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 x Other State agency (Massachusetts State Archives) _ previously listed in the National Register Federal agency - previously determined eligible by the National X Local government Register - University _ designated a National Historic Landmark Other _ recorded by Historic American Buildings Survey Name of repository: Southborough Public Library, Southborough, MA _ recorded by Historic American Engineering Record # NPS Form 10-900-a (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service OMB No.
1024-0018 National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet South Union School Southborough (Worcester Co.), MA Section number 8 Page 1 8. Statement of Significance Narrative Statement of Significance A well-preserved school building designed in the Classical Revival style, South Union School, 21 Highland Street, 0191 - (900 MHIC H SBRe Con phodas - o) has benaoils in Sautpesle and ordaville, ugh formeaiy inadustrial villagered in the south part of Southborough, between which the new school was constructed. Associated with an early 20t-century effort to provide up-to-date municipal facilities in the villages, comparable to those available at the town center, South Union School also incorporates spaces for a public assembly hall and a branch of the public library.
Architect Frank Irving Cooper, of the Boston architectural firm Cooper & Bailey, was a leader in the nationwide movement in the early 20* century to standardize the planning and construction of school buildings. Retaining integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association, South Union School meets Criteria A and C of the National Register of Historic Places at the local level. Southborough is a suburban community on the Boston-Worcester corridor, located at the eastern edge of Worcester County, approximately sixteen miles east of Worcester and twenty-eight miles west of Boston.' The town is bordered by Marlborough on the north, Framingham on the northeast, Ashland on the southeast, Hopkinton on the southwest, Westborough on the west, and Northborough on the northwest.
Originally encompassing the southern part of Marlborough and known as Stony (Stoney) Brook, Southborough lies within the Sudbury River drainage basin, with the Sudbury River forming the town's southern boundary. Stony Brook was one of two major brooks that once traversed the northern and central portions of the town and provided small water-powered mill sites. With the creation of the Metropolitan Water Commission, the western portions of Stony Brook were engineered to become an open channel for the Wachusett Aqueduct in 1898, and over 1,200 acres in the northern part of town were flooded to form the Sudbury Reservoir. [Narrative History, 1; MHC town report] Separating from Marlborough (1660), Southborough was incorporated as an independent town in 1727.
In 1786, Southborough annexed from Framingham a narrow, 300-acre parcel along the Sudbury River at Southborough's southern boundary, known as the Fiddleneck for the way the land protruded west from the Framingham grant. Further realignments of Southborough's boundaries occurred in 1835, with a modification of the western boundary with Westborough, and in 1843, when 82 acres in the northern part of town were annexed to Marlborough. Southborough's gently undulating terrain and rich, gravelly loam supported the agricultural productivity that carried the town's economy well into the 20** century. [Narrative History, 1-3; MHC town report; Historical Data] While scattered farmsteads characterized much of Southborough's settlement into the 20t* century, four village centers had formed by the 1840s.
In the northern part of town, the Colonial-period meetinghouse location (from 1727) became the town center, located on the main east-west route through Southborough between Boston and Worcester (now known as Main Street/Boston Road or MA Route 30). At the town's mid-section was Fayville, a Federal-period turnpike village located on the Boston & Worcester Turnpike (1808-1809, now known as Turnpike Road or MA Route 9), which became the principal stage coach route through Southborough. Route 9 would later constitute part of the corridor for the Boston & Worcester Street Railway.
[Narrative History, 1-19; MHC town report] (continued) ' Unless otherwise referenced in the text, sources for this section are Southborough's Annual Town Reports, particularly the reports of the Board of Selectmen, the School Committee (and its special committees), the Superintendent of Schools, and the Trustees of the Fay Library, with years as noted. See Section 9, Major Bibliographical References for a complete list of sources. NPS Form 10-900-a (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service OMB No. 1024-0018 National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet South Union School Southborough (Worcester Co.), MA Section number 8 Page 2 Southborough's two Early Industrial-period villages are Southville and Cordaville, located approximately one-half mile apart at the southern edge of town, along the former Boston & Worcester Railroad line.
In 1835, the Boston & Worcester Railroad (later known as the Boston & Albany) established stops at both villages. The presence of the railroad, however, did not immediately spark industrial development. Southville in the 1840s was the focus of the town's greatest expansion during the Early Industrial period, boasting the first significant industry in the south part of town, the boot and shoe factory of John Hartt and his partners. Formed in the early 1840s and expanded in 1845 in conjunction with Harvey Newton, the business included a wholesale and retail boot and shoe outlet in Boston. Also in the 1840s, William B. Wood built a cotton and woolen clothing factory in Southville on the Sudbury River, producing kersey, a coarse cotton and woolen cloth marketed primarily in the South, and, by 1852, cotton batting.
Worker housing spread north along Parkerville Road and west along Southville Road, with some clusters of residences on short side streets. A building boom soon followed easterly on Southville Road at Cordaville, where Milton Sanford built his own factory between the railroad tracks and the river in 1846. Incorporated in 1849 as the Cordaville Manufacturing Company, the factory produced cotton, jute, and woolen goods (mostly blankets). The factory burned in 1855 but was rebuilt. Sanford was responsible for the construction of many of the single and double houses on Southville Road, Cordaville Road, and adjacent side streets north of the factory, and named the village Cordaville in honor of his wife, Cordelia. He maintained a company store at 110 Southville Road (ca. 1850, MHC # SBR.172, later known as Fitzgerald's Store), near the intersection of the Southville and Cordaville Roads.
The upstairs hall, known as Wilson's Hall, was a gathering place for residents of both villages. The first Roman Catholic Mass in Southborough was said in the hall in 1861, by which time a sizable Irish Catholic population resided in the two villages and were employed at the mills. Sanford sold his holdings in 1863 to a stock company, and the officers renamed the factory the Cordaville Mills Company, later known as the Cordaville Woolen Company. Blanket production increased during the Civil War era, contributing to the growth of the surrounding village.
[Narrative History, 14-16; Noble, 147-197] Reflecting the growth of Southville and Cordaville during the Early Industrial period, the town of Southborough built three public schools in the two villages: Southville Primary School, 236 Parkerville Road (1860, MHC # SBR.128, now a residence); Southville Grammar School, 28 Highland Street (1870, MHC # SBR.165, now a residence); and the Cordaville School (ca. 1850s, demolished ca. 1910s), located at the site of 193 Woodland Road, near Cordaville Road (MA Route 85). During the Late Industrial period (ca. 1870-1915), the Roman Catholic Church of St. Matthew,105 Southville Road (1877-1879, MHC # SBR.166) was built to serve the Irish population that worked in the mills at Southville and Cordaville. By the late 19"h century, the St. Matthew parish also included a small group of Italians who worked at the Cordaville Woolen Company.
The church was situated between Southville Road and Highland Street, roughly midway between the two villages. The church also was just east of the Southville Grammar School (1870, see above) on Highland Street, which housed students in grades 5-8 from both villages. Placement here of both the public school and the church established this section of Highland Street and Southville Road as a small institutional focus by the late 1870s, easily accessible to residents of both villages at the southern edge of the town. Industrial enterprises at Southville and Cordaville continued to expand into the 1890s. At Southville, Harvey Newton, who ran the boot and shoe factory alone after the death of his partner, John Hartt, employed over 100 people. At Cordaville, a reorganized Cordaville Woolen Company also employed over 100 people.
The 1898 Worcester County atlas shows that Cordaville, unlike Southville, was very much a "company town" at the end of the 19"h century, with much of the real estate still held by the woolen mill corporation, including the company store. By 1907, the storekeeper and Cordaville postmaster was Thomas F. Fitzgerald, who later purchased the building. The town's last boot and shoe factories closed by the 1920s. The woolen mill at Cordaville closed in 1928, at which time the real estate was sold. [Noble, 197, 291; Narrative History, 24-25] (continued) NPS Form 10-900-a (8-86) OMB No.
1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet South Union School Southborough (Worcester Co.), MA Section number 8 Page 3 In the first twelve years of the 20*h century, the town of Southborough built new municipal buildings to serve residents of the town center, as well as the villages of Fayville, Southville, and Cordaville. Those buildings were, in chronological order, Peters High School, Main Street (1900, demolished 1962), a grades 1-12 school replacing an earlier school building on the same site; Fayville Hall, 42 Central Street (1911, MHC # SBR.263); Fay (now Southborough Public) Library, 25 Main Street (1911-1912, MHC # SBR.42); and South Union School.
Also constructed during this period was a new Fayville School, 22 Oak Hill Road (1905, MHC # SBR.227, now a residence), replacing a school destroyed by fire the previous year. Collectively, these five buildings provided up-to-date school facilities for the four villages, and established town-owned public hall and branch library spaces, serving residents of the three villages lying south of the town center. The village hall at Fayville also provided space for the fire department. Annual reports of the School Committee note that the community began discussing, as early as 1900, the possible consolidation of the public schools in the villages of Southville and Cordaville. The network of district schools in Southborough had been discontinued, and a townwide public school system had been established.
[Narrative History, 21] Completion of the new Peters High School that year established a substantial school building at the town center, and there was a keen desire to provide a building of comparable quality in the southern part of town. In 1911, when South Union School was under construction, Southville Primary housed 25 students in grades 1-4, Southville Grammar housed 29 students in grades 5-8, and the Cordaville school housed 14 students in grades 1-4. Once vacated, these three school properties were sold, with two surviving as residences and the third replaced by an early 20**-century dwelling (see At Town Meeting on March 6, 1911, the town appropriated $500 for investigating the cost of constructing a school to serve the villages of Southville and Cordaville. The study committee expended approximately $145, principally in payments to the architectural firms of Hubert G.
Ripley and Warren & Gerrish for sketches and plans, and to James F. Bigelow for surveying the lot and producing site plans. At Special Town Meeting on May 24, 1911, the town voted to appropriate $22,000 for the school construction. Francis D. Newton, Paul S. Lincoln, and John T. Burnett, members of the Board of Selectmen, noted in the board's 1911 annual report the significance of this project to the larger community: The Town of Southborough, for the first time in its history, issued bonds, as authorized by a special town meeting, to pay for the new school house which is now being erected in the south part of the town. The amount issued was twenty-two thousand dollars in four per cent bonds, which are sold at a premium. These bonds are to be retired two thousand dollars annually, the same to be raised by taxation. This is according to the State law. Daniel F. Harrington, Seth H.
Howes, Frederick A. Flichtner, Augustus E. Wright, and John J. Henderson served on the building committee, and Frederick B. Van Ornum was Superintendent of Schools. The town expended $229.50 to purchase land on Highland Street from the Cordaville Woolen Company. The building lot was situated at the small institutional focus on Highland Street, already established by the construction of the Southville Grammar School and St. Matthew's Church (see above). It is not clear in the annual town reports why the town of Southborough did not contract with either of the architectural firms that had produced preliminary plans for South Union School in 1911. The same year, the town instead hired the Boston architectural firm of Cooper & Bailey to design the new school. Thomas P. Hurley of Marlborough was the builder.
The South Union School had three classrooms on the first floor, as well as a domestic science room, a large (continued) NPS Form 10-900-a (8-86) OMB No. 1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet South Union School Southborough (Worcester Co.), MA Section number 8 Page 4 public hall seating 265 people, and space for a branch of the public library, all located on the second floor. Two "wardrobe" rooms or coatrooms occupied the space between the stairhalls on the first floor, and toilet facilities occupied the corresponding space in the basement. Original plans from 1911 designate separate spaces at the west and east ends of the basement as indoor playrooms for boys and girls, respectively, though itis not clear if thespaceswere ever used for that purpose.
Known alternately as the "school in the south part of town" or the "Cordaville School" (on the 1911 architectural plans), the new school was generally known by 1915 as South Union School, representing the union or consolidation of the public schools in the south part of the town. Architect Frank Irving Cooper (1867-1933) was the lead partner in the Boston-based firm of Cooper & Bailey, which operated from at least 1901 until Cooper established his own firm in 1914. A native of Taunton, Cooper was a graduate of the Chauncey Hall School and began studying architecture under noted architect H. H. Richardson. He went on to hold positions as a draftsman in the Boston architecture firms of Henry Van Brunt and Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge.
[Withey, 138-139] After two years in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania designing industrial buildings, Cooper returned to Massachusetts to design the Bristol County Superior Court House, 9 Court Street, Taunton (1892-1894, MHC # TAU.23), and established a practice in Boston. MHC's MACRIS database includes approximately twenty buildings attributed to Cooper & Bailey, constructed from 1901 to 1914. In addition to South Union School, they include schools in Amesbury, Ashburnham, Attleboro, Billerica, Braintree, Easton, Georgetown, Great Barrington, Lexington, Middleborough, Newbury, Quincy, Rockland, Stockbridge, and West Boylston.
The firm also designed the Fairbanks Memorial Hall (Town Hall), Ashburnham (1905, NRDIS, MHC # ASB.44); Georgetown Peabody Library, Georgetown (1907, MHC # GEO.22); a business block at 55-57 Pleasant Street, Newburyport (1903, NRDIS, MHC # NWB.353); and Oak Hill Chapel, 31 Nahanton Street, Newton (1905, MHC # NWT.3661). Little information has been located about Elmer S. Bailey. Boston city directories list Bailey and Cooper with the same business address in 1905 and 1915, but at different addresses in the 1920s and the 1930s. Further research is needed on Bailey and his architectural practice. Cooper was an active member of the National Education Association, for which he chaired a committee on schoolhouse planning and construction.
He advocated for the development of modern standards in the construction of schools, and the education of teachers, school superintendents, and town officials in recognizing the need for those standards. Cooper also encouraged cities and towns, in the planning of new school buildings, to hire local architects who specialized in school design. He served as an architectural consultant to municipal Boards of Education and School Committees throughout New England, participating in the design of public halls, college buildings and dormitories, administration buildings, and about 200 elementary, intermediate, and high schools. In 1914, he organized the Frank I. Cooper Corporation, based in Boston and Hartford, Connecticut. Cooper's later commissions of note include the public library in Medford as well as Clark Pathological Laboratory at Amherst College, Amherst.
He also designed high schools in Adams, Malden, and Plymouth, Massachusetts; Hartford, Connecticut; and Bristol, Rhode Island. Cooper was a former member of the Boston City Planning Commission and a Mason (the Masons presided over the laying of the cornerstone at Cooper's 1892 Bristol County court house). He was also affiliated with the Boston chapter of what was then known as the American Society of Heating and Ventilating Engineers, serving as president of the chapter in 1912-1913. [Withey; MACRIS; see separate section in bibliography for additional sources] South Union School opened in December 1912. The new three-classroom school served 67 children in grades 1-9, as the ninth year was then part of the elementary grades. In 1913, the school district integrated its ninth grade with the high school program.
Like other public schools in Southborough during the period, South Union School had multi-age classrooms, grouping together the students in grades one through three, four through six, and seven through nine (later eight). Longtime teachers of these classes at South Union School were, respectively, Mary J. Reagan, a graduate of (continued) NPS Form 10-900-a (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service OMB No. 1024-0018 National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet South Union School Southborough (Worcester Co.), MA Section number 8 Page 5 Framingham Normal School; Julia F. Gleason, also a graduate of Framingham Normal School; and Grace M. Ellis, a graduate of Middlebury College. Miss Gleason, known after her marriage as Julia Gleason McDonald, later became principal of the school.
The Southville Branch Library opened on the second floor of South Union School on June 9, 1915, under the care of Miss Hazel R. Clark. The reason for the delay between the opening of the school and the opening of the branch library is not detailed in annual reports, but perhaps may be attributed in part to the opening in September 1912 of the new Fay Library building at the town center. Another branch library operated out of Fayville Hall. Each branch library was open two hours per week: Southville on Saturday evenings, and Fayville on Tuesday and Saturday afternoons. By contrast, the main library at the town center was open sixteen hours per week: in the afternoons from Monday through Saturday, as well as Wednesday and Saturday evenings.
Discussion of establishing a branch public library in the southern part of town appears to have started by 1907, when at Special Town Meeting the town considered appropriating funds to refurbish the upper room in the Southville Primary School (see above) for use as a public hall. The matter was referred to the School Committee for study. In endorsing the idea, the School Committee observed in its 1908 annual report that the hall would make "an excellent place for a distributing room for a branch of the public library, for which we believe there is a growing demand and is badly needed in that section of town." The Trustees of Fay Library concurred, noting in their 1910 annual report that better library rather than the system, already in place, of transporting books from the Fay Library at the town center.
In 1911, for example, the main library delivered a total of 535 books to the south part of town, which were distributed from the "School House Hall" that had been renovated for community use. This number climbed to 849 books in 1913, following the opening of the new Fay Library building in September 1912. At the new Southville branch library, where the permanent collection consisted of "two selections of books comprising five hundred volumes each," circulation for June through December 1915 amounted to approximately 17% of the total books and magazines circulated by the library system in 1915. Figures from the 1920 annual report of the Library Trustees show circulation from the Southville branch comprised 12% of the total items delivered that year, while the Fayville branch circulated 15% of the townwide total of 11,984. Mrs.
Howard Hunt served as librarian at the Southville branch in 1930, according to library annual reports. Through the late 1920s, total enrollment at South Union School ranged from 67 to 86 students in three classrooms. In 1927, following two years of requests from the South Union School, the town's School Committee arranged for manual training classes for the seventh-and eighth-grade boys enrolled at South Union. This involved transporting those students to the town center one afternoon per week for instruction at the Peters High School building (see above). Girls in the seventh and eighth grades at South Union were offered domestic science classes in a second-floor classroom designated for that purpose.
In 1928, the school district implemented a six-year high school academic program for grades 7-12 (later evolving into separate junior high school and senior high school programs), though seventh and eighth graders residing in the southern part of town continued to attend South Union School until the mid 1940s. The School Committee's 1926 annual report noted that increased attendance in the lower grades at the town center and South Union was overtaxing classroom facilities, and necessitated the hiring of "helper teachers." The town maintained three schools, with the Peters High School building at the town center housing grades one through twelve, the South Union School housing grades one through eight, and the Fayville School housing grades one through three.
The shortage of classroom space, often described in annual reports through the years as the "housing problem," contributed to a (continued) NPS Form 10-900-a (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service OMB No. 1024-0018 National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet South Union School Southborough (Worcester Co.), MA Section number Page 6 temporary spike in the enrollment at South Union School during the 1929-1930 school year, when 121 students were enrolled. To relieve the "housing problem" at the town center, the school district transported to South Union the fourth graders living in Fayville as well as other children who resided south of the Boston & Worcester streetcar line (now known as Turnpike Road or Route 9).
At South Union, the district established a separate 4*h grade class, and for the first time operated four separate classrooms rather than the three classrooms the building was designed to house. A report by principal Julia Gleason filed with the School Committee's annual report described the changes, but did not note which room at South Union had been converted for use as the fourth classroom. Enrollment at South Union returned to earlier levels, with three classrooms in operation, following completion of Peters High School Annex, 19 Main Street (1930, MHC # SBR.43, now the Southborough Police Station), providing additional classroom space for the elementary population schooled at the town center. Further research is needed on the community (i.e., non-school) activities based at South Union School during World War II.
A historic photograph shows a small, wood-frame structure constructed on the roof of the school for use as an aircraft warning observatory. [Noble, 310] Volunteers for the town's Ground Observer Corps staffed the observatory, which was removed at an unknown date. The Red Cross apparently occupied the school's Domestic Science Room during the war, war years. Figures published in the 1945 annual report of the Fay Library trustees show that circulation at the Southville branch, with 4,654 items circulated, comprised 16% of the total circulation for the town's three libraries, and library attendance at Southville, with 1,641 persons, comprised 14% of the total library attendance in the town. Southborough's population rose nearly 80% between 1940 and 1960, to just over 4,000 people. Another two-thirds increase occurred by 1980, when the population numbered 6,193.
By the end of the 20t century, the population was nearly 8,500, more than double the 1960 figure. After over250years as an agricultural community, Southborough evolved in the second half of the 20" century from a rural to suburban town. [Narrative History, 36] In the immediate post-World War Il years, the town of Southborough operated four school buildings. Peters High School and the adjacent Peters High School Annex housed the elementary school population at the town center, as well as the townwide junior high and high school programs. Fayville School continued to operate as a grades 1-3 school with one teacher. South Union School became a grades 1-6 school in a three-classroom configuration: grades 1-2, 3-4, and 5-6, with one teacher for each classroom. Total enrollment at South Union climbed from 65 students in 1945 to 90 students in 1950.
By 1947, 60% of the students at South Union School took lunches to school, so the vacant classroom on the second floor (previously used as a domestic science room and known during World War Il as the Red Cross Room) was converted into a lunchroom. Postwar population growth in Southborough demanded maximum utilization of all school spaces during the early 1950s. Short-term measures were implemented to relieve overcrowding while the town finalized plans to construct the Albert S. Woodward Memorial School (28 Cordaville Road, demolished and replaced in 2004), a new elementary school that opened in 1955 at the town center. Returning to the practice employed in the late 1920s, the town in 1951 began transporting some elementary students from the town center to South Union School. Enrollment at South Union peaked in 1953 with 148 students in grades 1-6.
Both the assembly hall and the branch library at South Union were converted to emergency classroom use. In his 1953 report as Superintendent of Schools, Roger K. Poole commented on the loss of the assembly hall at South Union: (continued) NPS Form 10-900-a 8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service OMB No. 1024-0018 National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet South Union School Southborough (Worcester Co.), MA Section number 8 Page 7 By removing the assembly hall from its ordinary use as a place for physical education classes, assemblies, dramatic presentations, etc., the educational program of the South Union School will be severely handicapped until the new building is opened and the assembly hall can be returned to its original purpose. This action has also deprived the south community in the town of its best hall for general community purposes.
We shall be glad when it is again available. Unlike the assembly hall, which eventually was returned to its original use, the Southville Branch Library closed permanently. Final circulation figures show the branch library recorded 867 visitors in 1952, and its circulation of 2,761 the Fay Library at the town center in 1954. With the closing of the Southville branch library, the town maintained only one branch library, at Fayville Hall. Further research is needed to determine when the Fayville library closed. South Union School underwent a four-year renovation in the early 1950s, as part of an effort by the town to upgrade its older school buildings before commencing construction on the Woodward Memorial School. Rooftop parapet walls were replaced with the existing parapets and a new roof was installed.
Utility systems were upgraded, including installation of a new oil-fire heating system, new electrical panel, and new plumbing, as well as construction of new toilet rooms in the former coatrooms on the first floor and a separate toilet room for teachers on the second floor. Blackboards were converted to "sight-saving" green chalkboards. A new concrete floor was poured in the basement, where a "thoroughly modern" school cafeteria was established to serve over 100 children daily. Safety improvements included construction of additional fire exits, installation of an electric fire alarm system and emergency lighting, and replacement of ordinary glass with wire glass where required by safety regulations. The opening in 1955 of Woodward Memorial School led to a re-organization of Southborough's public schools at the grades one through eight levels. Fayville School on Oak Hill Road was closed.
South Union School housed some of the new Woodward School. The balance of the school population, grades four through eight, was housed at the Woodward students from Southborough joined their counterparts from Northborough at the new Algonquin Regional High School, 79 Bartlett Street, Northborough. The Peters High School building, Main Street (1900) was demolished in 1962. The Southborough fire station (1978) currently occupies the site. Until an addition was completed on Woodward School in 1961, South Union School housed students in grades one through four, with 148 children enrolled in 1960. This enrollment for four grades matched an earlier postwar peak in 1953, when South Union School housed six grades. A temporary partition erected to create classrooms out of the assembly hall at South Union was removed in 1961. Principal Margaret E.
Cronin noted in her 1961 report that the school's physical education, music, and intensive reading classes made daily use of the hall. During the 1960s, the Southborough school district continued to move from a system of neighborhood-based elementary schools toward the present elementary system, in which each school building houses designated grades. Facilitating this re-organization were the openings of two new elementary schools, the Mary E. Finn School, 60 Richards Road, in September 1965, and the Margaret A. Neary School, 53 Parkerville Road, in September 1970. With the opening of Neary (continued) NPS Form 10-900-a (8-86) OMB No.
1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet South Union School Southborough (Worcester Co.), MA Section number 8 Page 8 School, Peters High School Annex was closed as a school, and re-opened the following year to house the Southborough Police Station. About the same time, the school district created a separate middle school program, with the goal of establishing Woodward Memorial School as a middle school for students in grades 6-8. South Union School closed briefly in the early 1970s, and then re-opened in September 1973 as the town's kindergarten center, with 119 students enrolled. The school district started providing kindergarten classes in September 1970, "ahead of the State deadline of September 1973" mandated by the Commonwealth for the creation of kindergarten classes in the public schools.
Initially, Southborough's kindergarten classes were located at Finn School and Neary School. The re- opening of South Union School to house a centralized kindergarten was partly due to the need to create additional classroom space for older children at Neary School. Centralizing the town's half-day kindergarten at South Union, as opposed to placing older (full-day) children at the school, had the added advantage of eliminating the need to establish a hot lunch program at South Union, or transporting South Union students to Finn School for lunch. With declining birth rates and student enrollments in the 1970s, the kindergarten center at South Union School closed at the end of the 1979- 1980 school year. Kindergarten classes were moved to Finn School, which then served as the town's K-2 school.
Today, the town of Southborough maintains four schools with the following grade configurations: Finn School (see above), for pre-school through grade one; a newly constructed Albert S. Woodward Memorial School, 28 Cordaville Road (current building 2004), housing grades two and three; Neary School (see above), for grades four and five; and P. Brent Trottier Middle School, 49 Parkerville Road (1998), for grades six through eight. In 1981, the vacated South Union School became the home of the Southborough Arts Center, with the Southborough Cultural Arts Council (SCAC) renting the building from the town's School Committee. Founded in 1980, the SCAC oversees Arts Center programming, which includes events, exhibitions, and classes. In addition, SCAC awards and administers grants annually to individuals and groups involved in the arts, humanities, and interpretive sciences.
These grant monies come to the SCAC from the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC), a state agency funded by the state legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts. The main sources of income for the Arts Center are memberships, private donations, and business sponsorships. Per vote of 2001 Annual Town Meeting, control of the former South Union School building was transferred from the School Committee to the Board of Selectmen. Work conducted in 2003-2004 (see Section 7, Description above) was undertaken to bring the building into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. In addition to the Arts Center, the building now houses the offices of the town's Recreation Department and Facilities Department. (end) South Union School Name of Property Worcester County, Massachusetts County and State 10.
Geographical Data Acreage of Propertyapproximately 4 acres UTM References (Place additional UTM references on a continuation sheet) A. 19 291290 4682440 Zone Easting Northing B. 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 °Zone Easting D.
Zone Easting See continuation sheet Northing Northing name/title Kathleen Kelly Broomer, Preservation Consultant, with Betsy Friedberg, NR Director, MHC organization Massachusetts Historical Commission date_ December 2010 street & number 220 Morrissey Boulevard telephone (617) 727-8470 city or town Boston _state MA _ 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 Town of Southborough, MA street & number_ Town House, 17 Common Street telephone(508) 485-0710 city or town Southborough state MA _ zip code_ 01772-1662 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.O. Box 37127, Washington, DC 20013-7127; and the Office of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reductions Project (1024-0018), Washington, DC 20503.NPS Form 10-900 NPS Form 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 1 OMB No. 1024-0018 South Union School Southborough (Worcester Co.), MA 9. Major Bibliographical References Annual Reports of the Town of Southborough, Massachusetts. 1908-present.
Annual reports of the Board of Selectmen, the School Committee,the Superintendent of Schools, the Trustees of the Fay Library, and the Cultural Arts Council, plus lists of articles for Annual Town Meetings. Of particular interest: "Report on Use of Upper Room in Primary School Building at Southville as a Public Hall." 1908. "School Committee's Report on School House Hall [Southville]." 1909. "School Committee's Report Recommending Consolidation of the Schools in Cordaville and Southville." 1910. "Report of the Trustees of Fay Library." 1910 and 1915. "Report of the Building Committee on New School Building in South Part of Town." 1912 (with photographs). "The New Building in the South Part." Part of Superintendent's Report. 1912. "Report on New School Building." 1913. "Report of the Superintendent of Schools." 1953 and 1972. Arts Center of Southborough.
Mission statement and description of organization, via www.southborougharts.org. (September 2008). Galvin, William Francis, Secretary of the Commonwealth. Historical Data Relating to Counties, Cities, and Towns in Massachusetts. Boston: The New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1997. Hart, David M., AIA. "South Union School, Southborough, MA. Report of existing conditions, analysis, and recommendations for repair, restoration, and conservation." March 28, 2007. Massachusetts Historical Commission (MHC). Inventory of Historic and Archaeological Assets of the Commonwealth. Southborough inventory and "Narrative History of Southborough" prepared by Anne McCarthy Forbes and Gretchen G. Schuler, preservation consultants to the Southborough Historical Commission. June 2000. "MHC Reconnaissance Survey Report: Southborough." 1983. Noble, Richard E. Fences of Stone.
A History of Southborough, Massachusetts. Portsmouth, NH: Peter E. Randall, 1990. St. Matthew Catholic Church (Southborough, Mass.). Parish history via www.stmatthewcatholic-southboro.org. (September 2008). Stone, Orra L. History of Massachusetts Industries. Vol. II. Boston-Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1930. Plans, Maps, and Atlases Massachusetts State Archives, Public Safety Plans (also known as Division of Inspection. Building Inspection Plans, 1889-1987). Architectural plans for "Cordaville School at Southboro Mass." Drawn by Cooper and Bailey, Architects. Multiple sheets. September 1911. (continued) NPS Form 10-900-a (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service OMB No.
1024-0018 National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet South Union School Southborough (Worcester Co.), MA Section number 9, 10 Page 2, 1 New Topographical Atlas of the County of Worcester, Massachusetts. Philadelphia: L. J. Richards & Co., 1898. Information on Architects Frank Irving Cooper and Elmer S. Bailey American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers. Information on past presidents of Boston chapter. Via www.ashraeboston.org. August 2008. [Cooper] Boston Public Library, Fine Arts Department. Boston Architects Reference File. [Cooper, Bailey] "Deaths." Architectural Forum, v. 59 (November 1933), p. 34. [Cooper] Journal of Proceedings and Addresses of the Forty-First Annual Meeting. National Educational Association. Minneapolis, Minnesota. July 7-11, 1902. Via http://books.google.com. August 2008. [Cooper] Massachusetts Historical Commission.
Massachusetts Cultural Resource Information System (MACRIS database). [Cooper, Cooper & Bailey] Proceedings of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Boston : Rockwell and Churchill, 1891-1892. Via http://books.google.com. August 2008. [Cooper] "School Architects." The Elementary School Journal, vol. 20, no. 3 (Nov. 1919), pp. 162-163. [Cooper] Withey, Henry F. and Elsie Rathburn Withey. Biographical Dictionary of American Architects (Deceased). Los Angeles: Hennessey & Ingalls, Inc., 1970. Republished by Omnigraphics, Detroit, 1996. [Cooper] (end) 10. Geographical Data Verbal Boundary Description The boundary of the nominated property is shown on the accompanying sheet 3 of the Town of Southborough assessor's maps.
Boundary Justification The boundary encompasses the parcel continuously associated with the South Union School since its construction in 1911-1912. (end) NPS Form 10-900-a (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number Photos Page 1 Photographs Historic Name: Location: Photographer: Date: Location of Digital Images: Photo # 1 OMB No. 1024-0018 South Union School Southborough (Worcester Co.), MA 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 South Union School 21 Highland Street, Southborough (Worcester County), MA Kathleen Kelly Broomer (Photos 1-6), Kate Matison Photography (Photos 7-8_ Fall 2008 Southborough Historical Commission, Southborough, MA View South Union School, façade (south elevation) and monumental stair. View NW.
digital file name: MA_Southborough (Worcester County)_SouthUnion1 South Union School, detail of façade frontispiece. View E. digital file name: MA_Southborough (Worcester County)_SouthUnion2 South Union School, west elevation. View NE. digital file name: MA_ 1_Southborough (Worcester County)_SouthUnion3 South Union School, rear (north) elevation. View SW. digital file name: MA_Southborough (Worcester County)_SouthUnion4 South Union School, first floor corridor showing glazed divider. View NE. digital file name: MA_Southborough (Worcester County)_SouthUnion5 South Union School, second floor assembly hall, looking NE toward original stage location. digital file name: MA_Southborough (Worcester County)_SouthUnion6 South Union School, façade (south elevation) and monumental stair. View NE.
digital file name: MA_Southborough (Worcester County)_SouthUnion7 South Union School, detail of façade frontispiece. View N.
digital file name: MA |_Southborough (Worcester County)_SouthUnion8 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES EVALUATION/RETURN SHEET REQUESTED ACTION: NOMINATION PROPERTY NAME : South Union School MULTIPLE NAME: STATE & COUNTY: MASSACHUSETTS, Worcester DATE RECEIVED: DATE OF 16TH DAY: DATE OF WEEKLY LIST: 1/03/11 3/01/11 DATE OF PENDING LIST: DATE OF 45TH DAY: 2/14/11 2/18/11 REFERENCE NUMBER: 11000021 REASONS FOR REVIEW: APPEAL: N OTHER : REQUEST: N DATA PROBLEM: N LANDSCAPE: N PERIOD: SAMPLE: SLR DRAFT: N COMMENT WAIVER: N VACCEPT RETURN REJECT ABSTRACT/ SUMMARY COMMENTS : Entered in The National Register of Historic Places LESS THAN 50 YEARS: PROGRAM UNAPPROVED: NATIONAL: 218.1bATE RECOM./CRITERIA REVIEWER DISCIPLINE TELEPHONE DATE DOCUMENTATION see attached comments Y/N see attached SLR Y/N If a nomination is returned to the nominating authority, nomination is no longer under consideration by the NPS.
southunion sclool K.BROON Uttighland Street Southkorough worcestercounty mass. Puotol FACADE (S ELEV.) & STAIRWAY MA_SOUTHBORO46H(WORCESTERCOUNTY) Arrts Center at Southborou South Union Schiool K. BROOMER Utrighlaud Street southborough worcestercouaty mass. DETAIL & FACADE FRONTISPIECE VIEL Photo 2 MA_SOUTIBOROUGH (WORCESTERCOUNTY) -: southunion Sarool Highlaud Street Sowthborouyh worcestercountty mass. W ELEV. VIEW NE Photo3 K. BROOMER MA-SOUTABOROUGH(WORCESTERCOUNTY)-S southunion School K.BROOM 2 tighlaud Strett Soutuborough WorcesterCousty mass. REAR (N) ELEV. VIEW SW Photo 4 MA_SOUTHBOROUGH(WORCESTERCOUNTY)-SO N3W g K.BROOMER PHOTO soununiou scool 2008 21 Highiand Strut southborough worcestercounty Mass. Plotos IST FLOOR CORRIDOR, VIEW NE MA_ SOUTHBOROUGH(WORCESTERCOUNTY)- SOUTHUNIONS. tif south wiou schiool 21 Highlaud Street K.BR 20 Soutuborough Worcester Colutty Mass. 2ND FL.
ASSEMBLY HALL, VIEW NE Ploto 6 MA. SOUTHBOROU6H(WORCESTERCOUNTY)_S Southumou scltol K. MATISON Highlaud Soutiborugh worcestercounty mass. FACADE (S ELEV.) and STAIR VIEW N Ploto 7 MA_ SOUTABOROUGH (WORCESTERCOUNTY)-S Art center at Southborough south union Scllool K. MATISON 21 HighlaudStrett southborough worastercounty Mass. Photo 8 DETAIL Z FACADE, VIEW N MA_ SOUTABOROUGH(WORCESTERCOUNTY).. RECEIVED DEC 1 0 2008 MASS.HIST. COMM SOUTH UNION SCHOOL SOUTHBOROUGH WORCESTERCO. MASSACHUSETTS -=187.97 00 41 4 0y5A RÉS *STREET IEARL 2 20A 28 FIRE STATION 28 Lio's 29 39 2c 109 HIGHLAN® 26 21 1259,05 30 /... 105", BOSTON LEGEND PARCEL NUMBERS ARIACENT MADG MATCH LINE a300 to STREET! ST MATTHEW'S CHURCH lros pos 160 SOUTHVILLE 63873 RAILROAD ALBANY AND - SUDBURY -RIVER HOPKINTON CARTOGRAPHIC ASSOCIATES, INC ROAD Not Ae be usei toe Comeyane: 2575 0.92 Ac. PARKER ZiA 24A 15 - 15) 14-3 Bv.
IND NO PARCEL 1 TOWNOF SOUTHBOROUGH OLD TOWN. MAINE SCALE 1 INCH - 100 = FEET CURRENT TO JANUARY 1 2006 3 MEMORANDUM Date December 1, 2008 To: Historical Commission From: Jean E. Kitchen, Town Administrator Re: South Union School At the meeting of the Board of Selectmen held on Tuesday, November 25, 2008 it was voted to approve the nomination of the South Union School on the national register of historic places. ENST PETI JAN 0 3 2011 The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Massachusetts Historical Commission 319 December 30, 2010 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: South Union School, 21 Highland Street, Southborough (Worcester), MA The nomination has been voted eligible by the State Review Board and has been signed by the State Historic Preservation Officer. The owners of the property were notified of pending State Review Board consideration 30 to 45 days before the meeting and were afforded the opportunity to comment. One letter of support has been received. Sincerely, Betoy Fredkerg Betsy Friedberg National Register Director Massachusetts Historical Commission Enclosure CC: Bonnie Phaneuf, Chair, Southborough Board of Selectmen David Falconi, Southborough Historical Commission Kathleen Broomer, consultant Charles Gaffney, Southborough Planning Board 220 Morrissey Boulevard, Boston, Massachusetts 02125 (617) 727-8470 - Fax: (617) 727-5128 www.sec.state.ma.us/mhc
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