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 X Other _ recorded by Historic American Buildings Survey Name of repository: # Rochester Town Library _ recorded by Historic American Engineering Rochester Historical Society Record #.
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 _1 OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 East Rochester Church and Cemetery HD Rochester (Plymouth), Massachusetts Summary Statement The East Rochester Church and Cemetery Historic District, a rectangular 1.25 acre site along County Road in Rochester, Massachusetts, consists of two properties, a church and a cemetery, which have been the symbolic public center for a linear rural neighborhood since the second quarter of the 19'* century. East Rochester Church is a 1½-story wood-frame Greek Revival church dating from 1857. This gable-front building has recessed-panel pilasters, a wide divided trim band below the cornice, and tall 12/12 sash windows. The square pilastered belfry, on a pilastered base, contains an 1872 bell.
The interior of the church retains some Greek Revival features such as peaked window headers. Other features date from an 1892 redecorating and subsequent improvements early in the 20* century, including a tin ceiling and eighteen long slip pews. The East Rochester Church was built in the southeastern corner of the pre-existing neighborhood cemetery. This 1- acre cemetery lot contains approximately 180 burials, dating from 1828 to 1997, but most from before 1890. Many of the same people who built and renovated the church are now buried in the adjoining cemetery. The district reflects the history of religion and community planning and development in Rochester. The church is an important example of the use of Greek Revival for an ecclesiastical building.
Furthermore, the architecture of the church is significant both for its creator Jacob Look (1827-1909), a Rochester housewright and master workman, and the maker of its bell, William Blake & Co of Boston. The East Rochester Church and Cemetery, owned today by the Rochester Historical Society and the Town of Rochester, respectively, are little altered since their period of significance (1828-1957), and have historic integrity in terms of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association; together, they fulfill National Register criteria A and C at the local level, and also qualifies for Consideration D for a cemetery property. The Setting: Rochester Rochester is a ruraltown in Plymouth County,fifty miles south of Boston, forty-nine miles east of Providence, and nineteen miles northeast of New Bedford.
Named after a town in England, Rochester was founded in 1679 and incorporated in 1686. Rochester originally was a very large town that fronted on Buzzards Bay and included most of the coastline between Fairhaven and Cape Cod. Its coastal precincts, though, separated to become the western part of Wareham (in 1739) and the towns of Marion (1852) and Mattapoisett (1857). Bordered today by Lakeville and Middleborough on the north, Freetown and Acushnet (in neighboring Bristol County) on the west, Mattapoisett on the south, and Marion and Wareham on the east, Rochester covers 37 square miles. Topographically, Rochester is classified as coastal lowland, with sandy and gravelly soils and drainage to Buzzards Bay through the Mattapoisett and Sippican Rivers.
Heavily forested (oak, pine, and cedar), the town also has a wide variety of wetlands: natural and man-made ponds, swamps, cranberry bogs, and a glacial kettlehole lake. Small linear settlements arose along the roadways, but even Rochester Center, the location of Town Hall, Plumb Memorial Library, and Plumb Corner Mall, is not densely settled. In the 2000 census, Rochester recorded 4,581 residents, or nearly 125 persons per square mile.' Although some suburban development is occurring, Rochester remains largely engaged in farming, logging, and recreation. A twenty-first century town history proudly proclaims, "Rochester continues today to be that rural oasis of the mid-19" century."2 The first English immigrants in the area now known as Rochester arrived from neighboring Plymouth and Scituate to herd livestock for the proprietors as early as 1649.
During the century before the Revolution, much of the economic (continued) 1 "Rochester," MHC Reconnaissance Survey Report, June 1981; "The Official Website of the Town of Rochester," (http://www.townofrochestermass.com/history.htm); "Final Report Rochester Community-Wide Historic and Architectural Survey Rochester Massachusetts 1997-1998," Public Archaeology Laboratory, Inc., July 1998; "Rochester, Massachusetts" DHCD Massachusetts (http://www.mass.gov/dhcd/iprofile/250.pdf). 2 Judith Hartly MacKinnon, Images of America: Rochester (Charleston, SC: Arcadia, 2005), 8. 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 _2 OMB Approval No.
1024-0018 East Rochester Church and Cemetery HD Rochester (Plymouth), Massachusetts development took place largely in the coastal precincts of "Old Rochester": Marion and Mattapoisett. In present-day Rochester, the first node of settlement was the Town Green and the (First Parish) Meeting House (1699). The earliest extant houses date to ca. 1690, and early industries developing at the same time were tar production and water-powered mills (saw, grist, fulling, and forge). These mills provided nodes for further development, which continued gradually until the secession of Mattapoisett and Marion in the 1850s. With its main economic engines gone, Rochester entered a long period of developmental quiescence, although agriculture, resource extraction, and sawmill operation (particularly for box boards and shingles) continued unabated.
Rochester's declining population recovered somewhat in the first decade of the 20" century, spurred by cranberry cultivation and improved transportation networks. Since the town's last mill closed in 1964, the production and marketing of cranberries has become the main industry of the town. Population increased substantially in the 1970s and continues to grow moderately, with some pressure from suburban development. Criterion A: Religion The East Rochester Church and Cemetery are important to the development of religion in Rochester. In Rochester, as in other early New England towns, the building of a church symbolized the founding of a community.
The naming of a "Ministry Woods" (for burying ground and training field; today's Town Green) in 1697 in Rochester Center - and the construction there in 1699 of the first permanent meetinghouse - established Rochester Center as the combined civic and religious center of the growing town of Rochester. ^ Seven men signed a church covenant in 1703; in 1709 the church membership list of thirty-five contained residents from the farthest reaches of "Old Rochester," areas which later became Wareham and Mattapoisett. The second meetinghouse (1717) was built across from the cemetery gates in Rochester Center, but soon also became crowded. One by one, the isolated outlying neighborhoods rallied for their own separate meetinghouses and civic status.
Mattapoisett was set off as the Second Precinct of Rochester in 1735, Wareham as a separate town in 1739, North Rochester as the Third Parish in 1748, and Sippican (Marion) as the Fourth Parish in 1798. Those in each new parish/precinct built a new meetinghouse, taxing the members of the precinct for its construction and maintenance. Rochester exempted Quakers from ministry taxes in 1709 and Baptists later in the century, but church taxation remained Massachusetts law until 1836, when church support was ruled voluntary. The precincts of Mattapoisett and Marion later became separate towns (in 1852 and 1857, respectively), although North Rochester did not. Rochester and its various Congregational precincts engaged in an ambitious building campaign in the 1830s and 1840s, under the direction of architect and builder Solomon K. Eaton of the Second (Mattapoisett) Parish in Rochester.
In 1837, Solomon Eaton designed and built the Carpenter Gothic-style First Congregational Church in Rochester Center. During the decade afterwards, each of the four historic Rochester parishes hired Eaton to build them a new Greek Revival meetinghouse: Marion and North Rochester in 1841, Mattapoisett in1842, and Wareham in 1845. The story is told in the "Old Rochester" town history: (continued) 3 "Final Report Rochester Community-Wide Historic and Architectural Survey Rochester Massachusetts 1997-1998" Public Archaeology Laboratory, Inc., July 1998; D. Hamilton Hurd, ed., History of Plymouth County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men (Philadelphia: J.W. Lewis, 1884); Ebenezer W. Peirce, Historic Sketches of Hanson, Lakeville, Mattapoisett, Middleboro', Pembroke, Plympton, Rochester, Wareham, and West Bridgewater (Boston, 1873).
+ "Rochester Center-Area A." Form A Area, Massachusetts Historical Commission, 1998; Mary Hall Leonard, et al., Mattapoiset and Old Rochester Massachusetts: Being a History of these Towns and also in Part of Marion and a portion of Wareham (3° . ed., Mattapoisett: Committee of the Town of Mattapoisett, 1907), 72-74. Chapter V of Leonard's book, "The Early Church and the Precincts," is the most complete and accessible history of the development of religious and social governance in Rochester. 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 Page3 OMB Approval No.
1024-0018 East Rochester Church and Cemetery HD Rochester (Plymouth), Massachusetts Between the years 1837 and 1845 all five of these Congregational churches thus formed out of the old First Church in Rochester had new houses of worship of similar architecture, for which Solomon K. Eaton of Mattapoisett was architect and builder. The one at Wareham was burned in 1904, and has been replaced by a building of different architectural style. The other four of these meeting-houses are still in use. They all belong to what has been called the Third or Christopher Wren style of New England church architecture, though modified by the fact that all have square belfries instead of the usual pointed spire. Eaton's involvement is further verified by a receipt in the files of the North Rochester Congregational Church, signed "S.K. Eaton," which reads "Received Sept.
11 1841 of the Congregational Precinct in Rochester, Middleborough and Freetown by the hand of NC Perkins Two Hundred and Seventy Four Dollars in part payment for building a Meeting House for said Precinct." No connection is known between Eaton and the East Rochester Church, but under his influence, the Greek Revival meetinghouse became the standard and model for religious structures in the region. The Founding of the East Rochester Church The church in East Rochester was formed in 1854, with the Rev. Timothy M. Hall as the first minister, followed by Father P. Brett, and then in 1856 by the Rev. J. Madison Mayall. Mayall led the campaign to build the East Rochester Church. The lot was purchased, and the construction apparently financed, by George Pierce of Rochester.
Few records of the early church survive, except for a later transcription of a letter that Mayall wrote in 1857: This edifice was erected by George Pierce Esq. as a place of worship for the Methodist Protestant Church.... In the erection of this temple, no worldly remuneration can ever be hoped for by Mr. Pierce. May great be his reward in heaven. Ere he shall cease to worship in earthly temples, may he see many gathered at this altar that shall prove as pillars in the church of Christ... George Pierce Esq was the first class leader. In 1856 a new class was formed, and Benjamin Morton and Thomas W. Raymond were appointed leaders and hold that office at the present time. The church numbers at this time nearly 50 and is in a flourishing condition?
Thus Pierce and this group of neighbors financed the construction of their new Methodist Protestant meeting house, rather than paying for it through town levies, as had been the case earlier with the (Congregational) churches. Thomas W. Raymond, one of the leaders of the 1856 class, lived in the Greek Revival house (MHC# .155) that still stands next door, south of the new meeting house, at 351 County Road. Benjamin Morton, the other 1856 class leader and a carpenter, sold the lot for the meetinghouse to George Pierce in 1857. Pierce bought the land for $12 from co-owners Morton and Mary Swift.® Pierce granted the lot to the East Rochester church on a long-term lease, although it seems he never legally transferred ownership to the church. In fact, a quit-claim deed in the church records documents the sale by Pierce "unto the said Salem Jefferson the Seat No.
twenty-five in the (continued) S Mary Hall Leonard, et al., Mattapoisett and Old Rochester Massachusetts: Being a History of these Towns and also in Part of Marion and a portion of Wareham (3"d. ed., Mattapoisett: Committee of the Town of Mattapoisett, 1907), 90-91. Church records, attic, North Rochester Congregational Church. J. Madison Mayall, "To the members of the Methodist church of the Boston District Annual Conference, Pierceville Station, Rochester Aug. 22 1857." Transcription in the files of the Rochester Historical Society. 8 Benjamin W. Morton and Mary Swift to George Washington Pierce, Plymouth County Registry of Deeds Book 282, Page 266, Recorded 8 December 1857. 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 Page4 East Rochester Church and Cemetery HD Rochester (Plymouth), Massachusetts Vew Methodist Protestant Meeting House in Rochester near Thomas Raymond." George Washington Pierce (1804 875), the first leader of the congregation, was a farmer, carpenter, and part-time preacher. '° The son of William Pierce of Wareham and Betsy Gurney of Rochester, George Washington Pierce married twice, the second time to widow Deborah Turner (d. 1881) in 1848." George and Deborah Pierce are buried nearby in Hillside Cemetery at Douglas Corner, a neighborhood known in the 19* century as Pierceville. By the 20* century, Pierceville had come to refer more clearly to its northern end, at nearby East Rochester.
What little record exists of the construction of the East Rochester Church building again comes from the transcription of the letter by the Rev. Mayall: "In 1856 Rev J. Madison Mayall entered upon his labors with this church, and this house was erected during his pastoral charge, in the summer of 1857. Mr. Jacob Look was the Master Workman, assisted by Benj. Marton [sic; presumably Morton], David Morse, Milton Rayme, and Joseph Look." 12 Morse and Morton were members of the congregation of East Rochester Church and are buried in the East Rochester Cemetery. Joseph Look was Jacob Look's younger brother, and also a carpenter and builder. Methodist circuit riders evangelized across the country and began churches at many rural intersections such as East Rochester.
A church historian described the process: "Local churches and classes could spring up wherever a few women and men were gathered under the direction of a class leader and were visited regularly by the circuit preacher, one who had a circuit of preaching placed under his care. This system effectively served the needs of city, town, village, or frontier outpost. The churches were able to go to the people wherever they settled»!3 The East Rochester congregation organized as members of the Methodist Protestant Church, a group which broke off from the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1828 This new denomination held to Wesleyan religious principles but preferred congregational governance, demanding that laity share governance of the church along with clergy. It eliminated bishops; the president of each conference appointed the pastors to their charges.
Like many other denominations, the Methodist Protestant Church split into northern and southern branches before the Civil War, but reunified afterwards. Most of the denomination rejoined with other Methodists in 1939 to become part of what since 1968 has been known as the United Methodist Church. 14 In the boundaries of "Old Rochester," at least four Methodist churches were built in this wave of circuit-riding evangelism. A "Protestant Methodist" meetinghouse had been established already in North Rochester in 1830, constructing a Greek Revival building that still stands (289 North Avenue; MHC #28). It was built at the intersection of North Avenue and Snipatuit Road, but quickly failed and had been converted to a store by 1832. Another Protestant (continued) ' George Pierce of Rochester to Salem Jefferson, Quit-Claim Deed, 4 November 1857.
10 "Doors Close for Congregation: Historical Society to Take over 145-year-old Rochester Church" New Bedford Standard-Times 3 October 2002. 11 Vital Records of Rochester, accessed via the NEHGS website. Pierce's place of birth is unknown 12 J. Madison Mayall, "To the members of the Methodist church of the Boston District Annual Conference, Pierceville Station, Rochester Aug. 22 1857." Transcription in the files of the Rochester Historical Society. 13 The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church - 2004. The United Methodist Publishing House, available online at "History: Our Story," United Methodist Church at UMC.org. hhttp://www.umc.org/site/c.wL4knN|Lth/b.1720691/k.B5CB/History Our Story.htm) The Rev. T.H. Lewis, "Historical Sketch of the Origin of the Methodist Protestant Church," 1904; revised by The General Conference of 1964.
(http://www.methodistprotestantchurch.com); "History: Our Story," United Methodist Church at UMC.org. (http://www.umc.org/site/c./wL4KnN1LtH/b.1720691/k.B5CB/History_Our_Story.htm); "Methodism," The Catholic Encyclopedia 1911 (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10237b.htm). 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 5 OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 East Rochester Church and Cemetery HD Rochester (Plymouth), Massachusetts Methodist congregation sprang up briefly in neighboring Sippican (Marion), but also failed. The Union Meeting House, organized on Walnut Plain Road near Rochester Center, was Methodist during one of its reorganizations. Its 1825 neetinghouse burned, and the church reorganized as a Congregational society.!
Like its East Rochester counterpart, th 1823 Unon Meeting House was built on the corner of a pre-existing cemetery, known today as Union Cemetery (1810; MHC #813). The East Rochester church is the only one of the two surviving buildings that made a sustained contribution to the history of 19* century Methodist evangelism in Rochester. Furthermore, it continued to function as a church into the 21" century. East Rochester Congregational Church The Methodist Protestant Church at East Rochester continued to be active until the 1870s, when "after 25 years or more, the church became weakened through the formation of an Advent Church by a part of the members. As a result no regular pastor was appointed." In 1880, services resumed in the East Rochester Church when the remaining members voted to invite the Rev. William R.
Joslyn, the minister of the Congregational Church in Rochester Center, to supply the pulpit on an occasional basis. After four years under Joslyn, the church engaged the minister of the Marion Congregational Church for supply. Ihen in 1886 it hired the Rev. Stipen [possibly Stephen] M. Andrews; on 15 October 1887, six members of the church voted to become a Congregational church. No reason is given in the records for this denominational switch; the change simply may have allowed them to remain congregational in their governance, while taking advantage of the larger pool of available Congregational ministers in New England. The Rev. Andrews resigned in 1889. Under his replacement, the Scotsman Robert Laidlaw Rae, "about fifty converted and quite a number since. About fifty-five were added to the church.
At the present time [1892] there are 65 members and in a flourishing condition." 1 With this strong new congregation formed, the members decided that time had come to update their 30-year-old building. Significant changes to the East Rochester Church building occurred in 1892, under this large revitalized congregation. Congregation secretary George Morse noted: "The building is being repaired to the expense of $500.00 or more. The gallery was taken down, a portico put on the front, platform enlarged, new pews and pulpit furniture put in and other improvements made."'8 The congregation had voted in 1890 to form a committee to erect "horse and carriage sheds," but whether they were ever erected is unknown!' The 1892 campaign to raise money for church repair was led by the Ladies Sewing Circle.
At the 1893 annual meeting, about 75 people gathered in the church vestry (basement hall), members and guests alike, to share supper and congratulations for their newly refurbished church. After the initial 1892 changes, the congregation continued updating the building during the first two decades of the 20thh century. The inside shutters went up in 1900. In 1907 the Annual Meeting voted to complete another set of repairs to the church building: patching the roof, rebuilding the interior chimney on the outside of the church, and placing a new brick (continued) 15 Mary Hall Leonard, et al., Mattapoisett and Old Rochester Massachusetts: Being a History of these Towns and also in Part of Marion and a portion of Wareham (3rd. . ed., Mattapoisett: Committee of the Town of Mattapoisett, 1907), 95-96.
According to the MHC survey form for Union Cemetery, the second Union Church, built on the same site as the first, was also razed. 16 George P. Morse, untitled statement dated 5 August 1892, transcription in the records of the Rochester Historical Society. Morse was one of the six founding members of the new church and its first secretary. The "Advent Church" presumably refers to the Advent Christian Church of West Wareham. 1 George P. Morse, untitled statement dated 5 August 1892, transcription in the records of the Rochester Historical Society. 18 George P. Morse, untitled statement dated 5 August 1892, transcription in the records of the Rochester Historical Society. 19 East Rochester Congregational Church Register, 1890-1936, Rochester Historical Society. See also Record of Church Committee 1898-1916, Rochester Historical Society.
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 6 OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 East Rochester Church and Cemetery HD Rochester (Plymouth), Massachusetts underpinning under the church entry. The chimney, at least, was completed that year, as the 1908 Annual Meeting voted to sell the brick left over from the chimney repairs. In 1909, the committee reported that the entry room underpinning had been completed, but that the south side of the roof would need to be reshingled before new carpeting or any other repairs At the 1910 Annual Meeting, the church voted to close it doors temporarily while another series of repairs was completed.
By the 1911 annual meeting, the Ladies' Sewing Circle had raised over $500 to complete this set of renovations: Chairman of the Church Committee Bro. Geo. Jefferson stat[ed] his gratitude and surprise at the magnitude of the work. The church was shingled, new metal ceiling of beautiful pattern, walls newly papered, all wood painted new carpet, lamps, old chimney in the corner removed and various other improvements The meeting further voted to let the Sewing Circle dispose of "old furniture ... as they saw fit." The 1914 Annual Meeting also thanked the Ladies Sewing Circle, "the Finnish People," and its youth group for donations of $55 which would be used to install electric lights in the church auditorium and basement.
The 1915 annual meeting voted to add "cement steps and walk to street if sufficient funds." 21 Safety rather than comfort or aesthetics triggered another round of changes in 1928, when the congregation voted to update the building to conform to new state laws. They authorized the hiring of a building inspector to detail all needed changes, especially if metal support posts were needed in the basement to reinforce the auditorium floor, and to use most of their remaining funds to immediately add the "rear exit at the South West window." 22 They also installed a new hardwood floor in the auditorium. A memorial fund of $57 for "Aunt Minnie" was dedicated to adding a memorial window in the doorway (possibly the single stained glass window which at present is behind the pulpit). A fire in 1930 necessitated repairs to the church, although the details and the extent of the damage are not known.
This fire may have been the reason that in 1930 the congregation built a new front platform, and in 1931 paid $140 to install a furnace - presumably a coal furnace, as they began to buy a ton of coal yearly. A second fire occurred in the 1940s, followed by further repairs. These fires were particularly troubling to East Rochester Church because of its uncertain legal status. The congregation never secured title to the building, no legal transfer of the property ever having been made from George Pierce (or his heirs) to either the original Methodist Protestant congregation or its successor.
At the 1895 annual meeting, for example, a "church committee reported unadviseable to insure house of worship as no company could be found that could insure it as we have only a lease of the house."23 From time to time insurance was obtained; by 1926, the church had found a way to insure the building - at least temporarily? Yet the problem remained. At the 1934 Annual Meeting, another committee reported that the church might consider incorporation, at least to once again insure its building: "Our assistant pastor then made it clear that incorporation put the church in possession of no property, but did enable it to hold property, and obtain insurance on same."2 By 1943, the church had once again obtained fire insurance on the building.26 (continued) 20 East Rochester Congregational Church Register, 1890-1936, Rochester Historical Society.
21 East Rochester Congregational Church Register, 1890-1936, Rochester Historical Society. No connection between the East Rochester Church and Finns or Finland is otherwise known. 2 East Rochester Congregational Church Register, 1890-1936, Rochester Historical Society. 23 East Rochester Congregational Church Register, 1890-1936, Rochester Historical Society. 24 Policy drawn up by the Abington Mutual Fire Insurance Co. of Abington, Mass., for the East Rochester Congregational Church Society, Expiring in 1926; files of the Rochester Historical Society. 25 East Rochester Congregational Church Register, 1890-1936, Rochester Historical Society. 26 Policy drawn up by the Quincy Mutual Fire Insurance Co. of Quincy, Massachusetts, for the East Rochester Congregational Church, Expiring in 1943; files of the Rochester Historical Society.
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 Page7 OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 East Rochester Church and Cemetery HD Rochester (Plymouth), Massachusetts The Rochester-Lakeville Congregational Parish Despite the building improvements, the Annual Meeting minutes of the East Rochester Congregational Church from the 1920s indicate that the congregation was barely scraping by on bills and repairs. The 1928 Annual Meeting voted to pay the Rev. Herbert Wilber "only $10 a week" for his work and "to leave the matter of a surplus in hands of church committee as last year." During that same meeting the congregation paid Wilber an extra $50 out of the church's small surplus?
In 1929, discussions began to form a larger parish out of several small struggling Congregational churches in the area. On 17 July 1930, the Rochester-Lakeville Congregational parish was formed, uniting four parishes - in North Rochester, East Rochester, Lakeville, and Taunton - under a church council of twelve (three representatives from each parish). The merger had the full backing of the Massachusetts Congregational Conference and Missionary Society, which even supplied start-up funding. Two ministers were hired to serve the four churches.
When the merger occurred, it was seen as an exceptional step: "The forming of a larger parish was a first in Massachusetts at that time."28 At its Annual Meeting in April 1931, the congregation of the East Rochester Congregational Church voted unanimously to join the new Rochester and Lakeville Larger Parish Building changes continued through this period, including a bequest from Mr. & Mrs. Stone of Wareham, who donated an organ from "the Humphrey estate" for the auditorium in 1932. Yet despite the lower costs for the shared ministers, building costs remained a challenge; at the 1936 Annual Meeting, it was reported that the belfry had sunk two inches into the roof and that the whole roof and side entry would need to be reshingled. As the Great Depression lifted, the congregation made new investments.
In 1940, they added a new rear exit (presumably the basement exit in the southern end of the west elevation) and installed a new sink and pump, stove, and cupboards in the basement kitchen.?? The merged parish prospered briefly, but the frequent turnover in ministers exacerbated other problems. In 1938 the Taunton church withdrew, and a single minister served all three remaining churches. Still, problems continued, and the merged parish eventually dissolved. In 1942, the members of this church once again incorporated, as the East Rochester Congregational Church. It declared itself a "Trinitarian Congregational Church in its policy and denominational affiliations. Final Days at East Rochester Congregational Church Few changes are recorded to the East Rochester Church in the sixty years after it reincorporated as a separate church in 1942.
In 1986, the church received a building permit to enclose the furnace room and bathroom."' By the 1990s, the East Rochester Congregational Church had stopped conducting Sunday services in the winter months. The last service took place in 2001. In 2003, the remaining members officially gave the church to the Rochester Historical Society. (continued) 2 East Rochester Congregational Church Register, 1890-1936, Rochester Historical Society. At the end of his career, Rev. Wilber served at North Rochester Congregational Church. 28 Mrs. Joseph A. Chamberlain, "First Wedding in 40 Years to Be Performed in Rochester Church," New Bedford Standard-Times 24 July 1960 2 Information obtained from the East Rochester Congregational Church records by Betty Beaulieu, Rochester Historical Society.
30 "By-Laws of the East Rochester Congregational Church of East Rochester, Massachusetts, Adopted at a Meeting of the Church Held on June 12, 1942"; and Certificate of Incorporation, signed by the Secretary of the Commonwealth on 16 September 1942; both are in the files of the Rochester Historical Society. 31 Rochester Building Permit #736. East Rochester Church. 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 8 East Rochester Church and Cemetery HD Rochester (Plymouth), Massachusetts On a fall day in 2002, a reporter from the New Bedford Standard-Times met with two of the last parishioners in the quiet church. His host was Elizabeth Bessey, who told the reporter that she was the great-great-granddaughter of founder George Washington Pierce.
Her family had worshipped at East Rochester since it was built. The reporter recorded their visit: It is a sad thing, to outlive a church. But Mrs. Bessey, in all her Yankee sensibility, is not much given to sentimentality. The same is not entirely true for Florence Zora, the congregation's treasurer. Ms. Bessey is the clerk Yesterday morning, the latter opened the church matter-of-factly, and once inside, her friend Ms. Zora began to reminisce. She had been, in 1943, a young bride named Florence Howes, married into a family that "was the backbone of the church," as Mrs. Bessey told it. "The organ is really something," Mrs. Zora said. And later: "the bell, Betty, remember how they used to ring the bells? That was nice" Ms. Bessey remembered.
They never pealed truer than when they signaled the end of World War II, and "everyone went running up to the church." That was the nature of it: a church people ran and walked to, built without [a] parking lot up close to County Road, just as it had stood back when the road was called Briggs Lane and, before that, Division Street. In the end, though, a church whose members came mostly on foot just plain ran out of congregants2 In 2003, upon dissolution of the East Rochester Congregational Church, the lot and buildings legally became the property of the Rochester Historical Society through a quitclaim deed from the church.33 Today the East Rochester Church continues as the meeting hall and informal museum of the Rochester Historical Society, a private non-profit formed in 1967.34 No substantive changes have been made to the interior of the church since its acquisition.
Criterion A: Community Planning and Development The Development of East Rochester When the family of Revolutionary War soldier Benjamin Gurney (1743-1828) placed a slate tombstone above his grave, they likely did not realize that they had just designated a spot that would anchor a community center for nearly two centuries. Gurney, who both was born and died on the 4* of July, was the first known burial in the East Rochester Cemetery. The next recorded grave did not appear until two years later, when the family of Ann Briggs, who died in 1830, interred her in the almost the opposite corner of the field. Both the Gurney and Briggs families lived along what is now County Road, although it has had a number of names.
The 1857 deed for the East Rochester Church called it simply "the road leading from Rochester to Plymouth." Later records called it Division Street because it marked the town boundary between Rochester and its former precinct of Wareham. So many Briggs, in fact, lived along the road that it became known as Briggs Lane. In the 1920s, the road name was changed to County Street (later County Road). This sense of slow, incremental change characterizes the development of East Rochester. The two constants despite that change have been the road itself, and this single spot along the road, where first a cemetery and later a neighborhood meetinghouse gave theplace its name and identity. (continued) 32 "Doors Close for Congregation: Historical Society to Take over 145-year-old Rochester Church." New Bedford Standard-Times 3 October 2002.
33 East Rochester Congregational Church to the Rochester Historical Society, quitclaim deed recorded 14 July 2003, Plymouth County Registry of Deeds, Book 25755, Page 326. Despite extensive title search, no record was found of a transfer of the lot from George 34 Rochester Historical Society website, http://www.plumblibrary.com/historicalsociety.html. 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 Page9 OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 East Rochester Church and Cemetery HD Rochester (Plymouth), Massachusetts In Rochester, not all burials had this effect of starting a community, as recent surveys of the thirteen extant Rochester cemeteries demonstrate.
Seven of these known burial grounds in Rochester contain 35 or fewer stones; four of those hold less than a dozen stones, sometimes isolated in a family plot a long way from the road. At least one cemetery reported in historical records has disappeared entirely. Not surprisingly, the oldest Rochester cemetery, First Parish Cemetery, is also the largest, with 1,400 graves. The other cemeteries sprang up over the next century and a half: the last appeared in 1854 Kather than being clearly designated and planned as cemeteries from the beginning, many simply occurred in marginal or unused land. Several had a complicated legal history. Although East Rochester Cemetery has served as a neighborhood cemetery since 1828, its legal ownership never was established clearly.
Finally, on 17 February 1971, the Town of Rochester acquired East Rochester Cemetery by eminent domain, to become a public cemetery. 36 This act established a legal description for the lot. The town then had the cemetery formally surveyed, and published the survey in 1973. Just as the identity of the road developed incrementally, so the identity of East Rochester Cemetery developed: Pierceville Cemetery, Briggs Lane Cemetery, and finally Woodside Cemetery. East Rochester has always been a diffuse settlement stretched out along County Road, with swampy wetlands (many now cranberry bogs) defining the western boundary. The 1704 town map shows no development along the road. The oldest house on the road is the Halfway House (ca. 1773; 405 County Road; MHC #157).
Its name suggests how isolated this Cape-style house seemed to travelers, a stagecoach stop thirteen miles equidistant from both New Bedford and Plymouth. A recent communitywide survey of East Rochester (MHC# ROC.L) has defined the neighborhood primarily by its proximity to the church and cemetery on the south, and a late-19t century mill, now razed, to the north.?? The first development in East Rochester occurred during the Early Industrial Period (1830-1870), because of its transportation connections and waterpower. One or more mills were in operation, and many houses were built along County Road.
The families who built the church and filled some of the largest plots in the cemetery appeared in the second quarter of the 19t century: Gurney, Leonard, Morse, Morton, and Raymond 38 Like the church, several of the earlier houses along County Road (primarily to the south of the East Rochester Church and Cemetery) are Greek Revival in style, including the Nehemiah Davis House at 333 County Road (between 1856 and 1879, MHC #155) and another house at 341 County Road. The Greek Revival-style T. Raymond House (before 1856; 351 County Road; MHC #155), directly adjacent to the East Rochester Church and Cemetery on the south, may have been the home of a church founder who also worked as a carpenter during the construction of the church. George Pierce bought the house in 1857, and sold it to the Leonard family, also long-time residents.
North of the East Rochester Church and Cemetery are three houses built by (or for) the children of Nahum Morse: the Savery Morse House at 489 County Road (1885, MHC #49 & 50), the Nahum Morse House at 577 County Road (1885, MHC #51), and the Morses' daughter's house at 531 County Road (1900). The Morses ran the nearby East Rochester mill, which produced box boards and shingles; most of the family is buried at the East Rochester Cemetery. Their houses (continued) 35 Rochester Communitywide Historical and Architectural Survey 1997-1998 (Pawtucket, RI: Public Archaeology Laboratory, 1998), Binder 6: Cemeteries. 36 "Rochester, Town of - Woodside Cemetery - Acquisition," 1971 Regular Session Chapter 23 pg. 12). 31 Rochester Communitywide Historical and Architectural Survey 1997-1998 (Pawtucket, RI: Public Archaeology Laboratory, 1998), Binder 3: County Road District, 105-127.
38 Rochester Communitywide Historical and Architectural Survey 1997-1998 (Pawtucket, RI: Public Archaeology Laboratory, 1998), Binder 1: 15. 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 Page10 East Rochester Church and Cemetery HD Rochester (Plymouth), Massachusetts are generally classed as "Victorian Eclectic," with hints here and there of Gothic Revival or Italianate, as is the G.W. Howe House at 373 County Road (1875; MHC #156) and the William H. Cowen House at 435 County Road (before 1879, MHC# 158, 159). As one goes north along County Road, early 20" century styled houses appear, including Craftsman houses and bungalows.
The influence of the East Rochester Church and Cemetery on the development of this crossroads community can most clearly be demonstrated in the migration of the name Pierceville. The large extended Pierce family, along with the Jeffersons and Nickersons, lived nearby in Pierceville, at the intersection of High Street and Brattle Road (known in the 20"* century as Pierce Street) Pierceville had its own store, school, and cemetery. Development stalled late in the 19*h century, the store closed, and the school was eventually moved to County Road. After some years as "Pierceville Proper," the area was renamed Douglas Corner for a later resident.
The cemetery in Douglas Corner, home to George Washington Pierce and at least 44 other Pierces, became known as "Pierceville First Cemetery" to distinguish it from the slightly later, and larger, cemetery at East Rochester, also sometimes called Pierceville. The generic mid-20* century names subsequently attached to these two cemeteries, Hillside and Woodside, may have been an attempt to avoid the use of the term "Pierceville" altogether. Of the extant commercial, industrial, and institutional buildings in either Pierceville, only the East Rochester Church continued in its original use into the 21$ century. Finally, the East Rochester Cemetery has other, less tangible community functions.
A recent survey of the development of Massachusetts cemeteries noted their importance in defining community: "The burial grounds and cemeteries of Massachusetts are one of the richest cultural and historic records of our past. In addition to providing specific genealogical information about our ancestors, they also tell a broader story about evolving attitudes towards death, burial, and public landscapes."40 The East Rochester Cemetery is - yes literally, but also figuratively - a repository of community history. No longer active as a cemetery, it can contribute to the community in other ways: The gravestones, monuments, memorials and tombs found within the cemetery landscape commemorate the lives of many generations of citizens, from founding members of a community and the state to Revolutionary and Civil War heroes to the newest immigrants.
These important artifacts are a unique historic and genealogical record.... Some of these stone carvings represent some of the earliest art and written history available... Many also reflect an important artistic legacy, displaying the work of a long tradition of skilled stone carvers and documenting the evolution of funereal iconography.41 The East Rochester Cemetery presents a unique opportunity to the Rochester Historical Society, which now cares for the adjacent East Rochester Church. Together these two properties illustrate a richly detailed story of community craftsmanship. (continued) 39 Rochester Communitywide Historical and Architectural Survey 1997-1998 (Pawtucket, RI: Public Archaeology Laboratory, 1998), Binder 1: 15. 4º Preservation Guidelines for Municipally Owned Historic Burial Grounds and Cemeteries, 2"d ed.
(Boston: Massachusetts Department of Environmental Management, Historic Cemeteries Preservation Initiative, 2002), 5. 41 Preservation Guidelines for Municipally Owned Historic Burial Grounds and Cemeteries, 2id ed. (Boston: Massachusetts Department of Environmental Management, Historic Cemeteries Preservation Initiative, 2002), 2. 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 11 OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 East Rochester Church and Cemetery HD Rochester (Plymouth), Massachusetts Criterion C: Architecture The East Rochester Church is significant for its architecture and as an excellent example of Greek Revival architecture used for an ecclesiastical building.
The church is also significant for understanding the careers of both its creator Jacob Look (1827-1909), a Rochester housewright and master workman, and the maker of its bell, William Blake & Co. of Boston. A case could certainly be made, as well, that the East Rochester Cemetery is significant as an example of cemetery landscape and design as it evolved during the course of the 19* century. East Rochester Church and Greek Revival Architecture The East Rochester Church is significant as an excellent example of Greek Revival architecture used for an ecclesiastical building. Dating from 1857, this gable-front building has several prominent Greek-Revival characteristics, including recessed panel Doric pilasters and tall 12/12 sash windows. The Greek Revival characteristics are also pronounced on the clapboarded north and south side elevations of the East Rochester Church.
Recessed panel pilaster Doric cornerboards frame the composition on both sides and support the three-part entablature: a wide divided trim band below the cornice, with the frieze corbelling out twice above the architrave. The square two-level belfry with recessed panel pilaster cornerboards repeats these same motifs. Although the term "meeting house" was still used by some in East Rochester when it built this structure, Puritan meetinghouses had evolved significantly over the two centuries since they first were erected. No longer were they the house-like foursquare buildings of the 17" century, or the 18" century's rectangular buildings with door and pulpit on the long sides.*?
Beginning early in the 18"* century, the post-fire London churches of Christopher Wren had begun to influence strongly the Anglican churches built in coastal New England cities, such as Christ Church (Old North; 1723) in Boston, with its gable roof, tower, and spire. As the 18" century progressed, prominent Puritan meetinghouses such as Old South (1729) in Boston adopted the tower and spire, if not yet the tower main entry. After 1750, James Gibbs' design of St. Martin in the Fields in London further influenced many of the larger city churches.* After the Revolution, the Federal- style church - developed by Charles Bulfinch and popularized by Asher Benjamin in his subsequent designs and pattern books - solidified this idea of a prominent end entry, through a porch or portico, with a belfry tower and spire atop the tower and/or building roof.
The pulpit gradually moved to the far end, even in more conservative rural areas. As the 19th century progressed, "Congregational" places of worship, now often known as churches, adopted Greek Revival style: The Greek Revival, a much simpler mode than its Federal predecessor, featured a portico of imposing and largely unornamented Doric columns with a similarly plain pediment above. Its inspiration was nothing from Christian history but rather derived from the 'pagan' temples of Hellenic antiquity, of which it was a modern-day appropriation. Many, if not most, of these meetinghouses were capped with a steeple, which rests on the body of the church itself rather than extending partly over the portico in the Federal mode.
44 Smaller and more rural parishes such as East Rochester-Congregational or Methodist alike - often dispensed with the portico, steeple, Doric columns, and other stylistic flourishes altogether, expressing their piety in simple pilasters, entablatures, and a boxy belfry. After the elaborate towers and delicate fanlights of the Federal period, these simple-lined churches of the Greek Revival period must have seemed both new and reassuringly traditional. (continued) 42 Philip D. Zimmerman, "Congregational Churches," The Encyclopedia of New England: The Culture and History of an American Region, ed. Burt Feintuch and David H. Watters (New Haven: Yale UP, 2005), 98-99. 43 For a sustained discussion of the evolution of the meeting house form in New England, see William H.
Pierson, Jr., American Buildings and their Architects: Volume 1, the Colonial and Neoclassical Styles (New York: Oxford UP, 1970) and Peter W. Williams, Houses of God: Region, Religion, and Architecture in the United States (Urbana: U of IL Press, 1997). 4 Peter W. Williams, Houses of God: Region, Religion, and Architecture in the United States (Urbana: U of IL Press, 1997), 12. 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 12. OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 East Rochester Church and Cemetery HD Rochester (Plymouth), Massachusetts Second Bank of the United States (designed by William Strickland) and the publication of John Haviland's The Builder's Assistant, "the first American book to give the Greek orders."45 The first Greek Revival church in New England was St.
Paul's Episcopal Church in Boston, designed by Alexander Parris. The Greek Revival was "an architectural revolution against which the rock of Boston conservatism would avail nothing..... Like the germ of influenza, it swept on across the [Atlantic] ocean, through the East and South, and into the rawest settlements, even beyond the Mississippi."* Greek Revival architecture was popular across the United States from 1820 to 1860, and represented a significant departure from British influence for American architects.* In the second quarter of the 19" century, American architects, builders, patrons, and consumers embraced the Greek Revival as a national style. Architectural historian William Pierson summarized its importance: The Greek Revival was the first pervasive and self-conscious nationalistic movement in American architecture.
Although its initial impetus came at the professional level, where it was used for government buildings all over the land, the total national character came at the folk level, where it achieved the same fulfillment of aspiration toward architectural independence as Jefferson's idealistic adaptation of Roman architecture did more than a quarter of a century earlier. Although we know nothing of Jacob Look's training as a builder, housewright, and master workman, we do know that anyone successfully working in building at that time would have understood and been able to execute the elements of Greek Revival style. Look most likely learned the principles of Greek Revival through apprenticeship or architectural guidebooks such as those by Asher Benjamin, two common sources of folk or vernacular architecture.
Even as a folk manifestation of Greek Revival, the East Rochester Church may be seen as a conservative design, a relatively late use of Greek Revival. Certainly the paneled pilasters bear little resemblance to archaeologically correct renditions of the Greek Doric. The many changes to the interior show clearly the increased emphasis that New Englanders made on comfort over correctness. As the Puritan meetinghouse gave way to the Greek Revival church, its interior also evolved, as part of a trend toward increased comfort and uniformity in the design and decoration. Jane Nylander has described this process: "The years which saw a gradual architectural change from meeting house to church in New England also saw the dominant interior spaces....
increasingly warmed with artificial light, stove-generated heat, and decorative textiles....At the very time New England's meeting houses were becoming more church-like, they were also becoming more home- like "49 But these changes appear to have come late to East Rochester, possibly long after its construction. In churches in isolated country settlements like East Rochester, this evolution must have taken longer to occur than in city churches. (continued) 45 Marcus Whiffen, American Architecture Volume I: 1607-1860 (Cambridge: M.I.T. Press, 1981), 161. 46 Walter H. Kilham, Boston after Bulfinch: An Account of Its Architecture 1800-1900 (Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1946). 19. 4? Leopold Arnaud, "Foreword," in Talbot Hamlin, Greek Revival Architecture in America, 1944 (rpt. New York: Dover), xv. 48 William H.
Pierson, Jr., American Buildings and their Architects: Volume 1, the Colonial and Neoclassical Styles (New York: Oxford UP, 1970), 432. 49 Jane C. Nylander, "Toward Comfort and Uniformity in New England Meeting House, 1750-1850," New England Meeting House and Church: 1630-1850, Ed. Peter Benes and Jane Montague Benes, Dublin Seminar for New England Folklife: Annual Proceedings 1979 (Boston: Boston University, 1979): 86-100; 86. 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_13 OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 East Rochester Church and Cemetery HD Rochester (Plymouth), Massachusetts Jacob C. Look, "Master Workman" Listed as the "master workman" in church records, Jacob C. Look (1827-1909) was the supervising builder, and presumably the designer, for the East Rochester Church.
Born in Rochester to Isaac and Susannah (Hoxie) Look, Jacob Look married twice: to Lydia E. Bishop of Rochester in 1851, and to Melinda (Stevens) Gibbs of Wareham in 1869.50 Look died in Whitman, Massachusetts (at his daughter's house, after a long illness), and was buried at Colebrook Cemetery there on January 1, 1910." Various Vital Records entries list him as a housewright and carpenter. No other building is known to be attributed to Jacob Look, either in the Rochester survey or in MACRIS Although few records survive, the Look family must have been well known in the building trade in 19t-century Rochester. The Look family operated the Look & Stevens Box Board and Shingle Mill on Walnut Plain Road in north- central Rochester.
The Look family home still stands today just to the north of the mill site, at 588 Walnut Plain Road.S Members of the Look family lived there from sometime before 1856 until 1910, when the last Look left. The last family member to live there was Joseph Look (1835-1910), Jacob's younger brother, the carpenter and builder who worked with him on the East Rochester Church. Joseph Look and his wife are buried nearby in Rochester's Union Cemetery on Walnut Plain Road. This cemetery was long associated with the Union Meeting House, another Methodist (for at least part of its history) church. Possibly the Looks came to build the East Rochester Church through connections between Methodist brethren. Laura Look, their sister, died in 1849 and was also buried in Union Cemetery in Rochester, indicating that the family had an association there of many decades.
William Blake & Co., Bell Foundry The bell in the belfry of the East Rochester Congregational Church has this cast lettering around the bell: "William Blake & Co. formerly H.N. Hooper & Co. Boston Mass 1872," indicating that it was cast in 1872 by William Blake & Co. of Boston. William Blake was a partner - along with Paul Revere III and John W. Sullivan-in the Boston Copper Co, which operated from 1823 to 1830. $ Henry N. Hooper, the agent for Boston Copper, along with partners William Blake and Thomas Richardson, formed the successor firm to Boston Copper: Henry N. Hooper & Co., which began in Boston in 1830 and operated until 1869. In addition to many individual bells, Hooper & Co.
produced chimes for a number of prominent New England carillons, including Christ Church (Episcopal) in Cambridge (1860), Arlington Street Church in Boston (1860), Grace Church (Episcopal) in Providence (1861), and First (Parish) Church in Charlestown, Massachusetts (1868). Hooper also made Civil War cannons, chandeliers, lighthouse equipment, and statues, including the first casting (1847) of the Nathaniel Bowditch statue at Mount Auburn Cemetery in CambridgeS4 William Blake and William S. Blake ran the successor foundry, William Blake & Co., from 1869 to 1890. Under the Blakes, the foundry produced a number of chimes for Massachusetts churches, including those for Trinity Episcopal (continued) 50 Vital Records of Massachusetts to 1910, accessed through the website of NEHGS. Look identifies as a housewright in 1851, when only 23.
Both Look and Gibbs listed their marriage as their second 51 Vital Records of Massachusetts to 1910, accessed through the website of NEHGS. An image of Look's death certificate is available 52 H. Look House, 588 Walnut Plain Road. Form B-Building Survey, ROC. 104, Rochester, MA (Massachusetts Historical Commission Files). 3 "Index to Carillons and Chimes by Hooper/Blake," website of The Guild of Carillonneurs in North America (http://www.gcna.org/data/IXfoundryHooperBlake.html). 54 "Index to Carillons and Chimes by Hooper/Blake" website of The Guild of Carillonneurs in North America http://www.gcna.org/data/IXfoundryHooperBlake.html). 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 Page14 OMB Approval No.
1024-0018 East Rochester Church and Cemetery HD Rochester (Plymouth), Massachusetts Church in Haverhill (1869), Stearns Steeple at Amherst College (1871), Grace Episcopal Church in Netwon (1873), Grace Episcopal Church in Medford (1873), St. Mary/Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Lawrence (1874), and Channing Memorial Church in Newport, RI (1881). William Blake & Co. produced simple bells for a number of churches, including first Parish Church in Fitchburg, Massachusetts (1878), the Massasoit Engine Company (now the Firehouse Gallery) in Damariscotta, Maine (1898), and the bell at Story Chapel at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts." MACRIS lists three commissions for William Blake: the Civil War Monument in Fitchburg (ca. 1874; MHC#900); the Minot's Ledge Lighthouse Fog Bell in Cohasset (ca.1878; MHC#900); and the North Village Bell in Webster (1884; MHC#910).
William S. Blake continued the company from 1890 until at least 1898 as Blake Bell Co., producing a bell for City Hall in New York City which was rated in 1891 as the largest in the United States." MACRIS lists one commission for Blake Bell Company, the Cohasset Old Central Fire Station Fire Bell (1890; MHC#972). Archaeological Significance While several ancient sites have been recorded in the town of Rochester, only small areas of the town have been systematically surveyed, thus limiting the local and regional value of these archaeological recoveries. Most sites in the town have been identified on the basis of limited collections and the recollections of collectors. Little reliable information relating to site type and function is known on a site-specific basis, and any town-wide patterns or models are, at best, fragmentary.
Given this information, any sites located in the district or in the town could be significant. Any artifact or feature recoveries from sites within the district may contribute important information relating to the site's function and type. That information might in turn enable that site to be integrated into a systematic community wide study of prehistoric subsistence and settlement patterns for the town. Ancient Native American sites in the district may contain information that helps understand the growth of Contact Period core areas in this region and their relationship to other important core areas within the Taunton River drainage.
Lithic materials and other archaeological resources at sites in the district might also contain information that helps understand patterns of development in the area including the growth of the Small Stemmed Point Tradition as an in situ development for the southeastern Massachusetts region. Historic archaeological resources described above may contribute important information related to the evolution of the district and its role as the symbolic public center for a linear rural neighborhood. Archaeological resources may also contribute information related to the social, cultural, and economic lives of various segments of the East Rochester community. Additional documentary research combined with archaeological survey and testing may locate unmarked graves that can help document the origins of the cemetery.
Graves may exist prior to the earliest known burial in 1828 that can help to accurately determine the temporal origins of the cemetery and its early use as a neighborhood cemetery. The information presented above may help document ownership of the cemetery prior to its acquisition by the town as a public cemetery in 1971. Unmarked graves may also contribute important information related to the neighborhood and town's treatment of the poor, homeless, and other unfortunate members of the community. The latter members of the community were (continued) 55 "Index to Carillons and Chimes by Hooper/Blake," website of The Guild of Carillonneurs in North America (http://www.gcna.org/data/lXfoundryHooperBlake.html) 6 E. H. Gross, "Bells," New England Magazine: An Illustrated Monthly New Series 3.5 (January 1891): 547-570: 566.
Accessed via Cornell University's Making of America website (http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/moa-cgi?notisid=AFJ3026-0009-83) 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 15 OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 East Rochester Church and Cemetery HD Rochester (Plymouth), Massachusetts commonly buried in unmarked graves in peripheral areas of the cemetery, and/or with markers that have since deteriorated. Osteological study of skeletal remains from marked and unmarked graves may contribute important information related to the physical characteristics of the East Rochester population and the general health and pathologies that affected that group. Unmarked graves may contribute important information related to the internal configuration of graves within the cemetery.
Cemetery records and extant gravestones indicate a minimum of 30 unmarked graves organized in a diverse pattern of rows, family plots, and random placement. The location of unmarked graves may help define this confusing burial pattern within the cemetery accurately. Archaeological resources may also contribute important information related to the evolution of the church structure, its facilities, and the community members that comprised its congregation. Archaeological evidence from construction features and structural evidence from renovations may contribute important evidence related to methods of church construction, and the physical evolution of the structure over time.
Additional historical research combined with archaeological survey and testing may locate barns, carriage sheds, outbuildings, and occupational-related features (trash pits, privies, wells) associated with the activities conducted at the church and cemetery. Archaeological information may exist that enables researchers to verify the existence of structures, such as horse and carriage sheds, indicated in documentary sources, bur never verified as built. Archaeological resources may also identify evidence that documents patterns of reuse, with structures such as the ca. 1900 privy that may have been built over a pre-existing structure. (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 9 Page1 OMB Approval No.
1024-0018 East Rochester Church and Cemetery HD Rochester (Plymouth), Massachusetts 9. Bibliography The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church - 2004. The United Methodist Publishing House. Available online at "History: Our Story." United Methodist Church at UMC.org (http://www.umc.org/site/c.lwL4KnN1LtH/b.1720691/k.B5CB/History Our Story.htm). "By-Laws of the East Rochester Congregational Church of East Rochester, Massachusetts, Adopted at a Meeting of the Church Held on June 12, 1942." Files of the Rochester Historical Society. "Certificate of Incorporation, East Rochester Congregational Church." Signed by the Secretary of the Commonwealth on 16 September 1942. Files of the Rochester Historical Society. Chamberlain, Mrs. Joseph A. "First Wedding in 40 Years to Be Performed in Rochester Church." New Bedford Standard- Times 24 July 1960.
"Doors Close for Congregation: Historical Society to Take over 145-year-old Rochester Church" New Bedford Standard- Times 3 October 2002. East Rochester Congregational Church Register, 1890-1936. Rochester Historical Society. "East Rochester Congregational Church." FORM B - Building. MHC# 48. Massachusetts Historical Commission files "Final Report Rochester Community-Wide Historic and Architectural Survey, Rochester Massachusetts 1997-1998." Public Archaeology Laboratory, Inc., July 1998. CD Copy at Plumb Memorial Library, Rochester. Gross, E. H. "Bells." New England Magazine: An Illustrated Monthly New Series 3.5 (January 1891): 547-570. Accessed via Cornell University's Making of America website (http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/moa- cgi?notisid=AFJ3026-0009-83). H. Look House. 588 Walnut Plain Road. Form B-Building Survey, MHC #104. Rochester, MA.
Massachusetts Historical Commission Files. Hamlin, Talbot. Greek Revival Architecture in America. 1944. Rpt. New York: Dover. Hurd, D. Hamilton, ed. History of Plymouth County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men. Philadelphia: J.W. Lewis, 1884. "Index to Carillons and Chimes by Hooper/Blake." Website of The Guild of Carillonneurs in North America (http://www.gcna.org/data/lXfoundryHooperBlake.html) Kilham, Walter H. Boston after Bulfinch: An Account of Its Architecture 1800-1900. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1946. (continued) 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 Page2 OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 East Rochester Church and Cemetery HD Rochester (Plymouth), Massachusetts Leonard, Mary Hall, et al.
Mattapoisett and Old Rochester Massachusetts: Being a History of these Towns and also in Part of Marion and a portion of Wareham. 3'd ed. Mattapoisett: Committee of the Town of Mattapoisett, 1907. Lewis, T.H. "Historical Sketch of the Origin of the Methodist Protestant Church." 1904. Revised by The General Conference of 1964(http://www.methodistprotestantchurch.com) MacKinnon, Judith Hartly. Images of America: Rochester. Charleston, SC: Arcadia, 2005. MACRIS (Massachusetts Cultural Resource Information System). Massachusetts Historical Commission. http://mhc- macris.net/index.htm Massachusetts Historical Commission. "MHC Reconnaissance Survey Report: Rochester." 1981. Massachusetts Vital Records to 1911. New England Historical Genealogical Society online index. Mayall, J. Madison.
"To the members of the Methodist church of the Boston District Annual Conference, Pierceville Station, Rochester Aug. 22 1857." Letter transcription in the files of the Rochester Historical Society. "Methodism." The Catholic Encyclopedia 1911. (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10237b.htm). Morse, George P. Untitled statement dated 5 August 1892. Transcription in the records of the Rochester Historical Society. Nylander, Jane C. "Toward Comfort and Uniformity in New England Meeting House, 1750-1850." New England Meeting House and Church: 1630-1850. Ed. Peter Benes and Jane Montague Benes. Dublin Seminar for New England Folklife: Annual Proceedings 1979. Boston: Boston University, 1979. 86-100. "Official Website of the Town of Rochester." (http://www.townofrochestermass.com/history.htm). Peirce, Ebenezer W.
Historic Sketches of Hanson, Lakeville, Mattapoisett, Middleboro', Pembroke, Plympton, Rochester, Wareham, and West Bridgewater. Boston, 1873 Pierson, Jr., William H. American Buildings and their Architects: Volume 1, the Colonial and Neoclassical Styles. New York: Oxford UP, 1970. Preservation Guidelines for Municipally Owned Historic Burial Grounds and Cemeteries, 2'd ed. Boston: Massachusetts Department of Environmental Management, Historic Cemeteries Preservation Initiative. 2002. Record of Church Committee 1898-1916. Rochester Historical Society. "Rochester Center - Area A." Form A. Massachusetts Historical Commission, 1998. Rochester Historical Society website.
http://www.plumblibrary.com/historicalsociety.html (continued) 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 Page 3 OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 East Rochester Church and Cemetery HD Rochester (Plymouth), Massachusetts "Rochester, Massachusetts." DHCD Massachusetts (http://www.mass.gov/dhcd/iprofile/250.pdf) "Rochester." MHC Reconnaissance Survey Report, June 1981. Whiffen, Marcus. American Architecture Volume 1: 1607-1860. Cambridge: M.I.T. Press, 1981. Williams, Peter W. Houses of God: Region, Religion, and Architecture in the United States. Urbana: U of IL Press, 1997. Withey, Henry F., and Elsie Rathburn Withey. Biographical Dictionary of American Architects (Deceased). Los Angeles: New Age, 1970. "Woodside Cemetery." Form E-Burial Ground. MHC #805.
Massachusetts Historical Commission files. Zimmerman, Philip D. "Congregational Churches." The Encyclopedia of New England: The Culture and History of an American Region. Ed. Burt Feintuch and David H. Watters. New Haven: Yale UP, 2005. Deeds and Property Documentation Benjamin W. Morton and Mary Swift to George Washington Pierce, Plymouth County Registry of Deeds Book 282, Page 266, Recorded 8 December 1857. George Pierce of Rochester to Salem Jefferson, Quit-Claim Deed, 4 November 1857. Files of the Rochester Historical Society. East Rochester Congregational Church to the Rochester Historical Society, quitclaim deed recorded 14 July 2003, Plymouth County Registry of Deeds, Book 25755, Page 326. Plan of Woodside Cemetery, Surveyed for the Town of Rochester. January 1973. Arthur C. Thompson, Inc., Engineers & Surveyors. Marion, Mass. Records of the Town of Rochester.
"Rochester, Town of - Woodside Cemetery - Acquisition." 1971 Regular Session Chapter 23 pg. 12. (end) East Rochester Church and Cemetery HD Name of Property Plymouth, MA County and State 10. Geographical Data Acreage of Property 1.25 acres UTM References See continuation sheet. (Place additional UTM references on a continuation sheet) 1.19 Zone 352280 Easting 4627180 Northing "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 Betty Beaulieu & Timothy T. Orwig, National Register Editor, with Betsy Friedberg, MHC, NR Director organization.
Massachusetts Historical Commission _ dateNovember 2007 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 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 _ Rochester Historical Society, Inc. (church)//Town of Rochester (cemetery) street & number P.O.
Box 171//One Constitution Way _telephone 508-763-2724 (RHS)//508-763-5421(town) city or town Rochester _ state_MA _ zip code_ 02770 (both) 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 10 Page 1 OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 East Rochester Church and Cemetery HD Rochester (Plymouth), Massachusetts 10. Boundary Description The National Register boundary for this property corresponds to the legal boundary of the two lots, known as Lots 12 & 13 on the Town of Rochester Assessor's Map 19.
This 1.25-acre parcel contains two buildings - the East Rochester Church and its privy (Lot 12)-and the East Rochester or Woodside Cemetery (Lot 13). Together, these two lots form a rectangle that fronts 150 ft. on County Road and extends 280 ft. west along the north and south boundaries. Along the western boundary, the lot has a two-part rear boundary that extends from the southwest corner 40 ft. to the northwest and then 125 ft. to the northeast. Lot 12, addressed as 355 County Road, Rochester, Massachusetts, was set off as the site of the East Rochester meeting house in 1857. The lot has been legally distinct since that time, when the premises were conveyed to George Washington Pierce by deed of Benjamin W. Morton and Mary Swift, as recorded at the Plymouth County Registry of Deeds in Book 282, Page 266.
The property was granted by Pierce to the East Rochester church on a long-term lease, although ownership apparently was never legally transferred. In 2003, upon dissolution of the East Rochester Congregational Church, the lot and buildings legally became the property of the Rochester Historical Society through a quitclaim deed from the church. This deed was recorded 14July2003 at the Plymouth County Registry of Deeds in Book 25755, Page 326. Lot 13 also has a complicated legal history. Although it served as a neighborhood cemetery since 1828, its ownership legally never was established clearly. On 17 February 1971, the property was acquired by the Town of Rochester by eminent domain, to become a public cemetery ("Rochester, Town of - Woodside Cemetery - Acquisition," 1971 Regular Session Chapter 23 pg. 12). This act established a legal description for the lot.
The cemetery was then formally surveyed, with a survey published in 1973. Boundary Justification The nominated property includes allof both parcels associated with the East Rochester Church and Cemetery. (end) 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 Additional Documentation Page1 East Rochester Church and Cemetery HD Rochester (Plymouth), Massachusetts Site Sketch Plan Plan based on the "Plan of Woodside Cemetery Surveyed for Town of Rochester," January 1973, Arthur C. Thompson, Inc., Engineers and Surveyors, Marion, Mass. Circled numbers with arrows indicate the position of photographer and direction of view in the supporting photographs. This detail map is not to scale. MACNEIL N12º24-32"E 124.94 Rochester 354.68 Plereuille Road N/F inlelireham HERBERT E.
DUSTIN < 87=45'-30"E 280.83 1 Iron Pole Fence ! fast Rochester Cemetery/ Woodside Cemetery 33,9744+ 103.17 N87°25-3774 -TOWN LINE Warenam L --50.90 ..1- 3º40-10"E -Iron Pole , Fence Cemetery Entrancá Posss 50 DECREE *960 COUNTY (COUNTY LAYOUT +0 N48°49:51 179.47 N87°25-37"W N/F NELLE W. PECK Anurel N/F HIRAM E. GOULD Signbaard Bkcktop Drive East Rocheter Church NPS Form 1 10-900-a (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Additional Documentation Page 2 Ground Floor Plan Drawn by Timothy Orwig. This floor plan is not to scale. OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 East Rochester Church and Cemetery HD Rochester (Plymouth), Massachusetts Froxt Platforimn Palpt Organ SW Side Scaffold Entry 1.|= Site Asie Front Aisle Slip Peus Center Arsle. Slip Pews side Arste front Vestitule Addition Vestibule.
Stairway frontSteps NPS Form 1 10-900-a (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Additional Documentation Page 3 OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 East Rochester Church and Cemetery HD Rochester (Plymouth), Massachusetts Photographs Timothy Orwig was the photographer for all the photographs, which were taken on 8 December 2006. All of the photographs show the East Rochester Church and Cemetery Historic District, Rochester, Plymouth County, Massachusetts. 1. East Rochester Church looking west, showing east façade and signboard. 2. East Rochester Church looking southwest, showing east and north façades and signboard. 3. East Rochester Church looking northeast, showing the south façade and scaffold entrance. 4. East Rochester Church looking southwest, showing the north façade and entrance shed. 5.
East Rochester Church looking northeast, showing the west façade and rear door. 6. East Rochester Church: outhouse/privy, looking southwest, showing the north and east façades. 7. East Rochester Church Interior: Main hall, looking at southeast corner, showing slip pews and (L. to r.) double doors, southern east wall window, main chandelier, eastern south window. 8. East Rochester Church Interior: Main hall, looking at northwest corner, showing slip pews and (l. to r.) vocalion organ, main chandelier, western north wall window. 9. East Rochester Church Interior: Main hall, looking at northern wall corner, showing display case holding communion set, western north wall window with internal shutters, and front pew. 10. East Rochester Church Interior Detail: One of four secondary chandeliers. 11.
East Rochester Cemetery (Woodside Cemetery) from across County Road, with East Rochester Church to the left. Looking west. 12. East Rochester Cemetery front gates from near southwest corner of East Rochester Church, looking northwest. The monument with the marble orb on top (between the gates) is the 1898 stone of John Morse. East Rochester Church and Cemetery Historic District Site Data Sheet Rochester, Plymouth County, MA Page 1 of 1 Site Data Sheet East Rochester Church and Cemetery Historic District Rochester, Plymouth County, Massachusetts Building/Landscape/ Feature East Rochester Church Date of Type of Construction Resource 1857 Building Outhouse/Privy ca. 1900 Building Signboard ca. 2003 Object East Rochester Cemetery 1828 Site (oldest burial) Cemetery Entrance Posts ca. 1890 Object ca. 1890 Structure Benjamin Gurney stone 1828 Object Morse Family monument ca.
1883 Object John Q.A. Morse monument 1898 Ann J. Briggs stone 1830 Object Object Contributing Assessor's or Not (NC) Lot # Contributing 19/12 MHC Architect or Designer Numbers ROC.48 Jacob Look (church) ROC Area L William Blake & Co. (bell) Contributing 19/12 NC .19/12 Contributing 19/13 ROC.805 ROC Area L Contributing 19/13 Contributing 19/13 Contributing Contributing Contributing Contributing Stones and monuments cited in data sheet are representative of a far larger number of funerary items within the cemetery.
2 contributing buildings, 1 contributing site, 1 contributing structure, 5 contributing objects, and 1 non-contributing object = 10 (total) resources UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES EVALUATION/RETURN SHEET REQUESTED ACTION: NOMINATION PROPERTY NAME: MULTIPLE NAME: East Rochester Church and Cemetery Historic District STATE & COUNTY: MASSACHUSETTS, Plymouth DATE RECEIVED: 11/26/07 DATE OF 16TH DAY: 1/01/08 DATE OF WEEKLY LIST: REFERENCE NUMBER: 07001361 DATE OF PENDING LIST: 12/17/07 DATE OF 45TH DAY: 1/09/08 REASONS FOR REVIEW: APPEAL: N DATA PROBLEM: N LANDSCAPE: N LESS THAN 50 YEARS: PERIOD: SAMPLE: PROGRAM UNAPPROVED: N SLR DRAFT: N NATIONAL: REQUEST: N COMMENT WAIVER: N VACCEPT RETURN ABSTRACT/ SUMMARY COMMENTS: REJECT 1.9.08 DATE snterea in the Jational Rogieisa 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, the nomination is no longer under consideration by the NPS. 1. East Rochester Church! Lmetary HD Rochester, Plymouth co., Ma MA_Rochester (PlymoufkCo)-ERochesterChurchCeml. tif Photographer: Timothy Oruoig 2006 NOSd 2. East kochester Plymouth church i Cemetdry HD Rochester, Plymorith co., MA MA-Rochester (Plymautu Co) - ERochesterChurchCem2.tif Photographer: Timothy Orwsig 2006 NOSd3 3. East Rochester Church '! Cemetery HD Rochester, Plymouth Co., MAt Ma_Rochester(PlyneoutheCo) -ERochester ChunchCem 3. tif Photographer: Timothy Orwoig 4. East Rochester Church i cemetery HD Rochester, Plymonth co., MA MA_Rochester (PlymouthCo) - ERochester Chuerch Ceut. 1g Photographer: Timothy Orwig 2006 NOSdI s.
East Rochester Church" Cemetery HD Rochester, Plymouth Co., Mrt Ma_Rochester (Plymouth C0) - ERochestirChurch CemS.tig Photographer: Timothy Oruoig 2006 NOSdE 6. East Rochester Church & Cemetery HD [outhase EtN facude Rochester, Plymouth Co., MA MA_ Rochester (Plymouth Co) - ERochester Cluende Cem 6. til Photographer: Timothy Orwig 2006 NOSd. 7. East Rochester Church! Cemeteny"UNr: hall looking toward Rochester, Plymouth co., MA MA-Rochester (Plymouta Co) - Enochester Chunch Cem7. tif Photographer: Tinothy Orwig 2006 8. East Rochester Church': cemetery HD (INT: central Rochester, Plymouth co., MA chandelier] M1-Rochestér (Plymouta Co) - É Rochester ChrudhCem 8. til Photographer: Timothy Orwig 2006 NOSdE 9. East Rochester Church i Cemetery HD (INT: detail windaw) Rochester, Plymouth Co., MA MA- Rochester (Plymouta Co) - ERochester Chunch Cem 9.
tif Fhotograpker: Timothy Orwig 2006 NOSC NOSd 10. East Rochester Church& Cemetary HD Kochester, Plumouth Co Ma-Pochestu (Plycoutu Co)_'ERochester Chunch Cem10.ti Photographer:Timathy Orwis 2006 NOSd RINCOOM Il. East Rochester Church ç Cemetary HD lochester, Plymouth Co. MA MA- Rochestù (PlymoutaCo) - E NochesterChusch Cewl1ofif Photographer: Tinothy Orwig 2006 NOSdE NOSd 12. East Rochester Church i Lemetery HD [cemetary] MA- Rochester (Plymouta Co) - Rochester, Plymouth CO., E Rochester Chunde Cem 12.H6 Photographer: Tinothy Orwig 2006 NOSdE ACIDAM SKE UBENTATO ON The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Massachusetts Historical Commission November 20, 2007 Mr. J. Paul Loether, Chief National Register of Historic Places Department of the Interior National Park Service 1201 Eye Street, NW, 8" floor Washington, DC 20005 Dear Mr.
Loether: Enclosed please find the following nomination form: East Rochester Church and Cemetery HD, Rochester (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. Sincerely, Betry Fredherp Betsy Friedberg National Register Director Massachusetts Historical Commission enclosure CC: Timothy Orwig,consultant Betty Beaulieu, Rochester Historical Commission Rochester Historical Society Richard Nunes, Chair, Board of Selectmen Chair, Planning Board Richard LaCamera, Town Administrator 220 Morrissey Boulevard, Boston, Massachusetts 02125 (617) 727-8470 - Fax: (617) 727-5128 www.state.ma.us/sec/mhc
Block