town or city halls from the 1860's. The earliest of these is Old Boston City Hall (NR/NHL), designed by Gridley J. F. Bryant and Arthur D. Gilman (Illustration # 15A). The Boston and North Brookfield halls were under construction at the same time: Boston, 1862-1865 and North Brookfield, 1863-1864.
According to architectural historian Henry-Russell Hitchcock, Boston City Hall "set off a nation-wide programme of public building in the Second Empire mode." This fact would seem to place the North Brookfield Town House, because of its date, among the earliest public buildings to have been built in the Second Empire style in the United States. Too little is known about the planning of the North Brookfield Town House to tell whether or not Boston City Hall, being built only fifty miles away, had any direct influence on the decision to choose the French Second Empire style for the new building. However, the dates of its construction suggest that it might have. The first plans for Boston's City Hall were drawn in 1860 and construction took place between 1862 and 1865. Planning for the North Brookfield building began in late 1862 or early 1863.
At that time final plans had been made for Boston City Hall and the construction of its foundations and lower portions were already underway. Because the two buildings do not resemble one another, it is assumed that the only influence that Boston City Hall might have had on the North Brookfield Town House was to encourage the adoption here of the new Second Empire style and to suggest its appropriateness for a public building. The work of Elbridge Boyden has not yet been studied carefully enough to know when he designed his first building in the Second Empire style or how or why he might have been influenced to build the North Brookfield Town House in this style. When that information is known, it may be possible to understand more about the role of the architect in the choice of this style.
The only other Massachusetts town hall currently listed as having been built in the Second Empire or Mansard style in the 1860's is the town hall of the small country town of Royalston, built in 1867. One wonders whether Elbridge Boyden might have had a hand in its design too, because of its early date and since Royalston is not far from Athol where he began his career. The three Massachusetts town halls known to have been built in the 1860's represent three very different interpretations of the Second Empire style: Boston City Hall, the only one built in stone like its French models, follows the French Classical precedent the most closely. It is symmetrical in its exterior arrangement with an elaborately decorated pavilion as its central feature and with a prominent mansard roof. The façade is pierced with Roman-arched windows framed with Classical moulded pilaster/cornice embrasures.
The walls are articulated with rusticated stone, Classical pilasters, and engaged columns. The North Brookfield Town House, as has been described, has a mixture of characteristics of both the Second Empire and (continued) NAS Farme 10-800e United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number - Page - 12 OM8 Aaprovel Na 1024-0016 North Brookfield Town House North Brookfield (Worcester), MA Italianate styles. Unlike its French models, it is of wood, although it achieves some of the effect of stone through the use of rustication and corner quoins. It has no elaborate Classical trim of pilasters or engaged columns. Its Roman-arched windows are treated with window hoods with no pilasters, a shorthand version of the Classical trim seen on Boston City Hall.
Above its roof cornice are balustraded sections trimming the mansard roof that recall the balustrades that once enclosed the mansards of Boston City Hall. By comparison to the tower-like central pavilion of Boston City Hall, capped with a high, convex mansard roof, the asymmetrically placed tower of the North Brookfield Town House is more picturesque and less domineering. It is an unclassifiable hybrid, sort of Italianate/Victorian, and distinctly not of Second Empire inspiration. Royalston Town Hall (Illustration #15 B), like the North Brookfield Town House, makes no pretense of imitating grand French Second Empire palaces. This rectangular, mansard-roofed building is something of a cross between a small French villa and an Early American Georgian style court house with a cupola at the center of the roof.
Built of wood, it is trimmed with wood blocks in imitation of rustication at the ground floor and with wood quoins defining the corners of the slim, shallow corner pavilions. The boldly projecting trim; the concave, up-sweeping, faceted roof of the cupola; and the overdoor on large and imposing scroll brackets at the main entrance give it a distinct Italianate flavor. The French Second Empire Style in the United States The earliest example of the mansard-roof to appear in the eastern United States was the roof of the Deacon House, designed by French architect Charles Lemoulnier and built in Boston between 1846 and 1848. In 1847, a mansard roof was added to the 1803 Cabildo in French-influenced New Orleans.
However, it was the "New Louvre" (Illustration # 16), an 1852-1858 addition made by Emperor Napoleon III to the Louvre palace in Paris, that brought wide popularity to the French Second Empire style and to the mansard roof in this country. By the late 1850s mansard-roofed buildings inspired by this style were beginning to be built relatively often in Boston. An 1857 example was the Hotel Pelham by Arthur D. Gilman, the first apartment building built in the eastern United States. Yet, it was not until after the end of the Civil War that the style was widely used Many mansard-roofed buildings built in the 1860s and early 1870s were hybrid mixtures of Second Empire and Italianate. Many had little close relationship in massing, detailing, or materials to French antecedents, were asymmetrical in design, and today are just called "Victorian". .
But, lack of similarity to actual French examples of the style was not limited to these creative expressions. Even more high style American examples of the Second Empire would never be confused with their French models. According to architectural historian Henry-Russell Hitchcock, "the considerable originality of the [Second Empire] mode as it was actually employed [in the United States] was largely unconscious and due to the lack of accurate visual documents, or even a codified body of precedent, to be followed." During the late 1860s and 1870s enormous and imposing public buildings in the Second Empire style were built in this country. They included Alfred B. Mullet's New York U. S. Post Office and courthouse, 1869-1880; his State, War, and Navy Building, Washington, D. C., 1871-1888; and John MacArthur, Jr.'s, Philadelphia City Hall, begun in 1874.
Although this style quickly fell out of favor for public buildings, the mansard roof was widely popular for buildings of all sorts well through the 1890's. Today it is difficult to realize how unique Boston City Hall and smaller and less "pure" examples of the style, like the North Brookfield Town House or the Roylaston Town Hall would have seemed when they were new. The style, and more especially its mansard roof, took America by storm and is ubiquitous here today.
(continued) NPS Formm 10-900- United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number - Page - 13 OMG Apprordl Na 1024-0016 North Brookfield Town House North Brookfield (Worcester), MA Attribution of the Design of the North Brookfield Town House to Elbridge Boyden Reporting on the dedication of the new North Brookfield Town House in 1864, an article published in the Massachusetts Spy noted: "The architect was Mr. Boyden of Worcester." "Mr. Boyden" was Elbridge Boyden, Worcester's best known architect of the day.
Corroborating Boyden's involvement in the project are signed cost estimates for two alternate designs for the building prepared by Boyden's firm, Elbridge Boyden & Son (Illustration # 13, page 3).Plans that accompanied the cost estimates have not been found and North Brookfield annual town reports for the period of construction make no reference to architects or builders for the building. Nonetheless, the newspaper attribution and cost estimate documents, together with the character of the architectural vocabulary used in the building, would seem to confirm the likelihood that the building is his. Elbridge Boyden, Architect Elbridge Boyden (1810-1898) (portrait, Illustration # 14) was a well-respected and prolific architect who carried on an active practice for more than fifty years in Worcester, Massachusetts.
From 1846 to 1861, he was the partner of engineer, Phineas Ball, in the architectural and engineering firm of Boyden & Ball. From about 1861 until 1885 Boyden was in partnership with his son, George E. Boyden (1840-1885). In the firm, known as Elbridge Boyden & Son, the elder Boyden is believed to have been the chief designer. Little is currently known about the role of the son in the firm, although he was listed as "architect" in Worcester directories. Elbridge Boyden was born in Somerset, Vermont and spent most of his youth in Orange, Franklin County, Massachusetts. Like many others who rose to become architects in the days before there were formal schools of architecture in the United States, Boyden first got his training as an apprentice carpenter.
With little formal schooling during his early years, he began a three-year apprenticeship at the age of sixteen with house carpenter Joel Stratton of Athol, Massachusetts. While learning the trade, he studied Stratton's two Asher Benjamin architectural handbooks and learned to use his master's drawing instruments. After beginning his career about 1829 as a carpenter-builder in Athol, Boyden came to Worcester in 1844 to work as a carpenter with masterbuilder/architect, Elias Carter, on the construction of the Worcester Insane Hospital. Within a short time after settling in Worcester, he began to advertise himself as an architect. Boyden's arrival in the city was well timed, since his architectural career there (from about 1846 to.1898) coincided neatly with Worcester's most expansive period of growth and development resulting from the Industrial Revolution.
From the mid-l 840's until about 1866, he was almost the only architect practicing in Worcester. During that period he was responsible for nearly every important building built in the growing city. The most acclaimed of his Worcester buildings is Mechanics Hall (NR) (Illustration # 14), a lecture and concert hall built on Main Street in 1857. The hall's nearly flawless acoustics are said to have been the result of Boyden's early experience as a meeting house builder.
In 1972 Denys Peter Myers, Chief Architectural Historian for the Historic American Buildings Survey, wrote that Mechanics Hall is "unquestionably the finest hall, as distinct from theater, remaining in the United States from the pre-Civil War decade." He further remarked: "No surviving halls or theaters of earlier decades in America are as grand in scale of superior in their quality of design, nor can but a few later halls match Mechanics' Hall in acoustical excellence." As an architect Boyden was progressive in his use of new building materials, including terra cotta, cast-iron, and concrete. As early as about 1848 or 1849 he personally promoted the production of some of the earliest architectural terra cotta (continued) MPS Famm 10-800e OMG Approvel Na.
1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet North Brookfield Town House North Brookfield (Worcester), MA Section number. Page - 14 ornament manufactured in the United States. In 1854 he built an early cast-iron-front commercial block, the Foster Block, on Main Street in Worcester. In 1855 he was responsible for the design of an early example of monolithic concrete construction, the Merrifield House in Worcester. Boyden was working at a time when a number of architectural styles were popular. As was typical of the day, he designed buildings in a variety of different styles. Examples of his mid-19th century work include Greek Revival, Gothic Revival, Romanesque Revival, Italianate, Bracketed, and French Second Empire.
During the latter part of the century he built in styles such as Victorian Gothic and Queen Anne. Elbridge Boyden was elected a fellow of the Boston Society of Architects in 1874. In 1887 he became a founding member of the Worcester Society of Architects. In 1892, when the Worcester Society of Architects became affiliated with the American Institute of Architects, he was elected president of the Worcester chapter of that national organization. He continued to serve as its president until his death in 1898. During his long career, Boyden designed building of all types -- residences, schools, churches, town halls and courthouses, commercial buildings, jails, firehouses, theatres, hotels, hospitals, and factories. His buildings were built in every New England state and in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, Kansas, Oregon, and Georgia.
His work was published in Bicknell's Wooden and Brick Buildings of 1875 and in other publications of the day. Boyden designed not only the North Brookfield Town House but several other town halls as well. According to his obituary, he designed town halls for the Massachusetts towns of Sherborn (1858, Bracketed), Gardner (1859, Romanesque Revival, not extant), Orange (1868, Classical Revival, later altered by Henry M. Francis), Southborough (1870, Italianate, in collaboration with Alexander Estey?), Upton (1884,Victorian Gothic), and Sutton (1885, Victorian Gothic, demolished). He also designed halls and theatres, including Mechanics Hall, mentioned above, and Horticultural Hall (Italianate) and the Front Street Theater (Gothic Revival) in Worcester, both of the 1850s and both now altered. The work of Elbridge Boyden is worthy of more investigation.
What is now known of him indicates that he was very much in touch with the technology and architectural trends of his day. Further research would make it possible to evaluate his work in relation to his period and to the work of other architects active during the second half of the 19th century. Archaeological Significance Historic Archaeological resources described above have the potential to provide detailed information on the town's 19th century economy and the architectural form of its Second Town House (1847). Structural evidence related to the site of the "Old White" or Skerry Store may contribute important details relating to the layout of the store and important facilities it offered to members of the community. Structural evidence can also document whether one or two stores were present at this location.
Detailed analysis of the contents from occupational related features (trash pits, privies, wells) may contribute important information on the extent North Brookfield participated in the local and regional economy and the movement of goods and produce to and from the town. This data may contribute important information on the social, cultural and economic lives of North Brookfield's inhabitants. Archaeological testing can also document the location and (continued) MES ForTu 10-8004 OMB Aaprovel Na 1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet North Brookfield Town House North Brookfield (Worcester), MA Section number 8/9 Page _15/1 form of structural evidence from the Second Town House that was present in the area of the existing Town House.
Little evidence survives describing the form of that structure, destroyed by fire in 1862. Archaeological evidence may contribute important architectural details relating to the building's form, construction, and possible relationship to the present structure. (end) BIBLIOGRAPHY Maps & Atlases Nye, Bonum. Map of North Brookfield. Boston: Pendleton's Lithography, 1830. Beers, F. W. Atlas of Worcester County, Massachusetts. New York: F. W. Beers, 1870. Reprinted Rutland, Vt.: Charles E. Tuttle Co., 1871. Richards, L. J. Atlas of Worcester County, Massachusetts. Springfield, Ma. : L. J. Richards & Co., 1898. Sanborn Map Company, North Brookfield Maps: 1892, 1896, 1901, 1906, 1913, 1929 Town Reports Annual Report of the Selectmen of the Town of North Brookfield, 1862, 1863, 1864, 1865, 1866, 1867, 1869 Published Works Erskine, Margaret A. Mechanics Hall.
Worcester: Worcester Bicentennial Commission, 1977. Gowans, Alan. Images of American Living: Four Centuries of Architecture and Furniture as Cultural Expression. New York: Harper & Row, 1964, 1976. Hitchcock, Henry-Russell. Architecture: Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin Books, 1958. Lebovich, William L. Historic American Buildings Survey: America's City Halls. Washington, D.C.: Preservation Press, 1984. Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Team. Historic and Archaeological Resources of Central Massachusetts. Boston: Massachusetts Historical Commission, 1984. North Brookfield Illustrated with Pen and Camera. Ware, MA: Charles W. Eddy, 1885.
(continued) NPS Form 10-800e 609 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet OMB Approvdl Na 1024-0016 North Brookfield Town House North Brookfield (Worcester), MA Section number - Page 2 Sullivan, Lee, ed.A Brief History of the First Congregational Church in North Brookfield, Massachusetts. North Brookfield: Appleton Library, 1987. Temple, J. H. History of North Brookfield, Massachusetts. Brookfield: Published by the Town, 1887. Journals and Periodicals Downey, Chuck. "The End of An Era", North Brookfield 175 Anniversary Issue, Quaboag Plantation, pp.41-44, 1987. Ellis, Mark E and Hart, Linda. "The Church Across the Street". North Brookfield 175 Anniversary Issue, Quaboag Plantation, pp.21-32, 1987. "Town Hall Dedication". Massachusetts Spy, Worcester. Wednesday, March 2, 1864. typewritten transcription.
Wrenn, George L., III. "The Boston City Hall, Bryant and Gilman architects, 1862-1865". Journal of Architectural Historians, XXXI, #4, December 1962, pp. 188-192. Unpublished Works, Manuscripts, and Documents Adams, Dewing, Stoddard, Walker, Hill. Report of Town House Building Committee, January 23, 1863, handwritten manuscript. Adams Papers, Worcester Historical Museum, Box I (II) Folder 1 Boyden, E. & Son. Estimate of the Costs of Designs No. 1 and 2, no date (c1863), handwritten manuscript, Adams Paper, Worcester Historical Museum, Box I (II) Folder 1 Caille, Gregory V. Historical Commission Form B, North Brookfield, MA, Form #.31, North Brookfield Town House, form not dated, ca. 2000? Ceccacci, Susan McD. "Architectural Terracotta in the United States Before 1870". M.A. Thesis, Boston University, 1991. Ceccacci, Susan McD. "Elbridge Boyden" brief biography, 1980.
Cole, Katherine Bullock and Bourdeau, Robert and Evelyn. Massachusetts Historical Commission Form B, Royalston, MA, Form # 21, Royalston Town Hall (1867), form dated 1971. Gordon, Edward W. Massachusetts Historical Commission Form B, Sherborn, MA., Form # 123, Sherborn Town Hall, form dated 1981. Lee, Sandra. "Worcester Architects". A list of Worcester architects drawn from listings in Worcester directories, compiled for Worcester Heritage Preservation Society, 1977. (continued) posSm 100000 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet 9/10 Section number. Page 3/1 OMB Aaprovel Na. 1024-0018 North Brookfield Town House North Brookfield (Worcester), MA Unpublished Works, Manuscripts, and Documents (continued) Meneely West Troy Bell Foundry, receipt.
Adams Papers, Worcester Historical Museum, Box I (II), Folder 1 National Register Nomination, Old City Hall, Boston, MA, no date, ca. 1969? . White, Frank and Fullam, Ross. Massachusetts Historical Commission Form B, West Brookfield, MA, Form #51, West Brookfield Town Hall, form dated 1873. Photographs and Posteards Collections of North Brookfield Historical Society and Gregory Caille Electronic Data "Life History of George M. Cohan". http://www.cohanlandmark.com (end) VERBAL BOUNDARY DESCRIPTION The boundaries of the lot of the North Brookfield Town House are those represented by the North Brookfield Town Assessor on Map # 106 as Lot # 185. BOUNDARY JUSTIFICATION The boundaries of the present lot are historically those of the North Brookfield Town House.
(end) : prsfam 1000 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number - Page OMLE Approvel Na 1021-0016 North Brookfield Town House North Brookfield (Worcester), MA PHOTOGRAPHS - North Brookfield Town House PHOTO # 1 PHOTO # 2 PHOTO # 3 PHOTO #4 PHOTO # 5 PHOTO # 6 North Brookfield Town House North Brookfield, Worcester County, MA Photo: January 2001 S. Ceccacci Negative: North Brookfield Historical Commission View: East and South facades looking Northwest from Main Street North Brookfield Town House North Brookfield, Worcester County, MA Photo: January 2001 S. Ceccacci Negative: North Brookfield Historical Commission View: South façade looking North North Brookfield Town House North Brookfield, Worcester County, MA Photo: January 2001 S.
Ceccacci Negative: North Brookfield Historical Commission View: East façade, North Pavilion North Brookfield Town House North Brookfield, Worcester County, MA Photo: January 2001 S. Ceccacci Negative: North Brookfield Historical Commission View: West façade looking Northeast North Brookfield Town House North Brookfield, Worcester County, MA Photo: August 2000 North Brookfield Historical Commission Negative: North Brookfield Historical Commission View: Interior, Main Entry Hall with Grand Staircase North Brookfield Town House North Brookfield, Worcester County, MA Photo: August 2000 North Brookfield Historical Commission Negative: North Brookfield Historical Commission - - : MPS Forma 10-900e OMa saprovdl Na.
1021-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet - North Brookfield Town House North Brookfield (Worcester), MA Section number Page View: East and South facades seen from Main Street showing building in context of other buildings on Main and Summer streets PHOTO # 7 North Brookfield Town House North Brookfield, Worcester County, MA Photo: August 2000 North Brookfield Historical Commission Negative: North Brookfield Historical Commission View: Interior, 2nd Floor, Meeting Hall, North end with stage PHOTO # 8 PHOTO # 9 PHOTO #10 PHOTO # 9 PHOTO # 10 North Brookfield Town House North Brookfield, Worcester County, MA Photo: August 2000 North Brookfield Historical Commission Negative: North Brookfield Historical Commission View: Interior, 2nd Floor, Meeting Hall, South end with balcony North Brookfield Town House North Brookfield, Worcester County, MA Photo: August 2000 North Brookfield Historical Commission Negative: North Brookfield Historical Commission View: Interior, 2nd Floor, Meeting Hall, East Wall, Civil War Memorial Plaque North Brookfield Town House North Brookfield, Worcester County, MA Photo: August 2000 North Brookfield Historical Commission Negative: North Brookfield Historical Commission View: Interior, 2nd Floor, Meeting Hall, West Wall, Civil War Memorial Plaque North Brookfield Town House North Brookfield, Worcester County, MA Photo: August 2000 North Brookfield Historical Commission Negative: North Brookfield Historical Commission View: Interior, 2nd Floor, Meeting Hall, East Wall, Civil War Memorial Plaque North Brookfield Town House : North Brookfield, Worcester County, MA Photo: August 2000 North Brookfield Historical Commission Negative: North Brookfield Historical Commission View: Interior, 2nd Floor, Meeting Hall, West Wall, Civil War Memorial Plaque - NAS Form 10-800 e 1-09 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number Page OMB Aaprovd Na 1024-0018 North Brookfield Town House North Brookfield (Worcester), MA PHOTO # 11 North Brookfield Town House North Brookfield, Worcester County, MA Photo: January 2001 S.
Ceccacci Negative: North Brookfield Historical Commission View: Interior, 2nd Floor, Meeting Hall, South end, Detail of balcony and supporting bracket PHOTO # 12 North Brookfield Town House North Brookfield, Worcester County, MA Photo: January 2001 S. Ceccacci Negative: North Brookfield Historical Commission View: Interior, 2nd Floor, Meeting Hall, South end, Detail of treatment of wall behind balcony PHOTO # 13 PHOTO # 14 North Brookfield Town House North Brookfield, Worcester County, MA Photo: January 2001 S.
Ceccacci Negative: North Brookfield Historical Commission View: Interior, 3rd Floor, Stair Hall, Looking West from stairway to attic, doorway to balcony on right, doorway to small room straight ahead North Brookfield Town House North Brookfield, Worcester County, MA Photo: August 2001 North Brookfield Historical Commission Negative: North Brookfield Historical Commission View: Interior, 3rd Floor, Stair Hall, Looking East from small west room, stairway from 2nd floor in middleground, stairway up to attic in distance PHOTO # 15 North Brookfield Town House North Brookfield, Worcester County, MA Photo: August 2001 : North Brookfield Historical Commission Negative: North Brookfield Historical Commission View: Interior, Attic, Looking Southwest from central section, circular grill from Meeting Hall ventilation opening is on floor, original wood roof trusses and steel reinforcing beam are seen MFS Farme 10-800-e OMo saproval Na 10210018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet North Brookfield Town House North Brookfield (Worcester), MA Section number PHOTO # 16 Page North Brookfield Town House North Brookfield, Worcester County, MA Photo: August 2001 North Brookfield Historical Commission Negative: North Brookfield Historical Commission View: Interior, Basement, Northwest corner, segmented vaulted brick room (possibly former Lock-Up) ILLUSTRATION # 1 North Brookfield Town House, Earliest Known Photograph, 1870 This view was taken before the Walker building was built on Main Street to the north.
Notice the original treatment of the roof section and the original light, uniform color of the painted exterior. ILLUSTRATION # 2 North Brookfield Town House, ca. 1880s Town House is seen in its setting on Main Street (to the right) and Summer Street (to the left). Notice original roof texture, including fish-scale slates on tower roof and sides of dormer windows. The original treatment of the basement section is seen here before display windows were opened in the tower ILLUSTRATION #3 North Brookfield Town House (right), View looking West from Main Street down Summer Street, ca. 1880s The original treatment of the main entrance and original roof details can be seen clearly in this view. ILLUSTRATION #4 North Brookfield Town House, circa 1890s A change in paint color is seen by this date with the picking out of certain decorative elements in darker paint.
Ornamental ribbing on the roof is painted a darker color also. Notice the display window now opened at the basement level in the base of the tower ILLUSTRATION #5 North Brookfield Town House in its Main Street setting, ca. 1890s ILLUSTRATION #6 North Brookfield Town House, Cast Iron Balustrade to the left of the Main Entrance This 2001 view shows the embankment at the front of the Town House due to the way the land falls off at the corner. ILLUSTRATION #7 Old North Precinct Meeting House, construction begun 1749 and completed about 1757 This was the site of North Brookfield town meetings and religious services from 1812 through 1823. ILLUSTRATION # 8 North Brookfield Center in the 1880's The 1823 Meeting House, site of North Brookfield town meetings from 1823 to 1833, is seen on the right. The Batcheller shoe factory is on the left. Main Street and the town common are in the foreground.
MPS Forme 10-800 OME Approvel Na. 1024-0016 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet North Brookfield Town House North Brookfield (Worcester), MA Section number Page ILLUSTRATION #9 Detail of Map of North Brookfield, 1830 New town center (upper center of map) with New Meeting House and Skerry's Store. Original town center and Old Meeting House to the south. ILLUSTRATION # 10 Map of North Brookfield Center, Beers' Worcester County Atlas, 1870 ILLUSTRATION # 11 Main Street in North Brookfield Center, 1880s Union Church is shown on the left. The 1863 Town House is in the center right. To its left is the Batcheller House Hotel (also shown in inset). At the far left is the former "Old White Store" moved from the site of the Town House in 1846.
ILLUSTRATION #12 Program from 1933 North Brookfield Town House presentation of "Ah,Wilderness", starring George M. Cohan, local boy turned Broadway star. ILLUSTRATION # 13, page 1 Elbridge Boyden & Son cost estimate for Design # 1 proposed by the firm as designs for the 1863 North Brookfield Town House ILLUSTRATION # 13, page 2 Elbridge Boyden & Son cost estimate for Design # 1 proposed by the firm as designs for the 1863 North Brookfield Town House ILLUSTRATION # 13, page 3 Signed last page of Elbridge Boyden & Son cost estimate for Designs #1 & 2 proposed by the firm as designs for the 1863 North Brookfield Town House ILLUSTRATION # 14 Photograph of Elbridge Boyden, architect of the North Brookfield Town House, shown together with exterior and interior views of his acclaimed Mechanics Hall in Worcester ILLUSTRATION # 15A Old Boston City Hall, Gridley J. F. Bryant and Arthur D.
Gilman, 1862-1865 This building is an early example of the French Second Empire Style used for a public building in the United States. It was under construction at the time plans were being made for the Second Empire Style North Brookfield Town House. ILLUSTRATION 15B Royalston, Massachusetts, Town Hall, 1867 An early example of a French Second Empire public building in Massachusetts, this building combines the form of a Colonial period court house with a mansard roof and dormer windows in the Second Empire style treated with weighty Italianate detailing. ILLUSTRATION # 16 The "New Louvre", Paris The construction of this building in the 1850's made the mansard-roofed Second Empire Style popular.
Although some buildings built in American cities imitated the rigid symmetry, the bombast, and lavish ornament of the New Louvre, many others, including the North Brookfield Town House adopted only some basic elements characteristic of the style - the pavilioned treatment of the facades, Classical style ornament, and emphasis on the area above the roof cornice by the use of the mansard roof, dormer windows, and the placement of ornamental features in the roof area. ILLUSTRATION # 1 North Brookfield Town House, Earliest Known Photograph, 1870 This view was taken before the Walker building was built on Main Street to the north. Notice the original treatment of the roof section and the original ligit, uniform color of the painted exterior.
hortt Burtjiett awitr n 1570 ILLUSTRATION # 2 North Brookfield Town House, circa 1880's Town House is seen in its setting on Main Street (to the right) and Summer Street (to the left). Notice original roof texture, including fish-scale slates on tower roof and sides of dormer windows. The original treatment of the basement section is seen here before display windows were opened in the tower base. ILLUSTRATION # 3 North Brookfield Town House (right), View looking West from Main Street down Summer Street, circa 1880's The original treatment of the main entrance and original roof details can be seen clearly in this view. ILLUSTRATION # 4 North Brookfield Town House, circa 1890's A change in paint color is seen by this date with the picking out of certain decorative elements in darker paint. Ornamental ribbing on the roof is painted a darker color also.
Notice the display window now opened at the basement level in the base of the tower. ILLUSTRATION # 5 North Brookfield Town House in its Main Street setting, circa 1890's ILLUSTRATION #6 North Brookfield Town House, Cast Iron Balustrade to the left of the Main Entrance This 2001view shows the embankment at the front of the Town House due to the way the land falls off at the corner. ILLUSTRATION #7 Old North Precinct Meeting House, construction begun 1749 and completed about 1757 This was the site of North Brookfield town meetings and religious services from 1812 through 1823. THE OLD MEETING HOUSE. Frame raised 1749. Occupied until 1824. NORTH BROOKFIELD VILLAGE, EAST OF MAIN STREET. ILLUSTRATION # 8 North Brookfield Center in the 1880's The 1823 Meeting House, site of North Brookfield town meetings from 1823 to 1833, is seen on the right. The Batcheller shoe factory is on the left.
Main Street and the town common are in the foreground. -. Dowkers SauMiul School H. P. Haskey w. Cheov - Southww Barnes A. Bond. Porani Ir. A. Edgert Stoddari TV.F. Doane RGithert 6J. & B. Polana B. Cummings - A. Hunter .ams. G.W.HATH Wid. M. Doane tHarrington D.Knapp T. EelLows iv. Walk er I. Marsh - Wid. E.Potter w. Watker Jr. Tnics C.Southwerthm H.Waid AWhiting J.Joner W.Adams 0. 1.Kombçert -TBatchelter E.Batcheuter -T.t: Clark Rev.D:I. Snel SHeeBe Gilbert Kindrich -D.Thiting J 4.Woodis -.L. W.B School HE A. &L. Iolmes C.Potter Ola Meet?H. &&W. -C. Mower J.Knigkt C.Ward J. Haven 11. T'ellington K Kindrick Wid. Kilder I. FAyres N. Smith * School fl. I. dyres J.Barnara W. Hooker Whiling Town Farm I. Scott .J. Deland I. Whiting - H. Belcher J.F.Dewing -D.Whiting - P. Johnson, bzush S1atc Hul emis. .Stradard DBiLavenrr... 1.
Jeril EWhitton S.B ICLUSTRATION #9 Détait of Map of North Brookfield, 1830 New town center (upper of map) with New Meeting House and Skerry's Store. Original town center and Old Meeting House to the south. JRRoger Tunmery Ps NAAK» ESTNUY Scale: 350 Fecl to zhe inch 8 Bowting W.Caukels i.bongen Coolgy Bezovle 2 hynch i nd'srien Capt E. HilL HINM J.Quigler m raily ag.T. Ferasel CPA a ueany ParrDambe GN.Gilmore' S.S. Edmeando d.Watker @aonigley ! Capl. B.Hi22. e Conroy V.7ane T.Aelly Nrsd B.Dewing : Wellier l/ Do Las S.s. Edmand Professor A. Walker ETERY Baye Rig aPPerry J.e Porter Pichevvalat J.Doyle IG.E.Gilmore. alaalber Gilbert a D& HW Gubert w..Montayag rT Penter s ..Psporter g Hes [ D.SCcllrazrd. J. DAS JDS Va.ni.s 1J D.r 4.W In uccarty AreCurbs Eabriunat 4 Dans d.H d.w P.ratin BORTHUOMMON TY A.N.bades ./4Covime (urenacd. Eu.berosics.
seco W: Driprey IIa Dconadin Of az Araeler 1l.Barret t A82D3 PH. H.Sparkcs dme roddorà 1ooatte cang EHaston. D.Whiting 1 Whiting P."' Idetoster REFERENCES. UPANTS WALKENS A WN1&C TWN NeLLS .d.c Foster ssans as ILLUSTRATION #10 Map of North Brookfield Center, Beers' Worcester County Atlas, 1870 ILLUSTRATION # 11 WEST Main Street in North Brookfield Center, 1880's Union Church is shown on the left. The 1863 Town House is in the center right. To its left is the Batcheller House Hotel (also shown in inset). At the far left is the former "Old White Store" moved from the site of the Town House in 1846. Ah, Wilderness! is perhaps Eugene O'Neill's most unusual play. America's foremost playwright has, for the moment, dropped his daring experi- ments in dramatic technique to write a sim- ple, poignant comedy of the "turn of the century" filled with nostalgic charm. George M.
Cohan, makes his first appearance with the Theatre Guild in the leading role and a supporting cast which in every way is up to the high stand- ards set by the Guild. The play was directed by Phillip Moeller and Robert Edmond Jones has de- signed the settings and costumes. EUGENE O'NEILL GEORGE M. COHAN TOWN MALL NORTH BROOKFIELD Mass. ONE NIGHT ONLY MONDAY, OCTOBER 29th ILLUSTRATION # 12 Program from 1933 North Brookfield Town House presentation of "'Ah,Wilderness", starring George M. Cohan, local boy turned Broadway star ILLUSTRATION # 13, page 1 Elbridge Boyden & Son cost estimate for Design #1 proposed by the firm as designs for the 1863 North Brookfield Town House An Estimatt. of the cost of Design Pol. Buill of Hood- 1o0 Perch of Jrench tall ctt0o 132 of Terit Walt @1h50 246 Juty Underpinnnng dico o Thresholces y5a Bricks in Basement @Frvo ITo geet of stime oelt.
1.02 19: 246 13% 7626 feet o mnteide thell (clupbranded at 12 dt 92: di Eave Cornice @$2, 00 34 Squenlo é Slute Rofins cbre: 23 "Ninned 5. 37: 192tt yimall cornice top of ter! 6 D'armer Hirdows 2E, teupala ubore Cosnice IlLunge Hirdews @$50 JTL 23 d'male er (0$25 10 Basciret. @$/6 161 257 3 Store fra-to 60. 1Huit foor /2 5 - Sons in leas o stires iiFlighto Hall Stuirs S falleng slai / lttie Aunt.carsied fervend 40 86877 ILLUSTRATION # 13, page 2 Elbridge Boyden & Son cost estimate for Design #1 proposed by the firm as designs for the 1863 North Brookfield Town House 2 flights-g Allin Stains 36. Squares o 'Store flom 2416 5,x6 36 g Hall 64$ 36 do 8.Attéc do $10 360 20 Badeinent d 912 240 soio ft of Sheatting in Bascmentdeo 200 soo.gdo o Lath, elastem tmo in Basement furriing ie 144 20. 1 Grm Coldumn in Basement 10. 360 ing infinet stary 180. 30.
132 Jt y o Ganri Hacl 440- 132 df Gallery fleo 12 60 ogü o gaech 5 -aud Seats in Gallery 200 60 Dlattore and fesk 50 Rlans 8 Specificatins 2per cent- 257 eran Rodh, r3olb, Uuch her sros i0 100 Painting in Stares 800: ihettp Puslencot 570 150 dutul Auernt. 712457 Block Cornero t100 $12557 ILLUSTRATION # 13, page 3 Signed last page of Elbridge Boyden & Son cost estimate for Designs #1 & 2 proposed by the firm as designs for the 1863 North Brookfield Town House These Estimats are made as nat coneet as they can be with the indefinat stett of the Plaus Thiy ale Based sp on the Price of tinuber at $N6.
per Ma Cammos-boarde Pluned grinted & Mitahed ot2o ber h The Brick wask af to dotlet fa thousand Leride Ihore nat added ay feir cont to this Estimate" as is uscuad To, foame 5 To 10 percaut Ithink il would be bust to hore at deast; the apfrrobiciation ) 14,000 for other wise it will not give avy thiny for cuntingenes that u Pgae Did E Baydu S dee fe. ELBRIDGE BOYDEN: The main hall had flawless acoustics before the word was coined. On its dedication day the Worcester Daily Spy wrote, "It is agreed on all hands, that the Hall is a perfect success, for the purpose for which it was intended, both for music and for speaking.
It has no echo, and a common voice is distinctly heard in every part, even to the remotest corner." ILLUSTRATION #14 Photograph of Elbridge Boyden, architect of the North Brookfield Town House, shown together with exterior and interior views of his acclaimed Mechanics Hall in Worcester ILLUSTRATION # 15A Old Boston City Hall, Gridley J. F. Bryant and Arthur D. Gilman, 1862-1865 This building is an early example of the French Second Empire Style used for a public building in the United States. It was under construction at the time plans were being made for the Second Empire Style North Brookfield Town House.
ILLUSTRATION 15B Royalston, Massachusetts, Town Hall, 1867 An early example of a French Second Empire public building in Massachusetts, this building combines the form of a Colonial period court house with a mansard roof and dormer windows in the Second Empire style treated with weighty Italianate detailing. L.-T.-J. Visconti and H.-M. Lefuel: Paris, New Louvre, 1852-7 ILLUSTRATION # 16 The "New Louvre", Paris The construction of this building in the 1850's made the mansard-roofed Second Empire Style popular.
Although some buildings built in American cities imitated the rigid symmetry, the bombast, and lavish ornament of the New Louvre, many others, including the North Brookfield Town House adopted only some basic elements characteristic of the style -- the pavilioned treatment of the facades, Classical style ornament, and emphasis on the area above the roof cornice by the use of the mansard roof, dormer windows, and the placement of ornamental features in the roof area. STOCK ROOM sTock ROOM SELECTMENT ROOM 1 T STAIR. HALL UP STOCK ROCM STORE STORE SERE IORES OPFICE OFAICE II OPAICE TEosET OFPICE OPF.
OFF.I JANI TOR OFFICE TRICE A Fiet OFFICE IZ R WC!" OPFICE OFFICE OFFICE STAIR HALL PLAN #1 NORTH BROOKFIELD TOWN HOUSE (Schematic Plan, Not to Scale) GROUND FLOOR (Hypothetical Original Plan) GROUND FLOOR (Current Plan) ANTE ROOM ROOM UF DOWN ANTE DOW N #PKE MEETNG HALL STAGE PLAN #2 NORTH BROOKFIELD TOWN HOUSE CURRENT PLAN (Schematic Plan, Not to Scale) SECOND FLOOR THIRD FLOOR AND BALCONY LEVEL NORTH EROOKFIELDTOWN HOUSE NORTH BROOKFIELD, WORDESTER COUNTY, MA SEE MAP 104 SEE MAP 102 28,280 e 1,080 2.31 . SEE MAP 105 MAPLE 3070 20,/030 1o 2,001 9! 4,230- 35750 BL SEE MÁP 103 STREET- 1041 gaog - 127 e H (03g) 9 EPO DOL 3010g *ang! 29,340 34,30 «8 2 2450 9 CHOOL (209).
RVSTONS SEE MAP 109 REVISIONS TE IR-+eN BT L8S - L30 c OnAVD SHL1H 134 ERGREER NOTE EA TEAR LESTN AO THNI TANOT FOR CONVEYANCE NORTH SEE MAP 109 (035) B,ST0 «l 10. 20,209 LOT& 1,280 ad 80004 ILeC 07 R,080as OUIH 22,300 SEE MAP 107 SEE.MAP 110 ASSESSORS TAX MAP NORTH BROOKFIELD WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS STUMORIDOE ABSTRACT DIV.
HAP 106 190292 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES EVALUATION/RETURN SHEET REQUESTED ACTION: NOMINATION PROPERTY North Brookfield Town House NAME : MULTIPLE NAME : STATE & COUNTY: MASSACHUSETTS, Worcester DATE RECEIVED: DATE OF 16TH DAY: DATE OF WEEKLY LIST: 9/13/01 11/09/01 DATE OF PENDING LIST: 10/25/01 DATE OF 45TH DAY: 10/29/01 REFERENCE NUMBER: 01001185 REASONS FOR REVIEW: APPEAL: N DATA PROBLEM: N LANDSCAPE: N LESS THAN 50 YEARS: OTHER : REQUEST: N SAMPLE: PERIOD: PROGRAM UNAPPROVED: DRAFT: N NATIONAL: COMMENT WAIVER: N ACCEPT RETURN REJECT DATE ABSTRACT/SUMMARY COMMENTS: RECOM. /CRITERIA REVIEWER TELEPHONE DISCIPLINE DATE DOCUMENTATION see attached comments Y/N see attached SLR Y/N NPS Form 10-900-a (8-86) RECEIVED 2280 9100/194 OMB Approval No. 1024-001.
United States Department of the Interior National Park Service OCT 28 2011 National Register of Historic PlaceS EGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES NATIONAL PARK SERVICE Continuation Sheet North Brookfield Town House North Brookfield (Worcester) MA Section number 10 Page 1 The coordinates originally provided for the North Brookfield Town House were 19 740340 4683500. The correct location is 310 miles west (width of one UTM zone) of this point at 18 740340 4683500 (North American Datum 1927).
Corrected April 2009 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES EVALUATION/RETURN SHEET REQUESTED ACTION: ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTATION PROPERTY NAME: North Brookfield Town House MULTIPLE NAME: STATE & COUNTY: MASSACHUSETTS, Worcester DATE RECEIVED: DATE OF 16TH DAY: DATE OF WEEKLY LIST: 10/28/11 DATE OF PENDING LIST: DATE OF 45TH DAY: REFERENCE NUMBER: 01001185 12/13/11 REASONS FOR REVIEW: APPEAL: N DATA PROBLEM: N LANDSCAPE: N LESS THAN 50 YEARS: N OTHER: REQUEST: N PERIOD: PROGRAM UNAPPROVED: N N SLR DRAFT: N NATIONAL: N COMMENT WAIVER: N ACCEPT RETURN REJECT DATE ABSTRACT/SUMMARY COMMENTS : Additional Documentation Approver REVIEWER RECOM./CRITERIA Elegept DISCIPLINE Vfist TELEPHONE DATE 12.9-4 DOCUMENTATION see attached comments Y/N see attached SLR Y/N If a nomination is returned to the nominating authority, the nomination is no longer under consideration by the NPS.
0dd Tava TVNOIS TOWN HOUSE N.BROOKHIELD (WORCESTER. CO.) MA PHOTO: S.CECCACOI JANUARY 2001 NEGATIVE: N. BROOKFIELD HSTORICH COMMISSION VIEW: E FACADE (R) I S FACADE (L), LOOKING NW FROM MAN STREET PHOTO #1 Jidvd o O8d 13dV TYNOISSS IYNOR TOWN HOUSE N. BROOKHIELD (WORCESTER CO.) MA PHOTO: S. CECCACCI JANUARY 2001 NEGATIVE: N.BROOKFIELD HNSTORICAL COMMISSION VIEW: S FACADE LOOKING N PHOTO #2 11dVd IYNOIS TYN 13dVd4 IYNO. Pnarl - TOWNHOUSE N. BROOKFIELD (WORCESTER CO.) MA PHOTO: 9.CECCACCI JANUARY 200| NEGATIVE: N.BROOKFIELDHSTORIAL COMMISSION VIEW: E FACADE, N PAUILION, LOOKINGW PHOTO #3 TOWN HOUSE N. BROCKTIELD (WORCESTER.CO.) MA PHOTO: S. CECCACCI VANUARY 2001 NEGATIVE: N.BROOKFIELD HISTORICAL COMMISSION VIEW: W.
FACADE LOOKING NE PHOTO #4 ONAL PAPEL Kodak PAPER PROFESSIONAL - PAPEL Kodi PROFE STONAL Kodak PROFESSIONAL / PAPERO PAPIERS PAPEL Koda PROFESSIONAL PIER & PAPEL Kodak PROFESSIONAL PAPERT - PAPIER - PAPEL Kodak PROFESSIONAL PAPEL Kodak PAP PROFÉSSIONA HER Kodak OFESSIONAL JER - PAPEL TOWN HOUSE N.BROOKTIELD (WORCESTER. CO.) MA PHOTO: S.CECCACCI VANUARY 2001 NEGATIVE:N.BROOKFIELD HISTORICKL (OMMISSION VIEUD: MANENTRYHALL WITHGRAND STAIRCASE, LOOKING W PHOTO # 5 PROFESSIONAT Kodak PAPER- PAPIER - PAPEL PROFESSIONAL APIER PAPE Kodak PROFESSIONAL PAPER - PAPIER - PAPEI Kodak PRÖFESSIONAL NPERI - PAPIER PAPEL Kodak 82306 NORTHBROOKHELDTOWN HOUSE. NORTH BROOKFIELD (WORCESTER.CO.),MA PHOTOGRAPHER: NORTH BROCKFIELD HISTORICAL (OMMISSION AVGUST 2000 NEGATIVE: N. BROCKFIELD HISTORICAL COMMISSION VIEW: E FROM MAIN ST.
SHOWING ELDG.IN CONTEXT- PHOTO #6 STIITO 9I011I1002/20~_ 82300 N.BROOKHIELD TOWN HOUSE N.BROQKFIELD (WORCESTER.CO.) MA PHOTOGRAPHER: N. BROOKFIELD HISTORICAL COMMISSILON AUGUST 2000 NEGATIVE: N. BROCKTIELDHSTORICAL COMMICSION VIEW. INTERIOR, ZNDFLOORMEETINGHALL, N.END WITHSTAGE PHOTO #7 CTI:PO 9Z3CTIJT00Z/S9-W0 82300 TOWNHOUSE N. BROOKFIELD (WORCESTER CO.) MA PHOTOGRAPHER:N.BROOKTIELD FÄNSHORICAL COMMISSION AUGUST 2000 NEGATIVE: N.BROOKFIELD HISTORICAL COMMISSION VIEW: INTEROR; 2NDFLOORMEETINGHALL, S.ENDWITH TALCONY PHOTO #8 Z-IiPO szer801100z/20-a IN MEMORIAM 1862 JOHN W. GILMORE. Ca. B. 27 MASS. VOLS. HENRY,R. BLISS. Co. F.I5 JOSEPH C.FRETTS. CHARLES PERRY ALBERT T. HOLMAN, Co. C.25 DAVID S. MOULTON, Co. G.82 N.Y. * ALBERT F.POTTER. Ce. B. 44 MASS. VOLS JOHN A. HUGHES. CO.F. 1S ANDREW J.FISHER.Co.F.42 JAMES A.KNIGHT, WILLIAM F.HILL. CO.K.20 1864 THOMAS S. BATES. BAND. I MASS. VOLS.
GEORGE L. SHERMAN, CO.1.28 LOUIS D. WINSLOW. Co.H. 36 WILLIAM BATES. CO.B.57 GEORGE S.PROUTY.CO.C.34 CHARLES L.BRIGHAM, CO.B.S7 JOHN F.LAMB.CO.G.9 MAINE VOLS DIED AT NEWBERN,APRIL 13. KILLED AT ANCICTAM, SEPT.I? DIED AT NEWBERN, SEPT 23 KILLED AT FREDERICKSBURG. DEC.13. DIED AT NEWBERN. JAN.28. IN HOSPITAL, MAY 46. AT SEA. AUG.S. ALMOST HOME, AUG.I0, DIED AT MORRISVILLE. VA. AUG. 28. DIED IN WASHINGTON.FEB.6 KILLED AT SPOTTSYLVANIA, MAY 12 WILDERNESSVA.MAY I3. PIEOMONT. VA. JUNE 2 DIEO OF WOUNDS. JUNE 22. KILLED AT PETERSBURG.VA.JUNE 29. 82300 TONNHOUSE N.BROCKFIELD (WORCETER CO.)MA PHOTOGRAPHER:N.BROOKFIELDHGTORICH COMMISSION AUGUST 2000 NEGATIVE: N.BROOKFIEUDHISTORICAL COMMISSION VIEW: QUILWARMEMORIALPLAQUE, E. WALL ZNDFIOOR MEETINGITALL PHOTO # 9 IN MEMORIAM 1864 N.S.DICKINSON, Co.C, 25 MASS. VOLS. N. B.MAXWELL. Co. 1.1 MASS. M.A. TIMOTHY McCARTY, Ce.E.25 MASS.
VOLS, LYMANTUCKER.CO.F.42 JAMES P.COOLIDGE. CO.A.34" LYMAN H. GILBERT, CO. E.36 " JAMES HENDERSON, CO. I, 25 " J.HENRY JENKS. 14 N.H.VOLS. THOMAS GRIFFIN, Co.I, 90 PA. VOLS. WILLIAM CLARK, Co. I, IE MASS. VOLS. ALVIN M. THOMPSON, Co.K,36." DIEP OF WOUNDS, AUG.7. DIED AT ANDERSONVILLE. 23 SEPT.2. ALEXANDRIA. KILLED AT WINCHESTER,VA. 18. " PETERSBURG. 30. DIED AT NEWBERN,OCT.3. KILLED AT CEDAR CREEK. VA. " 19. DIEO AT SALISBURY, N.C.DEC.7. KILLEDNEAR SAVANNAH,GA. * I0. DIED AT ANDERSONVILLE 1865 HENRY H. MOULTON, Co.F.IS MASS. VOLS. PETER DEVLIN, CO.F.2 HARVEY ALLEN, Co.F. 42 CHARLES H.ASHBY. CO. H, 25 DIED AT ANDERSONVILLE, JAN.23. NASHVILLE,JUNES * "NORTH BROOKFIELD, JULY 14 28 1867 ACTODDARD CPCAV DIED AT NORTH BROOKFIELD, APR.2 JUNE II. 1868 ELIJAH NICHOLS. Co. F.I5 MASS. VOLS. DIED AT NORTH BROOKFIELD. MAR, I3.
300 TOWNIOUSE N.BROCKFIELD(WORCESTER.CO.) MA PHOTOGRAPHER: N.PROOKFED HSTORCAL COMMISSLEN AUOUST 2000 NEGATIVE: N.BROOKTIEUDHISTORCAL COMMISSION VIEW :GVILWAR MEMORHL PLAQUE, W. WALL 2ND FOOR MEETING HALL PHOTO #10 TOWNHTOUSE N.BROOKFIELD (WORCESTER CO.)MA PHOTO: S. CECCACCI JANUARY2001 NEGATIVE:N.BROOKFIELD HISTDRICH COMMISSION VIEW: DETAIL OF BALCENY, 2NDFL MDETING HALL, LOOKING SW PHOTO#11 TOWNHOUSE N.BROOKHELD (WORCOSTER. CO.) MA PHOTO: S. CECCACCI VANUARY 2001 NEGATIVE: N.BROCKFIELDHITURICAL COMMISSION VIEW: WAL BEHINDBALCONY OF MEETING HALL, LOOKING S. PHOTO#12 TOWNHOUSE N.BROCKFIELD (WORCESTER CO.) MA PHOTO: S.CECCACCI UANUARY 200$ NEGATIVE:N.BROOKFIELDHISTORICHL COMMISSION VIEW: 3RD FLOORSTATRHALL LOCKINGW PHOTO# 13 3621 :-03. 00.E28 SAMSUNO TOWNHOUSE N.BROOKFIELD (WORCESTER CO.)MA PHOTOGRAPHER: N.
BROCKFIELD HI SORICAL COMMISSON AUGUST 2000 NEGATIVE: N.BROOKFIELD HISTORICAL COMMISSION VIEW: 3RDFLOOR STARHALL LOOKING E. FROM W.ROOM PHOTO#14 00 E2 8 TOWN HOUSE N.BROOKFIELD(WORCESTER.CO.)MA PHOTOURATHER: N.BROCKFIELD HISTORICAL COMMISSIeN AVOUST 2000 NEGATIVE: N.BROOKFIELDHISTURICAL COMMISSION VIEW: ATTICLOOKING EW FROM GENTRAL SECTION URCULAR (RLLE FROM MEERNOHALL VENT IS ON FLOOR PHOTO#15 SOOTE . LABORATORIES, INC. 8 23 TOWN HOUSE N. BROOKAELD (WORCESTER CO.) MA PHOTOGRAPHER: N.BROCKFIELDHISTURICAL COMMISSION AUGUST 2000 NEGATIVE: N. BROOKHED HITUACAL CMMISSION VIEW: VAULTED BRICKROOM NW CORNER OF BASEHENT LOCKINGN PHOTO#16 TOWNOF Norte BROOKFIELD MASSACHUSETTS 01535 OFFICE OF THE TOHN CLERX NOVEMBER 9, 1999 I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT AT THE ANNUAL TOWN MEETING, HELD ON MAY 7, 1999 THE FOLLOWING IS A TRUE RECORD OF A VOTE TAKEN: ARTICLE 24.
A MOTION WAS MADE, SECONDED AND VOTED FAVORABLY TO SUPPORT THE EFFORTS OF THE NORTH BROOKFIELD HISTORICAL COMMISSION IN THEIR PURSUIT OF NATIONAL . REGISTER STATUS FOR THE TOWN HALL (TOWN HOUSE.) A TRUE COPY, ATTEST: Shata A Buzzell HEILA A. BUZZELL, TOWN CLEK SEAL REP. DAVID TUTTLE 5TH WORCESTER DISTRICT ROOM 549, STATE HOUSE TEL. (617) 722-2489 FAX (617) 722-2390 DISTRICT OFFICE 16 CHURCH STREET - P.O. BOX 240 BARRE, MA 01005-0240 TEL. (978) 355-6793 The Cammantuealth uf Massachuset RECLIVED House of Representatibes JAN 25 2000 Stute House, Ihastan 02133-1051 MASS. HIST. COMM Natural ReSourceitand Agricuture Public Safety Personnel and Administratior Commission: lanufactured Housing Commissic January 19,2000 E-Mail: Rep.DavidTuttle@house.state.ma.us Ms.
Judith McDonough Director Massachusetts Historical Commission 220 Morrissey Boulevard Boston, MA 02125 Dear Director McDonough: I am writing on behalf of the residents of North Brookfield and the North Brookfield Historical Commission in support of the nomination of their Town Hall to the National Register of Historic Places, through the Massachusetts Historical Commission. The North Brookfield Town Hall serves as a multi-purpose facility while maintaining its true historic heritage. The building contains community, civic, social, and public safety offices for the Town. Numerous community events and meetings are hosted in the building throughout the year. A visit to the Town Hall provides an opportunity to absorb several eras of local history all under one roof. From hometown heroes to the famous Mr.
George Cohan, one of Broadway's favorite sons, North Brooktield Town Hail has housed them ail. The North Brookfield Town hali has not only served the community over the years, but is a beautiful focal point in the center of Town. In light of this information, 1 am respectfully requesting that every possible consideration be given to the nomination of the North Brookfield Town Hall to the National Register of Historic Places. I would like to thank you in advance for your time and careful consideration of this very important matter. If you should have any questions or require any additional information, please do not hesitate to call me in Boston at 722-2489.
Sincerely, Dituad David Tuttle State Representative 00 K JM- BF- 0 TOWN OF NORTH BROOKFIELD MASSACHUSETTS 01535 RECHIVED OFFICE OF THE BOARD OF SELECTMEN Town House, 185 Main Street FEB 0 4 2000 Telephone (508)-867-0200 FAX (508)-867-0249 MASS. HIST. COMM January 19, 2000 Ms. Judith McDonough, Director Massachusetts Historical Commission 220 Morrissey Boulevard Boston, MA 02125 Dear Ms. McDonough: The North Brookfield Board of Selectmen strongly supports the efforts of our local Historical Commission to place the Town Hall on the National Register of Historic Places. As you will see by the application, the North Brookfield Town House is an important part of the town and its history. We respectfully urge you to give this application your consideration. Sincerely, Gichaut AChaist Richard P. Chabot, Chairman Thas than Thomas F.
Waugh Sinh oris Prok COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS MASSACHUSETTS SENATE STATE HOUSE, BOSTON 02133-1053 SENATOR STEPHEN M. BREWER WORCESTER, HAMPDEN, HAMPSHIRE AND FRANKLIN DISTRICTS ROOM 109B TEL. 617-722-1540 FAX 617-722-1078 September 6, 2000 BF RECEIVED SEP n& 216. MASS. HIST. COMM COMMITTEES: STEERING AND POLICY (CHAIR) ENERGY (VICE-CHAIR) PUBLIC SAFETY LOCAL AFFAIRS ETHICS Ms. Betsy Friedberg National Register Director Massachusetts Historical Commission 220 Morrissey Boulevard Boston, MA 02125 Dear Ms. Friedberg: I am writing to add my continuing support of the Town of North Brookfield Historical Commission (Gregory Caille, Co-Chairman, 24 King Street, North Brookfield, MA 01535, Telephone: (508) 867-7405) and their attempts to put the Town House on the National Register of Historic Places.
It is my understanding that as a follow up to my previous correspondence to the Massachusetts Historical Commission, you responded by requesting additional photographs of the Town House in North Brookfield. The North Brookfield Historical Commission has responded and they are requesting your review of the additional photographs of this superb building. In reviewing these photographs, it is obvious to me that this proud building has so much more to give to the residents of North Brookfield. Therefore, I greatly appreciate your careful review of these photographs and correspondence from the North Brookfield Historical Commission. I would also appreciate it if you could contact them directly with any information and/or decision you may reach relative to National Register status.
In addition, I would appreciate it if you could provide me with any information and/or decisions reached in this Thank you for your attention to and consideration of this additional information. Sincerely, Sla B STEPHEN M. BREWER State Senator Enclosures Cc: Judith McDonough, Executive Director Michael Maresco, Secretary of State's Office The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Massachusetts Historical Commission September 6, 2001 Ms. Carol Shull National Register of Historic Place Department of the Interio National Park Service Mail Stop 2280, Suite 400 1849 C Street, NW Washington, DC 20240 Dear Ms.
Shull: Enclosed please find the following nomination form: North Brookfield Town House North Brookfield (Worcester), MA The nomination has been voted eligible by the State Review Board and has been signed by the State Historic Preservation Officer. The owners of the property were notified of pending State Review Board consideration 30 to 45 days before the meeting and were afforded the opportunity to comment. Four letters of support have been received. Sincerely, Betay Fredleg Betsy Friedberg National Register Director Massachusetts Historical Commission Enclosure Cc: Gregory Caille, North Brookfield Historical Commission Susan Ceccacci. consultant Richard P. Chabot, Chair, Board of Selectmen Senator Stephen M.
Brewer Representative David Tuttle North Brookfield Planning Board 220 Morrissey Boulevard, Boston, Massachusetts 02125 (617) 727-8470 - Fax: (617) 727-5128 www.state.ma.us/sec/mhc RECEIVED 2280 LNA LIBEATATOOE OCT 28 2011 NAT. REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES The Commonwealth of Massachusetts NATIONAL PARK SERVICE William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Massachusetts Historical Commission October 20, 2011 Mr. J. Paul Loether National Register of Historic Places Department of the Interior National Park Service 1201 Eye Street, NW 8t floor Washington, DC 20005 Dear Mr. Loether: Re: Additional Documentation (Technical corrections of UTMs) In the process of mapping National Register nominations for our GIS database, we have identified errors in UTM coordinates for 23 properties. The errors vary from a few hundred feet to hundreds of miles, often due to transposition of numbers.
As recommended by Edson Beall, we are enclosing a continuation sheet for each of the nominations. Please let me know if you need more information in order to correct your records. Sincerely, Betey truedbery Betsy Friedberg National Register Director Massachusetts Historical Commission Enclosures 220 Morrissey Boulevard, Boston, Massachusetts 02125 (617) 727-8470 - Fax: (617) 727-5128 www.state.ma.us/sec/mhc
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