Major Bibliographical References. (Cite the books, articles, and other sources used in preparing this form on one or more continuation sheets.) Previous documentation on file (NPS): Primary location of additional data: - preliminary determination of individual listing (36 - State Historic Preservation Office CFR 67) has been requested - Other State agency - previously listed in the National Register - Federal agency - previously determined eligible by the National - Local government Register - University - designated a National Historic Landmark - Other - recorded by Historic American Buildings Survey Name of repositorv: #. - recorded by Historic American Engineering Record #. NPS Form 10-900 (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 8 Page 1 Historical Significance OMB Approval No.
1024-0018 Lee Station Lee (Berkshire), MA The Lee railroad station is significant as an example of a highly used combination-type railroad station community's boardinghouses and rentals beginning at the close of the Civil War and continuing until passenger service halted in 1969. Lee Station's design is representative of the work of the engineers of the Housatonic Railroad Company at the turn of the century, one that shifted from simple form and picturesque ornamentation towards greater passenger comfort and freight efficiency. The station retains integrity of location, setting, design, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association. It is significant for criteria A and C and has local significance. Its period of significance is 1893-1960. Narrative History Colonial (1675-1775) and Federal Periods (1776-1830) The first colonist to settle in Lee was one Isaac Davis, who arrived in 1760.
A few other families followed, and by 1770, numbered only thirteen families. The first area to be settled was in East Lee on Cape Street, followed by South Lee, where the floodplains of the Housatonic River offered better farming land. Initially the area took the name of Hopland. Settlement in what is now Lee Center had begun by the mid-1770s. The town of Lee was founded formally in 1777 and named after a colorful figure, General Charles Lee, a Revolutionary War soldier who, prior to the war, prominently challenged King George IIl's authority; he was also the only senior American Army officer court-martialed for his behavior on the battlefield Settlers in the area during the late 18" century included former Cape Cod fishermen and other maritimers whose livelihoods had been disrupted by the War.
Other settlers during the War moved up the Connecticut River Valley from Connecticut and west to Lee, while still others, many of Dutch origin, came east to Berkshire County and Lee from upstate New York. The 21" town to be incorporated in Berkshire County, Lee was an agricultural area with ample woodland for lumbering and a series of small wood and gristmills to provide for residents. With few exceptions, the land was ditticult to cultivate due to its stony base, so farmers grazed livestock and raised crops for their support. The stony foundation of the town was early recognized as a source of income, and its marble was quarried at multiple small sites for gravestones, markers, foundation stones, and sills. Lee marble markers are found in many of the surrounding towns' cemeteries, and stone carvers are known to have passed through Lee to work with its stone quarries and local carvers.
(continued) NPS Form 10-900 (Rev. 10-90) 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 Lee Station Lee (Berkshire), MA Early Industrial Period (1830-1870) Prior to 1850, industries needing raw materials, such as paper manufacturers, and others needing to ship raw materials or finished products, such as marble quarries, depended on the Hudson River as their principal route of transportation, and got their goods back and forth from the river on horse-drawn carriages. Steamboats and sailing sloops transported materials on the Hudson in trips that took seven to ten days to arrive in New York from Lee.
The promise of a vast improvement to this expensive and time- consuming transportation process was demonstrated when the Western Railroad opened from Boston to Springfield in 1839, and extended to Albany in 1841. In 1845, the Connecticut River Railroad formed with the joining of the Northampton & Springfield with the Greenfield & Northampton Railroad. Neither came to Lee. A third line, the Housatonic Railroad Company, had been chartered in 1836 to run north from Bridgeport, Connecticut, through the Housatonic River valley as a mainly freight company, carrying lime and limestone, coal, tobacco, milk, produce, and tools to Long Island Sound at Bridgeport. In 1840, the railroad extended to New Milford, then, in 1841, to Canaan, Connecticut. It was brought tantalizingly closer in 1848, when an extension was made into Massachusetts to Van Deusenville, a few miles southwest of Lee.
New England investors were at first skeptical of the profits that railroads might produce, so that the Commonwealth had to invest directly or give loans to assure they were constructed. Potential investors considered the Western Railroad the least promising of the lines, but in 1845 it returned a 6 percent profit to its investors, and within a short time they were receiving 8 percent. The railroads from then on were fully subscribed, if not oversubscribed, through the 1850s. For businessmen, the railroad offered a profitable personal investment that was multiplied when it came to one's town and could improve business, as well. One of Lee's more prominent businessmen, Samuel E. Hulbert, a wagon and carriage maker, in 1848 began to advocate strongly for a line extension to Lee from Van Deusenville.
He became a board member of the newly formed Pittsfield & Stockbridge Railroad Company, along with company founder George W. Platner of Lee, and Charles Owen and Charles Alger of Stockbridge. With their support, a 22-mile line, the Pittsfield & Stockbridge Railroad Company, was built between Van Deusenville and Pittsfield at a cost of $440,000. The railroad opened in 1850, and the tracks passed right through the site of the Hulbert wagon and carriage works; Samuel Hulbert and his brother promptly retired from the carriage business. (continued) NPS Form 10-900 (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service OMB Approval No.
1024-0018 National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Lee Station Lee (Berkshire), MA Section number 8 Page 3 Rather than seven to ten days, it now took fewer than eight hours to travel from Lee to New York in cars that were pulled by wood-fired steam engines. The Pittsfield & Stockbridge Railroad Company was such a success for both freight and passenger service that the Housatonic Railroad Company took it over within a few years in a perpetual lease. Pittsfield was connected through Lee to New York. It was during the period of time in which the Housatonic ran its trains between Bridgeport, Connecticut, and Pittsfield, Massachusetts, through Lee, that a small Stick Style passenger station was built in Lee on the opposit side of the tracks from the station's current location.
The railroad company introduced coal-burning engines in 1869, so they would have been serving Lee after that year. Railroad construction brought more than a transportation avenue to Lee's manufacturers. It also brought a population of immigrants, mainly Irish, who came to build the rail lines and stayed to work in the factories. This labor supply proved a boon to the town's industries, and, in turn, increased rail traffic annually. One of the most important changes the railroad brought about in Lee was in its quarry business. Two years after the railroad came through the town, Lee resident Charles Heebner founded the Lee Marble Plant. Heebner realized his marble could be used for more than gravestones and foundations, and he set to work to make its structural strength known in Washington, D. C., at a time of the capital city's expansion and construction.
Once he had demonstrated its qualities, Heebner's quarry business expanded quickly with contracts to supply marble to the U.S. government, starting with construction of the wings of the Capitol building. Transporting marble to Washington by wagon and boat would have been prohibitively slow, so Heebner had a branch railroad built to his quarry. This spur track greatly reduced the time delay and difficulty of moving the quarried marble blocks to their destination, as they were lifted directly onto the railroad cars with steam trucks. By 1860 several other quarries were actively mining structural marble and shipping it from the Lee Station. Lee's marble found its way to building projects in Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and New York.
Among the quarry owners' accomplishments in this period were providing 9,000 gravestones for the Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C.; General Ulysses Grant's tomb and Saint Patrick's Cathedral in New York were both built with Lee marble, as were the buildings of Girard College and Philadelphia City Hall in Pennsylvania, and the Los Angeles Armory. Just as the Irish railroad workers diversified Lee's population, Italian stoneworkers imported to Lee for their technical stone-cutting skills settled there and brought friends and neighbors from Italy, further adding to its diversity. The paper industry relied heavily on the freight service of the Lee Station, until a South Lee station was built in 1890 to help relieve the pressure.
There were 25 paper mills in town in 1857, and the Civil War 'ought a sharp increase in demand for paper, which the town's mills supplied, making them collective e largest paper producers in the United States. The Lee Station was kev to much of their operatio With no other railroad companies connecting the Berkshires with New York, the Housatonic Railroad Company had a monopoly on rail transportation in and out of Lee, and maintained high freight rates, which made the town's industries less competitive than mill towns such as Holyoke. In the 1870s, there (continued) NPS Form 10-900 (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Lee Station Lee (Berkshire), MA Section number 8 Page 4 were several efforts by Lee businessmen to build competing railroads.
One was from Lee to New Haven, and a second proposal was from Lee to Hudson, New York. Neither was successful in reaching construction, but their threat forced the Housatonic Railroad Company to reduce its freight rates to som extent. Late Industrial Period (1870-1915) Advent of the "New Haven" In 1872, the New York & New Haven, and the Hartford & New Haven Railroad Companies, merged to become the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company. The two companies' network of lines stretched throughout New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts, and as one company they covered much of New England. There remained, however, a large number of small companies that had been created by entrepreneurs to serve their local needs.
The New Haven, as it was called for short, began buying up these competing independent rail companies, and by the turn of the century, under the leadership of J. P. Morgan, had bought up more than 25 companies. The Housatonic Railroad Company and its many industrial clients did not escape the New Haven's notice, and in July of 1892, the Housatonic Railroad Company agreed to lease its rail lines to the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad. The following year, 1893, the Housatonic Railroad built the new and modern Lee Station and freight station, and took down its Stick Style station. The company might not have constructed the new station had the Lee Business Men's Association not begun lobbying them. A committee of Lee businessmen made a trip to the railroad offices pressing for new facilities, and in January of 1893 were rewarded with an assent.
The company sent out an engineer to draw up the existing conditions of the site and then announced that it would build a new freight house and station. It would contract out the construction to local firms for the foundation and station construction, but would provide all the materials for the structures above the foundations. The local builder who constructed both station and freight house foundations in Lee was Thomas Heaphy. Heaphy was a successful builder who also developed a town park for Lee, known as Fern Cliff, about the time the station was constructed. The Lee carpenter who got the contract for himself and his crew to construct the station and freight house above-ground was Nelson Martin. The Business Men's Association did not leave it at that.
Rather, they traveled to headquarters in March 1893 again to see the plans for the buildings, and they persuaded a reluctant Railroad Company engineer to let them take the plans back to Lee, where they were hung in Pease's Drug Store for the public to see, then moved to the selectmen's office where there was a viewing and public meeting discussing their merit. The plans showed the new station to be 70 feet long and 25 feet wide. Its location was north of the existing station and the tracks were to be lifted up and placed on its west side. It was to be protected by a covered platform 10 feet wide, and the platforms beside the track would be 800 feet long and would also be covered. A switch track was to be placed on the west side of the main tracks, out of the way of passengers. The freight house was to be 140 feet south of the station.
It would have a switch track on the east, but would be short, so again it would not interfere with passengers. The plans were largely carried out as presented, although the location of the passenger station was moved slightly further north than originally planned. Its position was revised to take advantage of being at the foot of Elm Street, where it would be more visible. NPS Form 10-900 (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 8 Page5 OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 Lee Station Lee (Berkshire), MA o provide cut wood made the process go quickly, and a month later Martin had the walls up and the windows in. By September 3rd railroad company painters had come in and painted the station lemon yellow with dark brown trim.
Interior work may have filled the next two months, but on November 3, 1893, the station was opened, and Thomas Heaphy was there to buy the first ticket. So important was this station to the town of Lee that its biweekly newspaper, The Valley Gleaner, from January through November, 1893, carried notices of the station's progress in each issue, save for one or two. Some of the interest in the station's improvements was due to the fact that Railroad Street at the time was known as "The Bowery," where a single saloon sold whiskey to men who came from as far as Pittsfield to drink. There was much reporting of public drunkenness and obstreperous behavior on the street, and concern that the railroad company would be unhappy with the nuisance.
Side-by-side with articles on the latest report of outrageous behavior, The Village Gleaner printed articles on Lee's forceful Temperance movement, which made "The Bowery" its target. Between 1892 and 1901, the New York New Haven & Hartford Company bought up stock in the Housatonic Company, so that by 1901 it owned the entire line, including the Berkshire Line between Connecticut and Pittsfield. One station agent, William L. Nye, presided over the Lee stations during both Housatonic and New Haven ownerships, and a narrative at the time of his retirement describes much of the activity that took place at the station. Nye began his career in July 1875, as a fifteen-year-old apprentice in West Stockbridge.
He learned to send messages from station to station by telegraph using Morse Code; he ran errands and tracked freight using a script known as "the telegrapher's scribble." He stayed in West Stockbridge for five years, then was sent to Lee, ostensibly for a single day of helping out, but ended up staying for 60years. When he arrived at the Lee Station, Nye was put to work as a telegraph operator, and lived in a local boardinghouse. He became a permanent resident and home owner when he met and married Hattie Estelle Hurd, who was a North Adams native working in Lee. They married at the town's First Methodist Episcopal church and lived on Prospect Street. Nye was promoted to station agent in 1886. This was a very respectable position in town, and Nye lived up to his responsibilities, as his long tenure reflects.
In the 1880s, Lee was the busiest station on the Housatonic Railroad between Pittsfield and Bridgeport for both passengers and freight. It was also a news center by virtue of the telegraph. (continued) NPS Form 10-900 (Rev. 10-90) 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 Lee Station Lee (Berkshire), MA While he was working at the Lee Station, Nye remembered getting the message that President James A Gartield had been assassinated in 1881, and the message in 1887 that Mud Pond in Lee had broken its he Lee Station kept open so people could stay to the end of the meeting. The train schedule was change o that Lee citizens could pick up their New York newspapers at the station early in the morning, and fc convenient time.
A few thefts changed that practice, but the thieves turned out to be sons of Lee families, so they were caught, scolded, and sent home. Nye's day-to-day work at this busiest of stations, however, concentrated on arranging for freight to be shipped or accepted, such as 105 cows from High Lawn Farm in Lee going to Madison Square Garden for show and sale, or a number of its horses being shipped to Cuba. For many years, carloads of horses were brought in from the western states to Kimball Stables. More consistently shipped than livestock were the tons of quarried stone. Nine cars of marble for the Chatham, New York, bridge were shipped from Lee in May of 1893, for instance, and over the next few years, the Lee quarry shipped out 90,000 marble gravestones for government cemeteries.
Farmers made daily trips to the station to send their milk to New York, and in winter months brought loads of packed ice that they sold to New York's ice men. Tyringham farmers during the late 19*h century raised tobacco and shipped it from Lee after weighing it on the freight station's scales. The same Tyringham farmers also brought rakes to the station, made during the slower winter months, for shipping to their clients. And when he was not managing freight, Nye was managing the arrival and departure of the wealthy fall their carriages and driven to their estates, followed by carriages loaded with staff and belongings. Among them were J. P. Morgan (a future New Haven railroad owner), George Westinghouse, William and John Sloane, and their families and friends. The Lee Station was their landing point until the new Lenoxdale station was constructed in 1902-1903. Mr. and Mrs.
Westinghouse traveled in their private railroad car, and its arrival and departure was always recorded in The Valley Gleaner. One of the busiest summers for the Lee passenger station was in 1885, when President Grover Cleveland and his wife were living in Tyringham with their friend Richard Watson Gilder, editor of Century Magazine; their visitors crowded the station. Another president came to Lee in 1897: William McKinley stopped at the Lee Station on his way home from Adams, where he was visiting his friends the Plunketts, and he was met here by a large welcoming crowd. Along with the logistics of freight, passengers, and welcoming committees, station agent Nye and his crew were also responsible for shoveling snow off the tracks throughout the winter.
In fact, the rail line was often the only way that people could get to work in Great Barrington and Pittsfield, for in mud season and in snow season the roads were impassable. In 1892, when the New Haven began its takeover of the Housatonic Railroad and its Berkshire Line, Nye was kept on as station agent. It is likely that Nye was actively involved in the siting of the new station, due to his long experience. In fact, The Valley Gleaner recorded that soon after the announcement had been made that there was to be a new station, Nye left town for visits to New York and New Haven, where he was likely consulting on the station's needs. (continued) NPS Form 10-900 (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 8 Page 7 OMB Approval No.
1024-0018 Lee Station Lee (Berkshire), MA In 1900, in addition to William Nye, other employees at the station were: station hand Charles Dennis; John O'Loughlin, a baggage master; and a Mr. Doudureau, who was a locomotive engineer. Dennis and One of the New Haven Railroad Company's first acts after 1901 was to improve service on the line by introducing two Pullman cars pulled by an engine on the run from New York to Pittsfield. It was a highly popular car with well-to-do riders, but proved inefficient for the company, so was discontinued after two By 1910 the New Haven was in trouble, caused partially by taking on more debt than it could support. The company was facing bankruptcy, but narrowly avoided closure when the federal government took it over during World War I to keep it functioning.
During the war, the company and its stations were run by the United States Railroad Administration, paid off its debts, and became profitable once again. After the war, the now-solvent New Haven Company reverted to private ownership. Early Modern Period (1915-1940) The heyday of the railroad company and the Lee Station began in the 1920s. It was during that decade that the New Haven bought new passenger and freight cars and began introducing a combination gas and electric engine to improve train speed. Passengers had begun to call the train running between New York and Pittsfield "the Creeper" at a time when the company was coming into competition for passenger business with the automobile, so the new engines were a necessary improvement for travelers.
Passenger service through Lee hit its peak in 1929, but the New Haven managed to maintain good business into the 1950s, thanks to the boost provided by the large number of "summer people" from New York who were without cars and came to the Berkshires regularly. The New Haven Railroad promoted the Berkshire towns on its line as a recreational destination, and to keep interest drummed up, published Berkshire Hills: New England the Vacation Land about 1920. In the brochure they cited the golf, canoeing, hiking, camping, and coach driving that were available in Lee and its neighboring communities. Winter service was boosted beginning in the 1930s by many of the same people, who arrived on specially designated weekend ski trains from Grand Central Station for downhill skiing.
East Lee and Lee were less popular Meanwhile, Lee Station is thought to have been the occasional destination of crates of flour and vegetables from New York carrying buried bottles of alcohol during Prohibition. Misdelivered crates to Lee residents containing these surprises were evidence that the residents of the Great Estates did not all take Prohibition seriously. William Nye retired as Lee's station agent in 1938. (continued) NPS Form 10-900 (Rev. 10-90) 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 Lee Station Lee (Berkshire), MA iver, but they worked well and were put in use for passenger and freight service.
The diesels were no as powerful as previous engines, so while they were an improvement in speed for passenger trains, the were less efficient for freight service, and other accommodations were made to improve the volume of freight service. For instance, the Dresser coal company built a coal shed on Park Street, and New Haven ran its tracks through the rear of the shed so that the railroad could deliver its coal directly. Modern Period (1940-) During the 1950s the company was once again in financial trouble, but the Lee Station continued operating as it had in previous New Haven crises. This time, though, there was not to be a government fix, as federal subsidies were going to the competition: the airlines and the highways. To make matters worse for the railroads, industries in New England were moving to the South and providing less freight.
Lee's paper companies had been reduced to three in the 1930s, and the remaining companies met stiffer competition but adjusted, so the Lee and South Lee stations continued to operate fully. All but one quarry had closed by 1943. The ski trains stopped in 1947. The Dresser coal shed with a rail passing through it was taken down only in 1960, and the station's freight house that had been built in 1893 burned down in Following years of unfortunate leadership changes and declining services, the New Haven could not recover financially, and in 1969 it was sold to the Penn Central. The following year, the Penn Central stopped passenger service, and the Lee Station was closed to passengers after its last run on April 30, 1971. Freight service from the station continued until 1973.
While AMTRAK bought up many foundering railroad lines in the 1970s, the Berkshire Line of Penn Central was not among them, so the Lee Station remained vacant and untended. In 1976, the station, on a quarter-acre lot, was bought by Daniel and Marilyn Sullivan and converted to office use for an oil company and a real estate business. In 1976, due to advanced deterioration from years of little or no maintenance, the station's extended roof and passenger shelters were removed on the west and the roof overhang was reduced on the east (Photograph No. 4). The deteriorated platform was also removed. The Sullivans rehabilitated the station as a restaurant in 1981. It was at this time that the ticket office wall was moved from its position separating the station agent's office from the main room to its present location as the end wall of the bar.
The station safe was moved from the north end to the station agent's office; the bar furnishings were installed, and the Sullivans took down woodwork, stripped it, and reinstalled it on walls and ceilings. In 1976, the east end of the station had nine toilets that had been installed during the 20** century to serve train crews when the trains were being switched in direction. It was then that the platform was (continued) NPS Form 10-900 (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Lee Station Lee (Berkshire), MA Section number 8 Page 9 constructed to serve as a more solid floor above the plumbing chases that had been cut in the original floor.
The Sullivans installed a bathroom, created a kitchen, and with the remaining space, a bar was put A small, one-story addition was made to provide additional kitchen space. When the addition was made, it was necessary to move a marble retaining wall and marble steps that were on the north end of the station. Some of the dressed-marble blocks were used to line the parking area. In 1984, the Sullivans purchased a caboose from Conrail for $2,250. Built in 1941, the car had been used by the Lehigh Valley Railroad in Pennsylvania and Conrail. It was put in place on the north end of the station. On the interior of the caboose, paint was removed from the wainscoting, and bathroom fixtures and a few partitions were removed, to reuse the caboose as a gift shop and offices for the restaurant and real estate business.
At the present time, the station is once again functioning as a stop for railroad passengers, this time as a stop on the reincarnated Housatonic Railroad Company. The new Housatonic Railroad has linked with the Berkshire Scenic Railroad in Lenoxdale to conduct rides between Lenoxdale and Stockbridge from May to November 1" every year. It carries freight through Lee on a daily basis. Passengers and others come to the station to eat in its dining room. Architecture Railroad station design had been developed first in England and Europe-where the railroad had a head start over the United States-in the early 19" century. A new design was necessary, as there was no railroad offices, and freight storage, and the means of protecting both passengers and freight at trackside.
One of the simplest solutions was devised in the 1840s by Francis Thompson in England: he designed a low, rectangular building with deep roof overhangs that was suspended over a platform to shelter loading and unloading passengers and freight at trackside. A projecting three-sided bay window was the solution to provide the stationmaster with a view of the tracks. This simple three-room plan and 1½-story elevation became the "combination station" in New England, combining accommodation for waiting passengers, a stationmaster's office, and freight storage.
The Lee Station is an example of the combination station and kept its express freight in the north end of the building (where now are the bar and kitchen and the freight door to the tracks), the waiting room at the south end of the station (where now is a raised dining platform and bathroom), and the station agent's office with its bay window for the stationmaster to order dispatch and man the ticket office. A separate freight station to the south processed the large freight shipments. In the Northeast, the large number of small local railroad companies that were formed in the 1840s brought about a wide variety of station plans, from single-room, wood-frame shelters where passengers were few, to larger brick or stone stations that sometimes had open loggias extending alongside the tracks as passenger shelters. Some large urban stations had tracks running down their centers.
(continued) NPS Form 10-900 (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Lee Station Lee (Berkshire), MA Section number 8 Page10 When the first rural stations were built in the Northeast, the architectural work of nurseryman and landscape gardener Andrew Jackson Downing was current and influential. Although it does not appear that Downing ever designed a railroad station, his principles of making architecture part of the landscape, in the mid 19"-century picturesque styles, were adopted by many railroad companies, anxious to draw and keep business. In comparison to their European counterparts, however, throughout much of the second half of the 19" century, American railroad companies put more of their limited funds into the tracks and equipment than into the stations.
Design innovation and high-style buildings were largely eschewed for economy of design and construction, and the picturesque styles promoted by Downing- Gothic, Stick and Italianate- were repeated again and again. The first station in Lee, ca. 1850, was one of the picturesque versions, a Stick Style building. It had a separate freight house that was located approximately where the current station is. The reason that the same styles were so often repeated is that it was often the practice of railroad companies to design their stations in-house. Rather than hiring architects each time a new station or freight house was to be built, a company engineer designed the stations and freight houses with focus on their probable volume of use, which meant that there were many different versions of stations built.
Within the groupings of stations, however, there were standard designs developed that could be built quickly and relatively cheaply by local contractors. The standard plan for a wood-frame, combination passenger station in the picturesque Gothic Revival, Stick Style, or Italianate style still favored by Downing appeared in numbers along the Housatonic line, even after the styles had been superseded in the larger building realm. Historic photographs show that a station identical to Lee's had been constructed in South Lee (now gone) in 1890. Further, those two Lee stations shared design elements with contemporary stations in the towns of Housatonic, New Lenox, and Sheffield. West Pittsfield, Lenoxdale, and Berkshire stations, all now gone, were close variations that were adapted to the volume of traffic they handled.
It seems fair to say that by the turn of the century in rural western Massachusetts, a railroad station stylistic convention had been in operation for about forty years and was present at the earlier Lee Station. With a bow to stylistic changes from the Stick Style to the Queen Anne, the Lee Station of 1893 repeated the convention as a combination station, but added new convenience to the design and reduced the ornament to create, intentionally or not, a simplified exterior. Designed by a Housatonic Railroad Company engineer, the Lee Station was a combination station whose volume of shipping was great enough to continue to merit an additional freight house. Its architecture was a clear departure from the previous Downing-influenced designs.
The style reference chosen by the Housatonic engineer was Queen Anne, and its asymmetrical roofline and extended passenger shelters were innovations on the Berkshire Line that were to be modified and repeated by the New Haven in Great Barrington in 1901 (no longer standing) and Lenoxdale in 1902 (extant). The Lee Station represents a shift towards modern railroad architecture. Preservation Concerns As an operating restaurant whose ownership takes pride in the building and its history, there are no imminent threats or concerns for its future. Restoration of the station's original eaves and canopies would make its functional design more apparent and make an aesthetic improvement to the building; however, there are no plans in place for such a project at the time of this nomination. (continued) NPS Form 10-900 (Rev.
10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Lee Station Lee (Berkshire), MA Section number 8 Page _11 Archaeological Significance Historic archaeological resources described above may contribute important evidence related to the use of ee Station as a passenger and freight station beginning with the construction of the first Lee Station i 850, and changes that occurred with the building of the new and existing station in 1893. Structur evidence of the first Lee Station, freight house, and related archaeological features may identify architectural characteristics of those buildings, and the internal configuration of buildings and othe! facilities associated with the first mid 19"-century station.
That information, compared with similar type information associated with the existing station, may contribute important information related to the itation's use prior to its development as a passenger station after the Civil War. Important informatior nay also exist on the relationship of Lee's commerce and industries to the use of Lee Station as a freigh station from ca. 1850 to 1969. Detailed analysis of the contents of occupational related features and comparison of the railroad facilities identified above may also contribute important information related to the station's shift from simple form and picturesque ornamentation towards greater passenger comfort and freight efficiency. (end) NPS Form 10-900 (Rev.
10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 9 Page 1 BIBLIOGRAPHY Maps and Atlases Beers, F. W. Plan of Berkshire County, Massachusetts. New York, 1876. Slate, Thomas and John. Lee, Berkshire Massachusetts. Hoboken, 1853. OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 Lee Station Lee (Berkshire), MA Primary Sources U.S. Federal Census, Lee, Massachusetts 1880-1920. Secondary Sources Beers, J.B. & Co. History of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of its prominent men. Vol. II, New York, 1885. Berkshire Athenaeum, Vertical Files, "Lee, Railroads." Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Consolati, Florence. See all the People. Lee, 1978. Edmonson, Harold (ed.). Railroad Station Planbook. Wisconsin, 1977. Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration of Massachusetts.
The Berkshire Hills. New York and London, 1939. Gousett, J. B. Company. Views of Lee. Lee, 1895. Grant, H. Roger and Charles W. Bohi. The Country Railroad Station in America Sioux Falls, 1988. Hyde, Charles McEwen and Alexander (comp.). Lee: The centennial celebration, and centennial history of the town of Lee, Mass. Springfield, 1878. Macintosh, Robert. Massachusetts Historical Commission Form B-Building, "Lee Railroad Station," Lee Historical Commission, 1982. Meeks, Carroll, L. V. The Railroad Station: An Architectural Gistory. New Haven, 1956. (continued) VPS Form 10-900 Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Lee Station Lee (Berkshire), MA Section number 9 Page2 New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad Company.
Golden opportunities for specialty farming in New England. Boston, 1915. . Berkshire Hills: New England the Vacation Land, (N.Y.?) ca. 1920. Tague, William H., and Robert B. Kimball (eds.). Berkshire: the First 300 Years: 1676-1976. Pittsfield, 1976. The Valley Gleaner. January-November 1893, Lee. Walling, H.F. and O. W. Gray, Official Topographical Atlas of Massachusetts, "History of the Railways of Massachusetts by Hon. Edward Appleton, Railway Commissioner." Boston, 1871. Weller, John L. The New Haven Railroad: Its Rise and Fall. New York, 1969. Electronic Sources www.housatonicrr.com, History of Housatonic Railroad. www.lightlink.com, Massachusetts Railroad Stations. www.livgenmi.com1895 U. S. Atlas, Berkshire County Massachusetts. www.nhrhta.org/htdocs/history.htm.A Brief History of the New Haven Railroad. www.railroads.uconn.edu/stations.htm.
Collection of 300 architectural drawings at University of Connecticut, 37 Railroad Stations, engine houses, signal stations and towers built by New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad from 1886-1964. (end) Lee Station Name of Property Berkshire,MA County, State 10. Geographical Data Acreage of Property less than one acre UTM References See continuation sheet. (Place additional UTM references on a continuation sheet) 1208 644020 4685220 Easting Northing "Zone Easting 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/titleBonnie Parsons, PVPC, with Betsy Friedberg, NR Director, MHC organization Massachusetts Historical Commission street & number_ 220 Morrissey Boulevard city or town. Boston _ stateMA _ zip code.
Additional Documentation Submit the following items with the completed form: Continuation Sheets 3Zone Easting "Zone Easting - See continuation sheet Northing Northing date November 2010 telephone413-781-6045 02125 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. Photopreaentative 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 Marilyn Kelly street & number 109 Railroad Street telephone city or town.
Lee state__MA _ zip code_ 01238 perwork Reduction Act Statement: This information is being collected for applications to the National Register of Historic Places to nomina perties tor iisting or determine eligibility tor listing, to list properties, and to amend existing listings. Response to this request is required to obtain 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.
2 100-900 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 10 Page1 OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 Lee Station Lee (Berkshire), MA 10. GEOGRAPHICAL DATA Verbal Boundary Description The nominated property is located on Lee assessor's map 12A as lot #105, at the corner of Railroad and Elm Streets. It is bounded on the west by the right-of-way of the scenic Housatonic Railroad. Verbal Boundary Justification The nominated property is that which has historically been associated with the Lee railroad station since its construction in 1893, (end) PHOTOGRAPHS Taken by Bonnie Parsons of the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, 2008. 1. View of neighboring locations, to the northeast 2. Lee Station, west and south facades, view to northeast 3. Lee Station, east and south facades, view to northwest 4.
Lee Station, south and east facades, view to northwest 5. Interior, main dining room, view to southeast 6. Interior, main dining room, view to west, showing stationmaster's office 7. Interior, main dining room, view to north 8. Interior paneling, view to east 9. Interior, railroad safe, view to west 10. Interior, kitchen, view to north 11. Interior, barroom, view to southwest Historic image (appendix) Lee-N.Y., N.H. and Hartford R.R. Passenger Depot (American Photo Eng. Co., N.Y.), 1890s.
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES EVALUATION/RETURN SHEET REQUESTED ACTION: NOMINATION PROPERTY Lee Station NAME: MULTIPLE NAME: STATE & COUNTY: MASSACHUSETTS, Berkshire DATE RECEIVED: 11/08/10 DATE OF 16TH DAY: 12/28/10 DATE OF WEEKLY LIST: DATE OF PENDING LIST: 12/13/10 DATE OF 45TH DAY: 12/24/10 REFERENCE NUMBER: 10001067 REASONS FOR REVIEW: APPEAL: OTHER : REQUEST: N - DATA PROBLEM: N LANDSCAPE: N LESS THAN 50 YEARS: PERIOD: PROGRAM UNAPPROVED: SLR DRAFT: N NATIONAL: SAMPLE: COMMENT WAIVER: N VACCEPT RETURN ABSTRACT/SUMMARY COMMENTS : REJECT 12.27.10DATE Entered in The Natlenai Regleter Historle Places 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 longer under consideration by the NPS.
Lee Station Bertshire, MA Bonnee Parsons april, 2008 PVPC View to northeant Photo No. 1 017 1NN2 027 11.06.07 NEG# Lue Stäti. Bereshire, Ma Bonrei Parsno Suptember, 2007 PVPC Viet NE Pute No. 2 11.06.07 NEG# SULLIVAN OM Iee Stateen Berkshere, ma Bonnis Parano Jum, 2007 PUPL Viwl NW Puilo No. 3 1N 11.06.07 NEG Lue Station Bertshin, Ma Bunne Paraoo 2007 PVPC UiwTNW Photo. no.4 11.06.07 NEG# Iue Statin Boneli mm Cepril, 2008 PVPC Vie 2 SE Photo no. 5 2309280. 2309280-R1-E031 Ritz: R1280E: 05/09/08 GrystalAn Lee Station Berkshir, Ma Bannie Parsono april, 2008 PVPC Vies to W Prots ho. 6 23022 R1220E, 85-89-58 LJ Lee Stateri Berkshire," ma Bonnei Parono April, 2008 PVPC Uiwt N Phote No. 7. OK 2309280 2309280-R1-E033 Ritz: R1280E: 05/09/08 Lee Stateon Batel Parona april, 2008 PUPC Vieot E Photo no.
78 Pape 2309280 2309280-R1-E034 Ritz: R1280E, 05/09/08 Lee Station Berkshire, ma Bonna Parsono April, 2008 PVPc Vie t W Phits 1o. B9 2309280. 2309280-R1-E030 Ritz: R1280E, 05/09/08 Iue Ststion Berkshire, M4 Bonnis Parsano Apnil 2008 PVPC View to N Pnoto ho. 910 012 1NN1 11.06.07 NEG#- Lu Stateoi Bertshire, Ma Bonnie Parono april, 2008 PVPC ViestosW Ploto ho. Bll 2309280 2309280-R1-E029 Ritz: R1280E: 05/09/08 AMERI LEE-N. I., N. H. AND HARTFORD R. R. PASSENGER DEPOT. LEE-N.Y, N.H. AND HARTFORD R.R. PASSENGER DEPOT. AMERICAN PIOTO ENGR. CO. N.I 1890R, SIORTLY AFTER OPENING. NOSdE NOSd )Sd3 NAT.RE NOV 08 20:0 HISTORIC PLACES HK SERVICE The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Massachusetts Historical Commission November 2, 2010 Mr. J.
Paul Loether, Chief National Register of Historic Places Department of the Interior National Park Service 1201 Eye Street, NW 8hfloor Washington, DC 20005 Dear Mr. Loether: Enclosed please find the following nomination form: Lee Station, 109 Railroad Street, Lee (Berkshire), 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 Fredhery Betsy Friedberg National Register Director Massachusetts Historical Commission enclosure CC: Bonnie Parsons, PVPC, consultant Marilyn Kelly arbara Allen, Patricia LaChapelle, Mary Morrissey, Lee Historical Commissio atricia Carlino, Lee Board of Selectme David Durante, Lee Planning Board 220 Morrissey Boulevard, Boston, Massachusetts 02125 (617) 727-8470 - Fax: (617) 727-5128 www.sec.state.ma.us/mhc United States Department of the Interior NATIONAL PARK SERVICE 1849 C Street, N.W. Nashington, D.C. 20240 December 27, 2010 Notice to file: This property has been automatically listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
This is due to the fact that the publication of our Federal Register Notice: "National Register of Historic Places: Pending Nominations and Other Actions" was delayed beyond our control to the point where the mandated 15 day public comment period ended after our required 45 day time frame to act on the nomination. If the 45* day falls on a weekend or Federal holiday, the property will be automatically listed the next business day. The nomination is technically adequate and meets the National Register criteria for evaluation, and thus, automatically listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Edson Beall Historian National Register of Historic Places Phone: 202-354-2255 E-mail: Edson_Beall@nps.gov Web: www.nps.gov/history/nr
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