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 X 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 X Local government Register - University _ designated a National Historic Landmark - Other _ recorded by Historic American Buildings Survey Name of repository: # Hanson Public Library _ recorded by Historic American Engineering Record #. NPS Form 1 10-900-a (8-86) OMB Approval No.
1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number_ 8 Page1 School House #4, Hanson Plymouth Co., Massachusetts Statement of Significance School House #4, at 565 Main Street in Hanson, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, is locally significant as the town's oldest surviving schoolhouse. Built as District 7 School House, it has been known by the present name since 1867. The period of significance for the building begins with its construction in 1845 and continues through 1955, fifty years ago. Besides the construction date, other significant dates for the building mark major changes to the structure necessitated by the growth and reorganization of the Hanson school system: building moves in 1867 and 1939, and a building expansion in 1882.
School House #4 meets National Register Criterion A for its association with the development of public education in Hanson, and Criterion C for its Greek Revival style architecture and well-preserved interior finishes. Today the building continues its educational role as the museum for the Town of Hanson. Although it has been moved, the building qualifies under Criteria Consideration B because it is significant primarily for its architectural value and as the building with the longest connection to public education in Hanson. While School House #4 has endured one significant expansion and three moves, it has remained in public ownership, and continues to serve as a site of community educational pursuits. School House #4 retains integrity of design, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association.
Hanson is a town of 15 square miles located in north-central Plymouth County, split between the watersheds of the North and Taunton rivers. Prior to European arrival, Hanson's ponds and woodlands offered fishing and hunting sites for the Wampanoag and the Massachusetts tribes. European occupation did not occur until after King Philip's War in 1675. Originally the western parish of Pembroke, it was an agricultural settlement that also harvested marsh resources such as swamp cedar and bog iron. The West Precinct Meeting House, established there in 1746, drew members from the edges of neighboring towns, areas that were eventually annexed to Pembroke. Hanson separated and incorporated as a town in 1820. Early in the 19"h century, small- scale iron and tack factories developed, as well as the home production of shoes, augmented by rail connections to Boston (beginning in 1844).
By the 1865 state census, Hanson had grown to 1,195 inhabitants, its 294 families concentrated in five villages. Later in the 19"h century and early into the 20'h ", economic development included poultry production and cranberry growing. Twentieth century growth came partially from several factories established by Albert Burrage in 1906 and the nearby Plymouth County Hospital, built in 1919. The most sustained growth, however, came after the establishment by entrepreneur Marcus Urann of the United Cape Cod Cranberry Company in 1906, and its construction of a cranberry canning plant in 1912, which sold juice and canned sauce under the name Ocean Spray.
In 1930, Urann merged his company with two smaller ones to form the country's largest marketing cooperative of cranberry growers, continuing to be known as Ocean Spray.' Although less than thirty miles southeast of Boston, Hanson is somewhat distant from major highways, and today has a more rural character than most surrounding communities. In the 2000 U.S. Census, Hanson's population was 9,495. School House #4 is significant under Criterion A: Education, for its role in the growth and development of the public school system in Hanson. Although Pembroke began holding school classes in 1715, three years after it (continued) 'Claire W. Dempsey and Laura B. Driemeyer, ''Little Comfort': Hanson Narrative History," Architectural Survey for the MHC, 31 July 1996. NPS Form 110-900-a (8-86) OMB Approval No.
1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number_ Page_2 School House #4, Hanson Plymouth Co., Massachusetts split from Duxbury, it built no permanent schoolhouse in its western district (later Hanson) for half a century. The first schoolhouse there, paid for by subscription and built in 1754, operated until 1795, when it was sold and a second schoolhouse took its place. No record exists of any further school construction until after 1820, when the area became the Town of Hanson. These early schoolhouses were built by independent districts, with funds raised by neighborhood subscriptions; the neighborhood then owned and maintained the school, with money from the town to pay some of the salary of the teacher.
Records of these early school districts in Hanson are scant and secondhand, although it appears that there were five districts early on: Cushing, Loudon, Parson Barstow's, Squire Barker's, and Cox Street. In 1843, the Hanson Town meeting voted to accept legal boundaries for seven school districts. With this action, a new District #7 extended from a point on Indian Head Brook south and west to the town lines of Halifax and East Bridgewater, roughly the southwestern quarter of the town.? In 1845, according to local histories, District #7 School was built on a site 200 ft. west of the Isaac Chamberlain house on Elm Street (the site was numbered as 43 Elm Street in 1964). The traditional corroboration of this date is the story that George H. Howland, father of Dr. S. T. Howland, attended school in the new building in 1845-46.
The first two volumes of the town records (1820-1866) do not mention the construction of any schools, although several schools were built during this time period.? However, it would make sense that a new schoolhouse was completed shortly after the creation of the district. While the 1840s was a time of rising population in Hanson, some families also may have felt their children were too far from their district schoolhouse, as the town quickly agreed to add two new districts. According to the Town Records book, in 1844 the Town meeting voted to divide District #3 in southeast Hanson into two separate districts, the northern half eventually becoming known as District #8.
In 1846, the year after the construction of District School House #7, the town voted to divide District #7 into two separate districts, the eastern half becoming known as District #9.4 Because the debate in the town meeting focused on the division of District #7, and not the appropriate site for school construction, this district division would seem to further (continued) 2 Hanson Town Records Book #1, 1820-1846 (Assessor's Office, Hanson Town Hall), December 18, 1843. 3 Joseph B. White, "History of Houses in Hanson, Mass.," (typescript, 1932). Assembled over three decades, White's history is the earliest and most comprehensive account of Hanson's buildings. White's 1845 construction date for District School #7, credited to George H. Howland, is the earliest known attribution.
Since the districts, rather than the town, built and owned the early school houses, construction information was not listed in town records. Several later town histories mistakenly list School House #4 as having been District School #4 prior to the abolition of districts in 1867, including Elsie Calder's "Appendix" to Clifton E. Bradley's "A History of the Hanson School Department, 1894-1972"; "History of the Town of Hanson," uncredited typescript, ca. 1959, Hanson Town Library; and A Pictorial History of the Town of Hanson, Vol. 2, Hanson Historical Society, 1964. * Hanson Town Records Book #2, 1846-1866 (Assessor's Office, Hanson Town Hall), April 18, 1846. Despite the division of District #7, the schoolhouse on Elm Street would have remained the District #7 School, and the new District #9 would have had to build a new schoolhouse.
By another town vote, a further section of District #7, to the east of Beal's Hill, was annexed to District #9 on April 1, 1850. NPS Form 1 10-900-a (8-86) OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 8 Page_3 School House #4, Hanson Plymouth Co., Massachusetts corroborate the 1845 construction date. The W. F. Walling map of Hanson, published in 1856, shows a schoolhouse in District #7, at the purported original site on Elm Street.S According to the first published report of the School Committee, in 1859 Miss Maria L. Porter received $74.14 to teach a 22-week term at District School #7.
She had 15 scholars, although the average attendance was 10 According to the school committee report, although Porter had fewer students than any other district school "yet such was her interest in it, and the interest ofeach scholar in their [sic] studies, and the respect and aitection manifested for their teacher, that it was a pleasure to visit it."6 As early as 1860, though, the School Committee report railed against the drawbacks of the district system and sought its abolition. Since Town funds were usually distributed among the schools on a per-student basis, District 7, which had the fewest students, received only a third of the funding that District 1, the most populous school, received. This inequity occurred despite the fact that almost all the money went to relatively uniform expenses: building costs, fuel, and teacher salaries.
As a result, less populous schools often held classes until money for fuel and salaries ran out, and then closed for the year. Town efforts to redistribute the money equally - half among districts and half on a per-scholar basis - were only partially successful in relieving this problem. In 1862, the School Committee made a more comprehensive case for the abolition of the district system, noting that the Prudential Committees, charged in each district with the hiring and supervision of teachers, "are not always particular enough as to the qualifications of persons they engage to teach. To get them "cheap,' and without much trouble, is apt to be a too prominent object." The wide disparity in the ages of the children could lead to bullying or neglect. Furthermore, one or two families often dominated these small, insular district schools.
For example, according to the 1865 report, the Howland family was very active in District School #7. Friend W. Howland headed the Prudential Committee, while Naomi T. Howland was completing her third year of teaching. Two of the thirteen District #7 students scored perfect attendance in the 14-week summer session: Lucy O. Howland and Hattie W. Howland. Clearly the district system had serious limitations. The 1867 Hanson School Committee Report quoted condemnatory passages from education reformer Horace Mann, as well as from the Twenty-ninth Report of the [Massachusetts] Board of Education: (continued) 5 Reprinted in Pictorial History of the Town of Hanson, Hanson Pictorial History Committee, 1962. This map shows the boundaries of al minal Report of the School Committe of the Town of Hanson for the Xear 1858-59 (Boston: Stacy & Richardson, 1859).
This is the oldest annual town report/school committee report extant in the collections of the Hanson Town Hall, Hanson Historical Society, Hanson Public Library, or the Cobb Library in Bryantville, and is probably the first published. All annual reports were checked from this date until 1900, at which point Clifton E. Bradley's "A History of the Hanson School Department, 1894-1972" provides sufficient coverage. Because the exact name of this yearly publication often varied slightly, but the reports are bound into sequential volumes, subsequent references will be cited simply as "Hanson Annual Report." Hanson Annual Report, 1862. NPS Form 1 10-900-a (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service OMB Approval No.
1024-0018 National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number_8 Page_4 School House #4, Hanson Plymouth Co., Massachusetts The district system has long clogged the progress of educational improvement in the towns where it has been suffered to remain. Reason and fact alike condemn it as a fruitful source of inconvenience and evils. It perpetuates poor school-houses, inefficient teachers, neighborhood feuds and jealousies. It prevents the equalization of school advantages, and stands in the way of a proper classification of pupils. The state sped the dissolution of the district system by threatening to withhold some state funding in 1868 if any district within a particular town held classes for less than six months. The Hanson School Committee reported the deficiencies of the Hanson schools compared to statewide averages.
While the statewide average length of the school year was 7 months, 7 days, Hanson's in 1866 was 5 months, 15 days. The State also vowed to cut funding completely by 1869 for any municipality that still retained districts. Hanson would lose its entire yearly appropriation of $75 unless it acted. The average expenditure per scholar statewide in 1867 was $7.23, compared to $4.10 in Hanson. The School Committee had little choice but to comply: "We believe the time has come when the town ought to abolish its district system. We have too many and too small schools. Let the town establish five primary and two grammar schools. .. By making this change in our school system, our children would be better taught, schools lengthened, and a better class of teachers secured." In March of 1867, the Town of Hanson abolished its district system.
Over the next two years, Hanson completely restructured its educational system. The Town assumed ownership of the school buildings from the individual districts, relocating the schoolhouses from former districts 3, 7, and 9. The Town appropriated $500 "for moving and fitting up the schoolhouses." Switching to the graded system, Hanson renumbered the schools, establishing grammar schools for 6* to 8'h grades in the north and south halves of the town, and converting the rest into primary schools. In 1867 the former District School #7 was moved to the northeast corner of Elm Street and Main Street (numbered 1308 Main Street in 1964), on Beal's Hill, and became Primary School #4.
According to the Town's annual report, an appraisal of the former district school houses valued District School #7 at $550 for the school house and underpinning, $15 for land, $10 for the outbuilding, and $15 for the stove, library, and fixtures together. District #7 School House appeared to be in better than average condition: two district schoolhouses appraised higher, but five lower (the ninth district had been without a schoolhouse for several years). Edwin H. Kingman received $55 for directing the moving of the schoolhouses; Hanson spent $714.83 moving and repairing all of the buildings. The 1868 Annual Town (continued) 8 Hanson Annual Report, 1867. 9 Hanson Town Records Book #2, 1846-1866 (Assessor's Office, Hanson Town Hall), March 4, 1867 [Despite the title of the book, the minutes of this and a subsequent 1867 meeting are included on pp. 292-298]. 1° D.
Hamilton Hurd, comp., History of Plymouth County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men (Philadelphia: J.W. Lewis & Co., 1884); A Pictorial History of the Town of Hanson, Vol. 2, Hanson Historical Society, 1964. One further indication that District School #7 became Primary School #4 comes from the Hanson School Register, which shows a significant overlap in student names between the two buildings ("School Registers for the Town of Hanson, 1864-94" (Vol. 1), bound reports in the Hanson Town Library). Walker's 1879 Atlas of Plymouth County shows a school building at the new location, at the northeast corner of the intersection of Elm Street and Main Street. NPS Form 1 10-900-a (8-86) OMB Approval No.
1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number_ 8 Page_5 School House #4, Hanson Plymouth Co., Massachusetts Meeting moved to sell the lot on Elm Street formerly occupied by District #7 School, allocated $1500 in town revenues for the operation of the schools, and set aside an extra $200 for repairing schoolhouses.' According to the School Committee's annual report, the first year in the new graded system led to a substantial improvement in the average length of the school year: 8½ months for the primary schools and nine for the grammar schools. Despite these improvements, within a decade after its first relocation School House #4 was beginning to show its age and had become cramped and uncomfortable.
In 1878, in an overview of the conditions at the schoolhouses, the school committee wrote "Houses Nos. 4 and 5 should both receive attention, as soon as consistent, in the way of enlargement, seats, &c." Two years later, in 1880, the School Committee reported, "We may well congratulate ourselves upon surely, though slowly, overcoming an obstacle to [our schools'] progress in the shape of insufficient and poor house accommodations, but two houses now remaining that need to be enlarged or newly furnished. These are No. 4 and No. 5." The following year, the School Committee again asked for funds: "No. 4 and 5 Primaries are in as much need of repairs and enlarging as reported last year, both being too small for the schools kept in them.
The seats are uncomfortable, the floors poor and badly worn." In 1882, the Hanson Town Meeting voted to appropriate $750 for improvements to the schoolhouses, including "to new seat and new floor School Houses Nos. 4 & 5." It established an unnamed committee of three, "two carpenters and one who has practical knowledge of schools to expend the appropriation." The committee was particularly "authorized to enlarge Houses No. 4 and 5 if necessary but not to exceed the appropriation of [$]750."|2 According to the Hanson Annual Report, the town paid J. S. & M. M. Loring $280 for "repairing No. pon, si tncesil bu ae . M.0 4 Primary as per contract." All together that year, the School Committee spent $819.56 on repairing schoolhouses, primarily Schools 4 and 5.
Finishes applied might be indicated by another notation: major school repairs for other schoolhouses that year included inside plastering and interior and exterior painting, "with two good coats of white lead and oil." The 1883 Hanson Annual Report gives some idea of the specific nature of these 1882 improvements, through its detailed report on the problems of another schoolhouse. The School Committee listed improvements needed for School House No. 2 in 1883: Several yards of plaster had fallen, and it was found that almost the entire ceiling was loosened and liable to come down upon the heads of scholars and teacher. It was repaired by putting on new furring, laths, and plastering.
This house was covered upon three sides with shingles, unpainted, and presented an appearance far less attractive than that of the other houses, which were clapboarded and, with the exception of the North Grammar, had been recently painted. That this building might harmonize with the other school-houses, and foster "a love for the beautiful" in the pupils attending, the east and west (continued) "Hanson Town Records Book #3, 1866-1904 (Assessor's Office, Hanson Town Hall), March 9, 1868. 12 Hanson Town Records Book #3, 1866-1904 (Assessor's Office, Hanson Town Hall), March 6, 1882. NPS Form 1 10-900-a (8-86) OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 8 Page_6 School House #4, Hanson Plymouth Co., Massachusetts sides were clapboarded and painted.
The chimney was also rebuilt, with ventilator, and other needed improvements made. Most Hanson annual reports did not list which improvements were made to which schoolhouse, but the 1883 report was also more specific about School House #4. Hanson paid E. T. Clark $19.40 for "paint and oil" for Nos. 4 and 5, and J. S. Loring $21 for shingling the roof of No. 4. Less than two decades later, in 1902, crowding was again a problem at School #4, according to the yearly reports: 39 students attended the school, more than at any of the other five primary schools or even either of the two grammar schools. During this decade, the primary schools each had five grades (1-5), while the grammar schools each had 3 grades (6-8). Because high school students enrolled in neighboring towns, the 8th Grade graduation became a significant town event.'3 According to Clifton E.
Bradley's history of Hanson schools in the first three-quarters of the 20* century, technological advancements led to a series of gradual building improvements. These school modernizations included buying slate blackboards for the grammar schools (1904), replacing the old double desks with single ones (1906), replacing wood burning stoves with coal stoves (1908), and purchasing fire extinguishers and repairing school doors so that they all swung outwards (1914). In 1915 the Town voted that each school be cleaned once a month, and the smoke-darkened ceilings be whitened yearly. Coal use replaced wood completely for heating in 1919. In 1925, trolley service ended in Hanson, and the school had to use buses to transport students, although a few students still commuted by train.
The small 19'*-century primary schools gradually became outmoded, and Hanson began closing them: School House #2 in 1917, #1 in 1918, and several more in 1924. In 1923, the superintendent expressed hope that primary teachers could soon teach only two grades apiece, rather than four. In 1928-1929, Hanson built the L. Z. Thomas School on Main Street, and closed the last two primary schools, #3 & #4. Hanson students were now located in one of three buildings: L. Z. Thomas, Washington Street School, and the former South Grammar School, now used for first and second grade students (until 1938, when the building inspector forced it to close). Long closed, primary School #7 was burned in 1939. However, School House #4 had several more decades of use as a public school ahead of it. In 1931, Hanson reopened Schools #3 and #4 temporarily due to overcrowding, closing both again in 1933.
School #3 reopened again in 1937 for special needs students, but was closed and sold in 1939. In 1939, Hanson moved School House #4 1½ miles east down Main Street, from the corner of Elm to near Pleasant, where it was placed along the east side of L. Z. Thomas School as a "portable" classroom and connected by a short enclosed passageway. (continued) 13 Clifton E. Bradley, "A History of the Hanson School Department, 1894-1972" (typescript at the Hanson Public Library). Superintendent of the Hanson School system for almost twenty years, Bradley listed in chronological order the significant events, as recounted in the yearly Town Reports and the School Committee minutes, and added his own personal observations. NPS Form 1 10-900-a (8-86) OMB Approval No.
1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 8 Page_7 School House #4, Hanson Plymouth Co., Massachusetts That same year, the Town sold the lot at Elm and Main, where School House #4 had stood since 1867, for $10. Superintendent Thomas E. Rush recounted the rationale for the move in the Hanson Annual Report: This year, it was necessary to move the small No. 4 Primary School building to the grounds of the L. Z. Thomas School. This provided an attractive, comfortable classroom for grade four. However, there will need to be only a relatively small growth in the number of pupils to make necessary some such construction as addition of two rooms to the main building there.
The new home of Grade 4 was still heated by a coal stove, although eventually the town ran a line from the Thomas School furnace to the building. In 1940, the Town of Hanson bought the current lot (where School #4 has stood since 1963) from Edwin J. Sayce to enlarge the lot surrounding L. Z. Thomas School. ' School House #4 continued to function as an additional classroom at L. Z. Thomas School throughout the rest of the period of significance. Though it sat at three different sites during its period of significance, it operated almost continuously as a public school classroom. School House #4 is significant under Criterion C: Architecture for both building type and style, as Hanson's most architecturally significant and intact surviving schoolhouse and as one of its few remaining Greek Revival style public buildings.
Older town histories record that while most 19"*-century schoolhouses burned or were otherwise razed, several survived. A recent count by the Hanson Historical Society shows five other survivals, some extensively remodeled or with wings added, others moved and incorporated into other privately owned buildings. None of the other surviving schools is known to retain both its original form and interior finishes, and none is publicly accessible. The 1996 community architectural survey identified several other Greek Revival style buildings in Hanson, but no schoolhouses this old or of this style. A half-dozen or more houses that were built in the Greek Revival style survive, as well as two churches: the 1820 Baptist Church at 214 Main Street and the 1836 First Congregational Church at 641 High Street.
The elements that might be said to characterize School House #4 as Greek Revival include the end gable form and gable end returns, the denticulated entablatures on the front corner pilasters and entry doors, and the wide, unadorned side-façade cornice-trim boards. While these Greek Revival elements are subtle, they place this building solidly within that architectural tradition. Furthermore, the interior of the building has preserved in good condition a number of finish surfaces characteristic of some late-19"h or early- 20* century rural schoolhouses, including narrow-boarded flooring, canvas-covered blackboards, plaster walls, built-in cupboard, and a pressed-metal ceiling. (continued) 14 Assessor's Records, Town of Hanson.
NPS Form 1 10-900-a (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 8 Page_ 8 OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 School House #4, Hanson Plymouth Co., Massachusetts Since the close of the period of significance in 1955, School House #4 has continued to function as an educational resource for the Town of Hanson. The school district used School House #4 for classes for several more years, as a portable classroom at L. Z. Thomas School. After the opening of the new regional high school in September 1960, the Town voted in 1961 that a committee should decide the fate of School House #4 and a second (mid-20"* century) "portable" building. In 1962, the committee decided to give School House #4 to the Hanson Historical Society, along with a corner of its schoolyard.!
In August of 1963, Francis Kenneally of Whitman moved School House #4 several hundred feet to its current site west of L. Z. Thomas School. After opening Maquan School in 1968, Hanson closed L. Z. Thomas School for a year of renovations. Reopened in the fall of 1969, Thomas School served as a school for two more decades before again closing. In 1996, the Hanson Housing Authority remodeled Thomas School into apartments, securing an easement from the Town for the driveway at the northeast corner of the School House #4 lot, to "pass and repass and maintain driveway on this lot."° School House #4 has maintained its status as a publicly owned educational institution, but now as a museum, meeting place, and occasional classroom, rather than a functioning public school.
The Hanson Historical Society held its first meeting in the schoolhouse on October 3, 1963.l The establishment it moved a ca.1850 shoe shop (complete with its contents) onto the same lot. On April 20, 1990, contractor John Dias moved a ca. 1815 tool shed - the former hearse house from Fern Hill Cemetery - onto the lot where School House #4 sits. School House #4 has been moved three times, including twice during its period of significance. It was built on a site down a short lane on the east side of Elm Street in 1845, shortly after the town created District #7. When the Town abolished districts and went to a graded system in 1867, it moved several of the schoolhouses; District #7 School House was moved north along Elm Street to its intersection with Main Street, placed on a new foundation just northeast of the intersection, and renamed Primary School #4.
Town records show payments to a number of people for labor and horse teams to move several schoolhouses in 1867. The orientation of the building at either site is not definitively known, although the rough building footprint sketches in White's 1932 history may indicate that it originally faced west and subsequently faced south. Neither of these sites appears to have been more densely settled than its current site, and the topography appears similar. After sitting unused trom 1933 to 1939, School House #4 was moved a second time, a mile and a half to the east and back across Main Street, to a site at the southeast corner of the one-story brick L. Z. Thomas School, where it was once again used as a classroom. At this point it faced north and remained freestanding, although an enclosed hallway (continued) 15 Clifton E.
Bradley, "A History of the Hanson School Department, 1894-1972." 16 Assessor's Records, Town of Hanson. ' Assessor's Records, Town of Hanson; A Pictorial History of the Town of Hanson, Vol. 2, Hanson Historical Society, 1964. NPS Form 1 10-900-a (8-86) OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number_ 8 Page_9 School House #4, Hanson Plymouth Co., Massachusetts was extended from the Thomas School to the front door of School House #4. Despite these two moves, School House #4 was used for classroom education almost continuously from 1845 to 1963, when the opening of the new school bullding rendered it unnecessary.
Moved only a short distance from its third location, this well- traveled building continues its 160-year educational mission as the town museum and occasional schoolroom for Hanson schoolchildren on field trips. Hanson completed a community architectural survey in 1996. It has one property on the National Register of Historic Places, the Camp Kiwanee Historic District (2005). (end) School House #4 Name of Property Plymouth, MA County and State 10. Geographical Data Acreage of Property Less than 1 acre - UTM References See continuation sheet. (Place additional UTM references on a continuation sheet) 1. 19 345820 4655720 Zone Easting Northing 2. Zone Easting Northing 3. Zone Easting Northing 4.
Zone Easting - See continuation sheet Northing 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_ Timothy T. Orwig, for Hanson Historical Commission, with Betsy Friedberg, NR Director, MHC organization. Massachusetts Historical Commission _ date June 2005 street & number220 Morrissey Boulevard telephone 617-727-8470 city or town_ Boston stateMA 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 additionalitems) Property Owner (Complete this item at the request of the SHPO or FPO.) name Town of Hanson street & number 542 Liberty Street telephone 781-293-2131 city or town_ Hanson state MA _ zip code_02341 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. Box 37127, Washington, DC 20013-7127; and the Office of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reductions Project (1024-0018), Washington, DC 20503. NPS Form 1 10-900-a (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 9-10 Page1 OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 School House #4, Hanson Plymouth Co., Massachusetts 9. Bibliography Annual Report of the Town of Hanson, 1858-59 to 1953. Bradley, Clifton E.
"A History of the Hanson School Department, 1894-1972." Hanson Town Library. Dempsey, Claire W., and Laura B. Driemeyer. "Little Comfort': Hanson Narrative History," Architectural Survey for the MHC, 31 July 1996, including Form A - Area: I: Burrage Residential and Form B - Building: School House #4. Hanson Town Records, Books 1-3, 1820-1904. Assessor's Office, Hanson Town Hall. "History of the Town of Hanson." Uncredited typescript, ca. 1959. Hanson Town Library. Hurd, D. Hamilton, comp. History of Plymouth County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men. Philadelphia: J.W. Lewis & Co., 1884. Pictorial History of the Town of Hanson. Hanson Pictorial History Committee, 1962. A Pictorial History of the Town of Hanson, Vol. 2. Hanson Historical Society, 1964. "School Registers for the Town of Hanson, 1864-94" (Vol. 1).
Bound reports in the Hanson Town Library. White, Joseph B. "History of Houses in Hanson, Mass." 1932 typescript. Hanson Town Library. (end) 10. Boundary Description The National Register boundary for School House #4 corresponds to the footprint of the building and a ten-foot radius around it. This boundary is within an unnamed public park owned by the Town of Hanson. This legal boundary is illustrated on the Town of Hanson Assessor's Map 33, Parcel 17D, continued on Map 41. Boundary Justification The National Register boundary corresponds to that of the footprint of the building and ten feet around it. The building was moved to this site in 1963, after the end of the period of significance. The other three buildings on the lot were all moved there after the period of significance.
(end) NPS Form 1 10-900-a (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number_Additional Documentation Page_1 OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 School House #4, Hanson Plymouth Co., Massachusetts Additional Documentation-Photographs Timothy Orwig was the photographer for all the photographs, which were taken on 13 July 2003, and the negatives are in his possession. All show School House #4, 565 Main Street, Hanson, Plymouth County, Massachusetts. 8x10 photographs 1. School House #4, 565 Main Street, Hanson. Showing north and east façades, looking southwest. 2. School House #4, 565 Main Street, Hanson. Showing north and west façades, looking southeast. 3. School House #4, 565 Main Street, Hanson. Showing south and east façades, looking northwest. 4. School House #4, 565 Main Street, Hanson.
Interior of main schoolroom, showing south and east walls. Note stovepipe, chimney stub, pressed metal ceiling panels, globe light fixture, and blackboards. 5. School House #4, 565 Main Street, Hanson. Interior of main schoolroom, showing north and east walls. Note stove, stovepipe, pressed metal ceiling panels, blackboards, built-in cupboard, and door to eastern anteroom. Additional Documentation - Site Plan This site plan is based on "Plan of Land Showing Parcels 40-24 & 33-17D" by Steinbeck & Taylor, Inc., Marshfield, MA, May 15 1990, on file at the Assessor's Office, Hanson Town Hall. Updated by Tim Orwig on 15 September 2003, the resulting map is not to scale. Numbers 1-3 show where photographer (Orwig) stood for photographs.
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE JATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACE VALUATION/RETURN SHEE: REQUESTED ACTION: NOMINATION PROPERTY District 7 School House NAME: MULTIPLE NAME: STATE & COUNTY: MASSACHUSETTS, Plymouth 6/29/05 DATE RECEIVED: DATE OF 16TH DAY: DATE OF WEEKLY LIST: DATE OF PENDING LIST: DATE OF 45TH DAY: REFERENCE NUMBER: 05000876 6/11/05 REASONS FOR REVIEW: APPEAL: N REQUEST: N DATA PROBLEM: N LANDSCAPE: N LESS THAN 50 YEARS: PERIOD: PROGRAM UNAPPROVED: SAMPLE: N SLR DRAFT: N NATIONAL: COMMENT WAIVER: N VACCEPT RETURN REJECT 8/'/O50ATE ABSTRACT/SUMMARY COMMENTS: Entered in the Vational Registes RECOM. /CRITERIA REVIEWER DISCIPLINE TELEPHONE DATE DOCUMENTATION see attached comments Y/N see attached SLR Y/N If a nomination is returned to the nominating authority, nomination is no longer under consideration by the NPS. - HANBON HIGTORICAL BOCIETY 1.
Schcol House #4 Hanson, Plimouth Co. MA 1, AaDOS TIa 2. School House #4 Hanson, Plymonh C. MA 3. Scheol House #t4 Hauson, Pymouth Co. MA HANSON LIB. ASSO. ROON L WASH 4. School Hbuse #4 Hauson, Plymouth Co. MA CHANSON HISTORICAL SOCIETY Organized Manch, 1961 Preserving Our Heritage HANS HISTORICA SOCIETY HARUFST YARE SALE 5. Scheoltouse ttf Hauson, Plymonth Co. MA 1820 CHUSTN Tnfan of Hanson MASSACHUSETTS 02341 OFFICE OF THE BOARD OEASSESSORS 293-5259 NOV 04 2004 MASS. HIST. COMM November 3, 2004 Betsy Friedberg Massachusetts Historical Commission 220 Morrissey Boulevard Boston, MA 02125 Dear Ms. Friedberg, On Tuesday evening, November 2, 2004, the Hanson Board of Assessors voted to support the nomination of two historic places, in the Town of Hanson, to the National Register of Historic Places. Camp Kiwanee and School House # 4 are deserving of elevation to the National Register.
For the Board of Assessors Yours truly, CynamaQ.KTg Cynthia A. Long, MAA Assessor/Appraiser HANSON CONSERVATION COMMISSION HANSON, MASSACHUSETTS 02341 1820. November 17, 2004 Betsy Friedberg Massachusetts Historical Commission 220 Morrissey Boulevard Boston, MA 02125 Dear Ms. Friedberg: The Hanson Conservation Commission supports the nomination of Camp Kiwanee and School House #4 in the Town of Hanson, MA into the National Register of Historic Places. Camp Kiwanee, in addition to being historically significant, is a beautiful, natural site that is meticulously and lovingly maintained by the Recreation Committee. It serves as a stopping station for walkers on the Bay Circuit and Hanson Trails.
From the Conservationist's point of view, when you can compare open space to a significant part of the Town's history, it provides an opportunity to maintain a link to it's past and a green belt to the future. School House #4 provides us with the opportunity to look at the strides we have made in education comparing our new middle and high schools to our initial endeavors. The nomination of both of these unique sites would certainly advance other goals of the Open Space and Master Plans, which includes the preservation of our Community's character and quality of life. We support the preservation of Camp Kiwanee and School House #4 as important historical resources. Sincerely, Paits Fanfie Philip R. Lindquist Chairman of the Conservation Commission Nistomil C OWNOF MANSO 1820.
800000000000005 Toln of Lanson office of Planning Board 542 Liberty Street Hanson, Massachusetts 02341 Phone Fax (781) 293-9035 (781) 294-0279 November 23, 2004 Ms. Betsy Friedberg Massachusetts Historical Commission 220 Morrissey Boulevard Boston, Massachusetts 02125 Dear Ms. Friedberg: We are writing in support of Camp Kiwanee and School House #4 for consideration by the Massachusetts Historical Commission for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places. These proposed properties of historical significance are valuable assets to the Town of Hanson as well as to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Hanson's Master Plan has taken into account the importance of these two historic properties which preserve the community's historic character.
The Town of Hanson is currently providing linkage with other communities through the Bay Circuit Program, a system of open space and a recreational trail network. Camp Kiwanee, a town owned facility which provides recreational and educational opportunities, is an integral part of the Bay Circuit Program. The School House #4 is used for community events and as a meeting place for the Hanson Historical Society. Both of these properties enhance our cultural and historical emphasis and establish current and future priorities for our children. In conjunction with historic preservation goals, the Bay Circuit Program connects our open spaces, parks, forests, reservoirs and wildlife preserves, as well as, scenic and historic sites.
Through arduous preservation measures, we strive to attain these goals and the nomination of these properties would indeed facilitate our strategic planning endeavors. In summation, the nomination to the National Register of Historic Places will preserve our historic buildings and create future opportunities in the Town of Hanson. The preservation of these historic structures and properties will enable us to understand our community history and share that history on a regional basis. Sincerely, ShilipSdgu Philip R. Lindquist Chairman GDEFERIT June 24, 2005 The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Massachusetts Historical Commission Mr. John Roberts, Acting Chief National Register of Historic Places Department of the Interior National Park Service 1201 Eye Street, NW, 8" floor Washington, DC 20005 RECEIVED 2280 JUN 29 2005 NAT.
REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES NATIONAL PARK SERVICE Dear Mr. Roberts: Enclosed please find the following nomination form: School House #4, 565 Main Street, Hanson (Plymouth), 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. Three letters of support have been received. Sincerely, Setsy tredher Betsy Friedber National Register Director Massachusetts Historical Commission enclosure CC: Timothy Orwig, consultant David DeVito, Hanson Historical Commission Catherine A. Kuchinski, Chair, Hanson Board of Selectmen Noreen O'Toole, Hanson Town Planner Cynthia A. Long, Hanson Assessor/Appraiser Philip R.
Lindquist, Hanson Planning Board, Hanson Conservation Commission 220 Morrissey Boulevard, Boston, Massachusetts 02125 (617) 727-8470 - Fax: (617) 727-5128 www.state.ma.us/sec/mhc
Block