Major Bibliographical References (Cite the books, articles, and other sources used in preparing this form on one or more continuation sheets.) Previous documentation on file (NPS): Primary location of additional data: _ preliminary determination of individual listing (36 X State Historic Preservation Office CFR 67) has been requested _Other State agency _ previously listed in the National Register Federal agency _ previously determined eligible by the National X Local government Register _ University _ designated a National Historic Landmark .Other _recorded by Historic American Buildings Survey Name of repository: # Special Collections Room, Haverhill Public Library _recorded by Historic American Engineering Record # NPS Form 10-900-a (8-86) OMB Approval No.
1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 8 Page 1 East Parish Meeting House Haverhill (Essex), MA Summary Statement The East Parish Meeting House, a 1½-story, wood-frame, Greek Revival building in Haverhill, Massachusetts, is a 19th- century meetinghouse that has changed little since its construction in 1838. It meets National Register Criterion A at the local level for its importance to the history of religion - and of community planning and development - in Haverhill. East Parish Meeting House also meets National Register Criterion C for its importance to the city's architecture. Although regular services were discontinued in 1906, the building is occasionally used for religious purposes, and therefore is subject to Criteria Consideration A.
Owned by a neighborhood association, the East Parish Meeting House is generally in good condition, is only slightly altered since its period of significance (1838-1960), and has historic integrity in terms of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association. The Setting: Haverhill Haverhill was founded by English settlers in 1640, and originally named Pentucket for a nearby Native American tribe. Like its upstream neighbors Lowell and Lawrence, Haverhill is located in a hilly valley along the Merrimack River, its eastern border sixteen miles from where the Merrimack empties into the Atlantic at Newburyport. Thirty-two miles north of Boston, Haverhill borders the state of New Hampshire on much of its northern boundary.
It covers over 36 square the middle of the century, Haverhill was a world leader in shoe production, the "Queen Slipper City." Haverhill's downtown core is distinguished by the many factories erected for shoe production in the 19th and early 20* centuries, particularly the multi-story brick buildings built after a devastating fire leveled ten acres of the downtown in 1882 Haverhill incorporated as a city in 1870, and annexed neighboring Bradford, on the southern bank of the Merrimack, in 1897. Changes in the shoe industry in the 1920s started a long economic decline in the single-industry city, which accelerated with suburbanization after the Second World War. Between 1966 and 1974, much of the historic but moribund downtown was demolished for urban renewal; then development stalled.
Beginning in the late 1970s, Haverhill developers undertook adaptive reuse projects, especially after the establishment of the Washington Street Historic District (NR 1976). Haverhill's best-known inhabitants were poet John Greenleaf Whittier, and two businessmen who began their careers in Haverhill: department store founder Rowland H. Macy, and movie producer Louis B. Mayer. Haverhill is connected to Boston by commuter rail and was bisected in the 1960s by Interstate 495 ("City History"; MHC Reconnaissance Survey). The 2000 census recorded 58,969 inhabitants in Haverhill, a substantial growth from a decade before. The East Parish Meeting House site has remained rural, and no village ever grew up around it.
During shad season, people came from a great distance to the nearby Merrimack River to fish; as a result, East Parish Meeting House was sometimes nicknamed "Shad Parish" (Smith, "East Parish Church"). In 1894-1895, the East Meadow River was dammed at a site across the road and southeast of the East Parish Meeting House, forming Millvale Reservoir (Arrington 478; O Malley and Tedesco 21, 26). Neighborhood development has been limited to low-density residential construction. A recent Haverhill landscape survey has suggested that Middle Road be protected with a scenic roads ordinance (Haverhill Reconnaissance Report 13). The only large-scale modern intrusion on the landscape is the campus of Northern Essex Community College, to the west along Kenoza Road past Walnut Cemetery. (continued) NPS Form 10-900-a (8-86) OMB Approval No.
1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet East Parish Meeting House Haverhill (Essex), MA Section number 8 Page 2 Criterion A: Religion and Community Planning & Development The East Parish Meeting House is significant for its association with two interwoven elements of Haverhill history - religion, and community planning & development - as they evolved in the 18th through the early 20" centuries. A church began meeting in Haverhill in 1641, and was formally organized in 1645. The first meeting house (razed) was built in 1648 in the Mill Lot, in what is now Pentucket Cemetery (near Linwood Cemetery on Water Street). Its successor (also razed) was built on the Common in 1698 (Arrington 459).
In about 1725 the western part of Haverhill became the separate town of Methuen (officially incorporated in 1726), the first in a series of divisions of the original parish. In 1734, some residents of the easterly part of Haverhill first asked to be set off from Haverhill's old central or First Parish as a separate East Parish, but that wish was not granted until nearly a decade later. The North Parish (later Second Church) was set off from the old central or First Parish in 1730, and West Parish (later Third Church) in 1734. Following this pattern, the East Parish was known in later years as the Fourth Congregational Church. In June of 1743, 56 men signed a petition to Governor William Shirley and the General Court to divide the remaining parish - now shorn of its northern and western elements - in half. After a counter-petition, a committee of legislators visited Haverhill in September.
They ruled in favor of the petitioners (Chase 320-323; Cogswell 1981; Crowell; "Statistics"). Almost all of the Congregational (today the United Church of Christ or UCC) and Unitarian (now the Unitarian Universalist Association or UUA) churches in Haverhill trace their histories back to the 1641 church. Having divided geographically in the 18" century, the churches then divided doctrinally in the 19" century. In 1890, Haverhill boasted one Unitarian and ten Congregational churches (Arrington 489). In the 20" century, many of these splits healed as the descendant churches merged along denominational lines. In 1950, Haverhill's First Parish [Unitarian] Church merged with the First Universalist Church (1825), to become the Universalist Unitarian Church (now UUA) of Haverhill ("History").
The North and Centre Congregational churches, which had split in 1859, merged in 1939 as the First Church; they were joined by the North Parish in 1963 to become the First Congregational Church (now UCC) of Haverhill ("A In November of 1743, the newly formed East Parish first met at "the house of Nath'1 Whittier, deceased," which stood on Middle Road opposite the tract that became Walnut Cemetery ("Records"; Chase 577; Noyes 87). They chose a location for the new meetinghouse "at the south side of Turkey Hill, near the south-east end of the hill." The building was finished enough for them to hold their first meeting there on September 6, 1744.
George Chase described his childhood memories of the 1744 East Parish Meeting House: Many can remember the venerable, weather-beaten old church, with its large square pews, its capacious galleries, its lofty pulpit, and still loftier "sounding-board." We shall never forget our childish speculation as to the support of the latter, nor our great relief when, standing on the back seat in the ancient gallery, we actually saw with our own eyes the heavy braces that kept it in place; and we are therefore prepared to sympathize with the worthy minister [The Rev. Tompkins] whose first sermon under it was delivered in the constant fear of being crushed by its fall! (Chase 582-583) Harry Alden Johnson dismissed the first meetinghouse as "crude and unadorned," although he noted that it had galleries on three sides ("Services"). (continued) NPS Form 10-900-a (8-86) OMB Approval No.
1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 8 East Parish Meeting House Haverhill (Essex), MA Page 3 The traditional interpretation of the first meetinghouse, which George Chase compiled in 1861 by combing through the church's early records, is that the 1744 meetinghouse was perpetually a work in progress: The house was not actually finished, until a few years before it was torn down, in 1838, - nearly a century after. The gallery floors were laid about 1752, "the windows on the back side of the pulpit" were cut out in 1753, at the request of the minister, Rev. Mr. Parker, "for his conveineancy of aier in the summer season"..
the house was plastered in 1768; the pews were built at various times from 1744 to some time subsequent to 1816; the east end was clapboarded, and "the fore doors & window frames" painted in 1793. Until about 1816, the two sexes sat apart during service (except those families who were so fortunate as to own pews) and the "women's seats" are mentioned even later than that date. The house was first artificially heated in 1829, when two "box" stoves were introduced. The writer well remembers their gigantic proportions, and long funnels. The latter, in the absence of a chimney, were thrust through the windows on the north and south sides of the house. (Chase 577; italics original) Chase's last line appears to indicate that the early meetinghouse was oriented in the same manner as the current one.
Although it is possible that the meetinghouse truly remained unfinished throughout these years, a more plausible explanation is that Chase's memories of the inadequacies of the first meeting house building colored his interpretation, and the building simply was frequently updated. In either case, the slow growth of the parish, and the meetinghouse's continued isolation from village life, likely stalled the progress of updating The parish called its first minister, Benjamin Parker, a Harvard graduate, on October 4" of 1744, for a tenure of over three decades. The parish ordained Parker in November and held its first church meeting on January 31, 1745. In addition to his salary and the use of the parish lands, the parish agreed to build Parker a parsonage house and barn. But with its resources depleted, in March of 1745 the parish formed a committee to ask Parker to wait for the parsonage.
Parker refused, and so the parsonage, built around an existing older house, was completed, across the street "nearly opposite" from the meetinghouse, by October of 1746. In 1748, the parish built its first school (since razed) six rods (about 100 feet) north of the meetinghouse, and laid out two burying grounds. The parish was soon divided for educational purposes and school kept at two private houses before the advent of district schools in Haverhill (Chase 577-578; "Statistics"). Of these early parish projects apart from the meetinghouse, only one can still be clearly located: Walnut Cemetery. However, the cemetery is approximately 1,200 feet away from the current building, across marshy ground on nearby Kenoza Street, and not contiguous.
Although it has long been managed separately from the meetinghouse, some cemetery histories do recapitulate the general outlines of parish history in passing (Guide; Smith, "Walnut Cemetery"). Although the 1745-1746 parsonage lot is contiguous (across the road), East Parish sold it in about 1867, and neither the parsonage nor its barn remains standing. A second parsonage that East Parish erected subsequently to the original, on Kenoza Street, burned down prior to 1911 ("East Parish Parsonage"). The Rev. Mr. Parker remained a Loyalist duringthe years leading up to the Revolution, and disagreements over politics and salary in 1775 led to the parish voting to remove him. On January 8, 1776, they locked the meetinghouse doors against Parker ("Records"; Bartlett 281; Mirick 174-175; Saltonstall 30; "Statistics").
Services were suspended for at least two years and remained irregular after that, until 1794, when services ceased entirely. Chase writes that "No church meeting was held for many years, and the church records could not be found" (579-580; italics original). But years after Parker's 1789 death, one of his daughters returned the record book to the parish, and it is now at the Haverhill Public Library. (continued) NPS Form 10-900-a (8-86) OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet East Parish Meeting House Haverhill (Essex), MA Section number 8 Page 4 After two decades without a full-time minister, the East Parish hired the Rev. Isaac Tompkins in 1797, and adopted a new covenant and confession of faith (Confession of Faith; Mirick 186; "Statistics"; Worthley).
Isaac Tompkins (1761-1826) had a successful three-decade career at the East Parish, according to Chase: "The connection of Mr. Tompkins with his church and parish was uniformly pleasant and satisfactory to all parties" (581). The parish allowed Tompkins' widow to live in the parsonage free for a year after his death. Unfortunately, East Parish would not experience that level of stability again. John H. Stevens served as pastor from 1828 until 1833, leaving for health reasons. The arrival of the Rev. James Royal Cushing (b. 1800) in 1835 brought a burst of new energy to the parish, with 22 new members being admitted in November of 1835, and a new meetinghouse erected three years later. According to Chase, "in 1838, the old meeting-house, that had withstood the elements for nearly a century, was taken down, and the present house erected, nearly on the same site" (582).
At the centennial of the 1838 East Parish Meeting House, Harry Alden Johnson praised the improvements of the replacement meetinghouse: The new structure . .. was a model meeting house for the period. The square pews were no longer in evidence, a gallery [platform] occupied the front end, there were sconces for the kerosene lamps which replaced the candles of an earlier period, and the church was carpeted for the first time. A big stove furnished the heat and bass viol preceded the pipe organ of a later date. A belfry was an innovation, too, though it was long without a bell until 1861, when the bell from the old Haverhill town hall, [which had been] replaced by one of stronger tone... was its solemn tones marked many a funeral cortege as it wound its way to the parish burying ground. (Service Commemorates Centennial") Interestingly, many of the items Johnson cites were added after 1838.
The bell had been cast in 1848 by George Holbrook of East Medway, Massachusetts; several sources trace its path from the Haverhill Town Hall to East Parish ("The Clock and the Bell"; "The Story of the Bell"). The church's pipe organ was originally in a gallery (presumably a raised platform) at the front of the church; it "remained [there] until the church was remodeled in 1889, although it had long been out of service, and had been replaced by a smaller organ" (Johnson 10). Presumably Johnson is referring to the current parlor organ. Financial support dwindled in the years after the parish completed its new building, and the Rev. James Cushing, more mobile than his predecessors, left in 1844, taking a post in Wells, Maine (see, especially, Desmond). Not until five years later did East Parish hire the Rev. Wales Lewis, who served from 1849-1857.
At least three other ministers served over the next few decades, including the Rev. Abraham Burnham (1857-?), the Rev. Levi Loring (?-1867), and the Rev. John Bragdon (1879), but - without Chase's account or surviving parish records - nothing is known of their tenure beyond these fragmentary dates ("Services Commemorate"; Gleason; "New Church"). Twentieth-century observers Harry Alden Johnson and Harriet Gleason considered East Parish the "mother church" of two nearby churches ("Service Commemorates Centennial"; Gleason; "Old Church"). Rocks Village, along the Merrimack River two miles to the northeast of East Parish Meeting House, became an active civic center in the late 18th and early 19" centuries. The Second Baptist Church was founded there in 1822.
While it was primarily composed of inhabitants of the East Parish, Baptists had petitioned for exemption from parish rates as early as 1767, and subsequently (continued) NPS Form 10-900-a (8-86) OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet East Parish Meeting House Haverhill (Essex), MA Section number 8 Page 5 met apart. Another East Haverhill river village to the south, Tilton's Corner, boomed in the late 19" century as a streetcar suburb of Haverhill, later known as Riverside. In 1888, another Congregational parish was founded there, the Riverside Memorial Church. These two nearby village churches kept their mother rural outpost isolated and somewhat impoverished. East Parish shared ministers with Riverside Memorial Church during its final two decades: the Rev. Charles E.
Coolidge from 1884 to 1885, the Rev. Albert Donnell from 1885 to 1888, and the Rev. George L. Gleason from 1888 to 1906 (Gleason). East Parish officially closed in 1906 and merged with Riverside. A letter to the newspapers in 1905 pleaded, "Let it live, this little church. Every country church, however small, ought to be sustained" (A.J.H.). But shortly after its closure, Haverhill historian Leonard Woodman Smith concluded that it was impossible to sustain a congregation in these isolated country churches: "In the drift of people to the centres, these old parishes are left peopleless" ("Catalog"). Noting its two daughter congregations, Harry Alden Johnson suggested other reasons for the demise of the East Parish congregation: Outstanding [in the reasons for closure] was the changing of the morning service to afternoon...
the steady dwindling of members and the destruction of the parsonage on Kenoza Street. [But its greatest problem was the parish's] failing to learn that an alliance with any other church society had always sapped the life blood of the old Harriet Gleason lamented the change as well: The East Parish Church became practically abandoned. And so the old East Parish, settled by hardy, stalwart pioneers ... has noted many changes. Yet this old church, a vital and dominant spark of Colonial days, still stands down among the wooded East Parish hills. Inevitably, the romantic isolation of the meetinghouse site made the survival of a congregation impossible. With their Colonial roots, the East Parish Church and itsnearby parsonage became the focus of several romantic accounts in the early years of the 20* century.
The greater age and First Period core of the parsonage occasioned several well- researched accounts (see "East Parish Parsonage"). In a 1919 account, the East Parish Meeting House gained notice for its green blinds and horse sheds, as well as its history: The Church is in a rather isolated section of the Middle Road.... Ox-eyed daisies and clover grow profusely in the long grass. There is a hill directly in back of the church heavily covered with juniper bushes. There is but little passing, scarcely a sound being heard except the hum of bees and the twittering of many birds. It is a real country church on a real country road.
("Old Church") The journalist describes the interior in 1919 as well, with details unchanged nearly a century later: narrow vestibule, bellrope, balcony with ladder to the attic, windows with "40 squares of glass," and the "old-fashioned stove with a long stovepipe extending overhead the entire length of the room, to a place over the pulpit." Even the furniture on the pulpit platform appears unchanged today. (continued) NPS Form 10-900-a (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet East Parish Meeting House Haverhill (Essex), MA Section number 8 Page 6 Occasional summer services (particularly marriages) were held at East Parish over the subsequent century.
Early on, the East Parish Church Sewing Society maintained the building, "holding many memorable harvest suppers at the church and in late years assisting worthy Haverhill charities" (Gleason). During a dry April in 1928, a grass fire consumed 200 acres in the neighborhood, including the carriage sheds at East Parish Meeting House. However, firemen from the Central Station were able to save the meetinghouse itself ("Fire Fighters"). Several anniversary services brought attention to the East Parish Meeting House in the 1930s and 1940s. In 1938, the Women's Sewing Circle and Riverside Memorial Church conducted a service in honor of the centennial of the current meetinghouse. Harry Alden Johnson wrote a history for the building centennial, which Harriet Gleason expanded into a booklet history for the East Parish bicentennial ("Service Commemorates", "Anniversary"; Gleason).
Services for the bicentennial of the church's formation were held on October 22, 1944. Since the period of significance, groups have formed periodically to maintain the East Parish Meeting House. In 1962, Donald J. Atwood, the chair of the Board of Assessors, helped reorganize the East Parish Congregational Society and served as one of its trustees ("Historic East Parish Church"; Bradley). A group of 40 people worked together to repair the roof, ceilings, and the underpinnings of the pulpit. They cleaned and painted, put down new carpet, and held a service in 1963. When the daughter, Riverside Memorial Church, burned in 1970, its congregation worshiped at East Parish while they rebuilt their own church ("It isn't very often"). Over the last decade, the maintenance of the East Parish Meeting House has been a community project.
The rusted-out stove and a vandalized woodbox have been replaced by near copies. In 2001, the failing steeple was rebuilt by students at nearby Whittier Regional Vocational Technical School ("Rebuilding History"; "Tech Crew"). The sagging western side of the belfry tower was supported with shouldered freestanding posts in the sanctuary. In 2006, the belfry was removed for repairs (September 2006). In May 2010, the East Parish Meeting House Society won a Partnership Grant from the Essex National Heritage Area to plan fundraising and proper restoration of the building ("Grant to Help Repair"). The East Parish Meeting House also has local importance for its connection with the life and work of poet, journalist, and abolitionist John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892), who was born and raised in a house just over a mile to the north.
Although a Quaker, Whittier reportedly sometimes attended services at the East Parish Meeting House. Parish member Harry Alden Johnson drew on family oral history to tell the story: Occasionally Mr. John Greenleaf Whittier, the Quaker poet, would attend the service in the old meeting-house, though his visits were rare. Grandmother said he would usually arrive just as the service commenced, slip quietly into one of the rear seats, and although taking no part in the service, he seemed to listen attentively to the sermon. As soon as the service was over, he would leave, making no attempt at conversation, but acknowledging greetings by a nod of the head. He walked down the winding road. At this time he was a young man, and the family still occupied the birthplace. (7) Whittier's family left their Haverhill farm and moved to Amesbury in 1836 (Whittier Birthplace).
However, it is unlikely that he often visited the surviving second building, erected in 1838. The East Parish Meeting House is important as a landmark building in the immediate neighborhood of Whittier's Birthplace, although other surviving Haverhill buildings have more significant direct connections with Whittier. Both Whittier's boyhood and adult homes are now house (continued) NPS Form 10-900-a (8-86) OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet East Parish Meeting House Haverhill (Essex), MA Section number 8 Page 7 museums: the John Greenleaf Whittier Homestead (ca. 1688, NRHP) at 105 Whittier Road in Haverhill, and the John Greenleaf Whittier House (ca. 1811, NRHP, NHL) at 86 Friend Street in nearby Amesbury, Massachusetts.
Whittier's poetry contains references to many neighborhood landmarks within a mile of the East Parish Meeting House, including "Suicide Pond," Turkey Hill, "Job's Hill," "Ramoth Hill," and Walnut Cemetery (Davis 2: 56-57). In an 1828 letter, Whittier used the term "Shad Parish" for his East Parish address (Whittier, Letters 3: 16). Various parishioners and at least one of the ministers of the East Parish figure in the poems. Lydia Ayer (1813-1827), Whittier's classmate who was said to be the lead character in his poem "In School-Days," is buried in East Parish's Walnut Cemetery. In "The Countess," the lines "The parson ambling on his wall-eyed roan/Grave and erect, with his white hair backward blown," are said to depict the Rev. Isaac Tompkins ("Service").
Tompkins was a frequent caller at the Whittier home, according to the beginning of a long story Whittier told his friend and biographer Samuel T. Pickard: Whittier used to tell many amusing stories of his boyhood days. Here is one he heard in the old kitchen of the Whittier homestead at Haverhill, as told by the aged pastor of the Congregational church in the neighborhood, who used to call on the Quaker family as if they belonged to his parish. These extra-official visits were much prized, especially by the boys, for he told them many a tale of his own boyhood in Revolutionary times. (40) Whittier's writings concerning his childhood made East Haverhill the site of pilgrimages for those who found special meaning in his evocations of rural New England life. The East Parish Meeting House has been a point of interest in several neighborhood tours of "Whittierland." Samuel T.
Pickard's 1904 map lists it as Site #5, "East Haverhill Church." Alice E. Look, working with Donald K. Campbell (then the librarian of the Haverhill Public Library and president of the Essex County Historical Association), made the East Parish Meeting House stop #24 on her 1950 tour of Whittierland: Continuing straight across along the Middle Road, we pass, on the left, Suicide Pond, made famous by Whittier's poem of that name. Opposite the end of this pond isthe other end of Pear Tree Lane which connected with Country Bridge Road, the original thoroughfare from Haverhill to Amesbury. Ahead, on the right, is the East Parish meeting house (#24), the fourth parish to be set off in the community, in 1744. The present building, erected in 1838, with its setting against Job's Hill, is an excellent period example of a New England country church of the last century.
The original parsonage is across the street. As we go along, Walnut Cemetery, at the junction of Middle Road and Kenoza Street, is the setting of Whittier's poem, "The Old Burying Ground." A short way in from the highway is a dignified monument of simple lines, which guards the grave of Lydia Ayer. The East Parish Meeting Houseis inextricably an element in the literary landscape of this most quintessentially New England poet. Criterion C: Architecture The East Parish Meeting House is significant for its architecture, both as a well-preserved example of the Greek Revival style in an ecclesiastical building, and for its George Holbrook bell. (continued) NPS Form 10-900-a (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service OMB Approval No.
1024-0018 National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet East Parish Meeting House Haverhill (Essex), MA Section number 8 Page 8 The Greek Revival characteristics of the building are most prominent on the symmetrical eastern façade, including its undecorated triangular pediment and simple wide corner- and friezeboards. Specific Greek Revival decorative elements include the flat-headed side windows with slightly pedimented lintels, and especially the twin pilastered front doors. Each six-paneled door is set in a simple frame of undecorated Doric pilasters, topped with a wide divided (frieze over architrave) entablature, and crowned with a projecting corniceboard. The shutters and window muntins are painted black, further accentuating the Greek Revival character.
The Greek Revival meetinghouse that the East Parish erected in 1838 was an important statement of the parish's aspirations. Meetinghouses evolved significantly over the two centuries after they first were erected in Massachusetts. Early meetinghouses, such as the foursquare hipped buildings of the 17' century, lingered a long time into the next century in rural areas, influencing the first East Parish Meeting House. But it also was influenced by the 18" century's rectangular buildings with door and pulpit on the long sides. Both of these gave way to newer stylistic innovations (Zimmerman 98- 99). Beginning early in the 18 century, the post-fire London churches of Christopher Wren began to strongly influence the Anglican churches built in coastal New England cities, such as Christ Church (Old North; 1723; NHL) in Boston, with its gable roof, tower, and spire.
Prominent Puritan meetinghouses, such as Old South (1729; NHL) in Boston, adopted the tower and spire, if not yet the tower main entry. After 1750, James Gibbs' design of St. Martin in the Fields in London further influenced many of the larger churches. After the Revolution, the Federal-style churchdeveloped by Charles Bulfinch and popularized by Asher Benjamin in his subsequent designs and pattern books - solidified this idea of a praominen e eventiy thre gh a poath erpa ireas (thierso . As ine hery ro gressed lea velate rorl century progressed, these places of worship adopted the Greek Revival style.
The Greek Revival style in America may be said to have begun in 1818 in Philadelphia, with both the construction of the Second Bank of the United States (designed by William Strickland) and the publication of John Haviland's The Builder's Assistant, "the first American book to give the Greek orders" (Whiffen 1: 161). The first Greek Revival church in New England was St. Paul's Episcopal Church (1819-20; NHL) in Boston, designed by Alexander Parris. Boston architect Walter Kilham lamented that the Greek Revival was "an architectural revolution against which the rock of Boston across the United States from 1820 to 1860, and represented a gradual departure from British influence for American architects. In the second quarter of the 19" century, Americans embraced the Greek Revival as a national style - not only architects but also builders, patrons, and consumers of architecture.
Architectural historian William Pierson summarized its importance: The Greek Revival was the first pervasive and self-conscious nationalistic movement in American architecture. Although its initial impetus came at the professional level, where it was used for government buildings all over the land, the total national character came at the folk level, where it achieved the same fulfillment of aspiration toward architectural independence as Jefferson's idealistic adaptation of Roman architecture did more than a quarter of a century earlier. (Pierson 1: 432) East Parish Meeting House is a clear example of the use of Greek Revival at the folk level. (continued) NPS Form 10-900-a (8-86) OMB Approval No.
1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet East Parish Meeting House Haverhill (Essex), MA Section number 8 Page 9 However, the belfry also gives examples of later trends in updating Greek Revival architecture. The pinnacles and balustrades that once encircled the top and bottom of the belfry, and the center drop pendants in the belfry openings, show that the parish attempted to update as Greek Revival gave way to later stylistic innovations, particularly Gothic Revival. These changes most likely date to 1861, when the small 1848 bell from the Haverhill Town Hall became available. The legend on the bell reads, "Cast by G.H.
Holbrook East Medway Mass 1848." George Handel Holbrook (1798-1875) was the second of four generations of the Holbrook family of bell makers, one of the longest-running and most successful Massachusetts bell foundries. His father, George Holbrook (1767-1846), was apprenticed to Paul Revere for machining and clock making, and likely learned bell-making from him as well. In 1795, he set up a shop in Brookfield, Massachusetts, and by 1803, was advertising bell-founding as part of his business. In 1812, he lost his business when a loan he had co-signed for someone else went into default. After farming for a period, George Holbrook volunteered to cast a bell for a church in East Medway, Massachusetts, in 1816. The bell was a success, and the process drew considerable popular interest (Brown, Jr.; Jameson).
The Holbrooks bought land in East Medway (now part of Millis) and set up their new business in 1820, manufacturing tower clocks and bells. "During its period of existence, over eleven thousand bells were cast at this establishment, and sent to all parts of the United States, British Provinces, Mexico and the Sandwich Islands" (Donovan). At least one other Haverhill bell had been cast previously by the firm: the 1845 bell for the First Baptist Church ("Other").' George Handel Holbrook's son, Edwin L. Holbrook (also a maker of church organs), and grandson, Edwin Handel Holbrook, operated the business after the Civil War until it closed in 1880 (Donovan). The Holbrooks were a musical family. Besides manufacturing a variety of musical instruments, they were active supporters and performers with Boston's Handel and Haydn Society. Holbrook bells were famed for their musical tone.
Archaeological Significance Despite a long history of amateur and professional archaeology in Essex County, one of the higher site densities for counties in the state and the location of Haverhill within the tidewater zone of the Merrimack River, patterns of ancient Native American settlement are poorly documented in the town. Any Native sites that survive in Haverhill could potentially be significant. Ancient sites in this area may contribute important information related to Native American subsistence and settlement activities in the Lower Merrimack River Valley, especially along tributary streams and rivers of the Merrimack River.
Recent study of artifact collections at the Haverhill Historical Society's Buttonwoods Museum have indicated the area surrounding the confluence of the Little and Merrimack Rivers, approximately three miles west of the East Parish Meeting House, may be an important Native American core settlement area, possibly including ceremonial or burial functions. Ancient sites and artifact collections located at the confluence of the East Meadow and Merrimack Rivers may indicate similar functions for sites located in that area. Native sites located in the vicinity of the meeting house may also contribute important information that indicates the role of the Merrimack River and its tributaries as a trade corridor with Native groups in more inland locales to the west and more interior areas. (continued) 'First Baptist Church of Haverhill built a new building in 1880.
It is unknown if its old 1845 bell still survives. NPS Form 10-900-a (8-86) OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet East Parish Meeting House Haverhill (Essex), MA Section number 8 Page 10 Historic archaeological resources described above may contribute important information related to Haverhill's 18"h- century settlement, religious development, and architecture. Additional documentary research, combined with archaeological survey and testing, may locate the precise site of the First East Parish Meeting House, and evidence that indicates whether portions of that structure were incorporated into the extant Second Meeting House, or built on a separate site.
Detailed analysis of structural evidence, construction features, artifacts, and the contents of occupational-related features (trash pits, privies, wells) may contribute important evidence related to the orientation of the First East Parish Meeting House, its architectural characteristics, and relationship to auxiliary structures (stables, carriage sheds, outbuildings). Much of the above information may also be obtained for the extant East Parish Meeting House. At least one 19'"-century carriage shed, destroyed by a fire in 1928, has been documented at the carriage sheds site located south of the meeting house in an open lawn area. Detailed analysis of the contents of occupational-related features may contribute important evidence of the activities that occurred with each meetinghouse and the social, cultural, and economic characteristics of East Parish residents.
(end) NPS Form 10-900-a (8-86) OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet East Parish Meeting House Haverhill (Essex), MA Section number 9 Page 1 9. Selected Bibliography The East Parish records from 1837 onward, including the period of the planning, construction, and subsequent 19"- century changes to the surviving meetinghouse, are not in the building and appear to have been lost. However, the earliest 18"-century East Parish records do survive, because they were deposited with the Haverhill Historical Society by 1917 (Smith, "Catalog"). These records were transcribed, and the transcriptions - - as well as the original handwritten 1743-1836 ledger - are preserved now within the extraordinarily rich and comprehensive archives of the Special Collections Room of the Haverhill Public Library.
While the collections of the Haverhill Historical Society have never been cataloged, a focused search in 2010 by a long-time board member familiar with the collections did not produce any other East Parish The records may have disappeared in the 19" century. The numerous journalistic accounts of parish history from the early 20" century do not cite later records, though the focus of those accounts was primarily the origins of the parish and the then-surviving Colonial-era parsonage. If the later records did survive until the 20" century, a likely scenario is that when East Parish closed, the active 19"-century records were transferred to its daughter congregation, Riverside Memorial Church. The congregations shared a minister during the last two decades that East Parish functioned as a church.
However, the Riverside Memorial Church building and its contents were destroyed by fire in 1970. Connie Merrick, current East Parish Meeting House historian and member of the congregation of the rebuilt Riverside Church, has not been able to find the East Parish/Fourth Congregational Church records there. Surviving East Parish Records "Records of East Parish Church, Haverhill" [1743-1836]. Title page reads "The Parish Book Haverhill February the 6, 1797, Anno Dommini" [sic]. Transcribed in 1937 for the Haverhill Public Library, it was reproduced as a typescript copy: Record Book of the East Parish, Haverhill, Mass., Nov. 2, 1743-July 5, 1836. Contains accounts of parish meetings. Both original and transcription are at the Haverhill Public Library. "A Church Book of Records of the Fourth Church, Haverhill, Mass, 1743-1785" [with records from as late as 1826].
Almost exclusively lists of baptisms, marriages, etc. This is a typescript transcription "copied in the Haverhill Public Library 1936 from the original records in Haverhill Historical Society." That original could not be located at the Haverhill Historical Society in 2010. According to Leonard Woodman Smith, in 1917 the Historical Society also had the 1743 petition for the separation of the East Parish and the "original deed of parsonage land, East Parish" ("Catalog"). In 1970, bibliographer Harold F. Worthley (below) inventoried the records of early Massachusetts Congregational churches; these two volumes and their copies were the only East Parish records he could find. Criterion A: General Bibliography (For some general histories, the pages which cover the East Parish history are indicated.) Arrington, Benjamin F. Municipal History of Essex County in Massachusetts. 2 vols.
Tercentenary Ed. New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1922. Bartlett, Albert Leroy. History of Haverhill in Massachusetts. Unpublished typescript in the collections of the Haverhill Public Library, ca. 1934. (continued) NPS Form 10-900-a (8-86) OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet East Parish Meeting House Haverhill (Essex), MA Section number 9 Page 2 Chase, George Wingate. The History of Haverhill, Massachusetts. 1861. Rpt. by New England History Press/Haverhill Historical Society, 1983. 320-323, 577-585. While Chase's history is ends at 1861, it is the most comprehensive and most reliable history of the early parish. City of Haverhill Official Website. "City History." http://www.ci.haverhill.ma.us/resources/history.htm.Accessed 23 August 2010. Cogswell, John B.D.
"Haverhill 1640-1888," History of Essex County, Mass. Compiled under the supervision of D. Hamilton Hurd. Vol. 2. Philadelphia: J.H. Lewis, 1888. Pp. 1981-1982, 2017. The Confession of Faith and Covenant of the East Congregational Church in Haverhill, Ms. [sic], Organized A.D. 1743- Reorganized January 11, 1797. Haverhill: 1855. Cited in Worthley, but no copy could be located. Crowell, John. Early History of the First Church in Haverhill. Haverhill: Crowell, ca. 1885. Davis, Rebecca I. "Suicide Pond and Other Places of Note," Gleanings from the Merrimac Valley. 2 vols. Haverhill, Chase Brothers, 1886. Gleason, Harriet A. Two Hundredth Anniversary of Ye East Parish Congregational Church, Haverhill, Mass., 1744-1944. Commemorative program booklet.
Most of the historical data (and much of the exact wording) in Gleason's history is taken from Harry Alden Johnson's account, especially the text quoted in "Service Commemorates Centennial." A Guide to Cemeteries in Essex County, Massachusetts. Lynnfield: Essex Society of Genealogists, 1991. Haverhill: Facts of Interest. Haverhill: Bridgman, Gay & Co., 1880. 27-28. Haverhill Reconnaissance Report. Essex County Landscape Inventory. Massachusetts Heritage Landscape Inventory Program. Boston: Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, 2005. "A History of our Church." 110" Anniversary Booklet. Haverhill: First Congregational Church, 1969. Johnson, Harry Alden. The East Parish Meeting House (1744) and the Old East Parish Parsonage House (1745). Typescript ca. 1938. Copies in the circulating collection and the Special Collections Room, Haverhill Public Library.
Johnson was a parish descendant with personal knowledge of its history; his account (written for the 1938 centennial of the current building) is the first to place Whittier in the East Parish Meeting House. Look, Alice E. A Tour through Whittierland and Dunstonland. Haverhill: Haverhill Historical Society, 1950. MHC Reconnaissance Survey Town Report: Haverhill. Boston: Massachusetts Historical Commission, 1985. Mirick, B.L. A History of Haverhill, Massachusetts. Haverhill: A. W. Thayer, 1832. O'Malley, Patricia Trainor, and Paul H. Tedesco. A New England City: Haverhill Massachusetts. Northridge, CA: Windsor Publications, 1987. Pickard, Samuel T. Whittier-Land: A Handbook of North Essex, Containing Many Anecdotes of and Poems by John Greenleaf Whittier Never Before Collected. Cambridge: Riverside Press, 1904. [Saltonstall, Leverett].
An Historical Sketch of Haverhill, in the County of Essex, and Commonwealth of Massachusetts; with Biographical Notices. Boston: John Eliot, 1816. 30. September 2006: East Parish Meeting House, a Work in Progress. Haverhill: East Parish Meeting House Society, 2006. Universalist Unitarian Church of Haverhill. "History." http://www.uuhaverhill.org/welcome/history. Accessed 4 July 2010. Note that the merged (1950) Haverhill church title inverts the terms of the national merged (1961) denomination, the Unitarian Universalist Association. Whittier Birthplace. Website of the Whittier Birthplace Board of Trustees. http://www.johngreenleafwhittier.com/about_whittier.htm.Accessed 6 July 2010. Whittier, John Greenleaf. Letter to Abijah Wyman Thayer, 28 November 1828, The Letters of John Greenleaf Whittier. 3 vols. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1975.
(continued) 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 3 OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 East Parish Meeting House Haverhill (Essex), MA Worthley, Harold Field. An Inventory of the Records of the Particular (Congregational) Churches of Massachusetts Gathered 1620-1805. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1970. 280-281. Criterion A: Newspaper Articles (Listed in chronological order. All articles (with the exception of Benner's and the 2010 article) may be found in the East Parish/Fourth Congregational Church Clipping File, Special Collections Room, Haverhill Public Library.) "The Clock and the Bell" and "The Story of the Bell." Unsourced, undated 19" c. clippings. "Statistics of the East Parish, Haverhill," Haverhill Evening Gazette, 8 July 1848.
Reprinted from the Massachusetts Observer, 1848 ("Haverhill: Ecclesiastical Statistics of the East Parish"). "New Church Edifice," Haverhill Bulletin, 12 July 1879. Desmond, Mary. "East Parish History: Glimpses of Family Records from Days of Early Settlers: Many Descendants." Haverhill Evening Gazette, 5 December 1896. "A.J.H." "Plea for a Church: Objection to the Abandonment of an Old Landmark." Letter to the Editor. Haverhill Evening Gazette, 9 May 1905. "East Parish Parsonage Has an Interesting History." Haverhill Evening Gazette, 22 January 1911. Smith, Leonard Woodman. "Catalog of the Historical Society No. 4." Haverhill Evening Gazette 7 September 1917. This article is the most factual and useful of Smith's several subsequent histories of the parish Hayes, Vivian. "Old Church is Reminiscent of By-Gone Days." Haverhill Evening Gazette, 15 July 1919. Smith, Leonard Woodman.
"Walnut Cemetery." Haverhill Evening Gazette, 6 September 1923. "Fire Fighters Save Church and Dwellings: East Parish Blaze Razes Carriage Sheds," [Haverhill?] Sunday Record, 8 April 1928. Smith, Leonard Woodman. "The East Parish Church." Haverhill Evening Gazette, 6 September 1930. Smith, Leonard Woodman. "The East Parish Parsonage." Haverhill Evening Gazette, 29 November 1930. Smith, Leonard Woodman. "East Parish Church." Haverhill Evening Gazette, 14 March 1931. [Same picture but different text from 1930 article]. "Service Commemorates Centennial of Erection of East Parish Church." Haverhill Evening Gazette, 27 June 1938. Contains a long, well-written account of later parish history by Harry Alden Johnson. "Anniversary of Church Observed." Haverhill Evening Gazette, 22 October 1944. "East Parish Congregational Church Observes Anniversary." [Haverhill?] Sunday Record, 22 October 1944.
"Historic East Parish Church to Be Renovated by Society," Haverhill Gazette, 11 May 1963. Bradley, Mrs. Clifford. "Part of an Account of the East Parish Church. Given at the Hosford Club October 1963." Typescript filed with the clippings. Benner, Sally. "Old Haverhill: East Parish." 5-part unsourced newspaper article serial, ca. 1970s. Collection of Connie "Two Meeting Houses Open Tomorrow." Unsourced clipping, 1971. "It isn't very often I pass. ..." Haverhill Gazette, 15 November 1975. Untitled article. "Traditional Edifice Endures." Haverhill Gazette, 27 October 1984. "Room for All Faiths to Worship" and "A Tradition of Social Justice." Haverhill Gazette, 30 October 1987 (both articles on same page). (continued) NPS Form 10-900-a (8-86) OMB Approval No.
1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet East Parish Meeting House Haverhill (Essex), MA Section number 9 Page 4 "Building the Meeting House." Haverhill Gazette, 30 October 1987. "Rebuilding History for an Eternity." Boston Globe, 18 February 2001. "Tech Crew Making Exact Replica of Historic Spire." Haverhill Gazette, 6 March 2001. "Grant to Help Repair East Parish Hall." Haverhill Gazette, 3 June 2010. Online at http://www.hgazette.com/local/x1358970332/Grant-to-help-repair-East-Parish-hall.Accessed 26August 2010. Criterion A: Maps (Listed in chronological order. Due to its rural location, the East Parish Meeting House is not depicted on the Sanborn fire insurance maps, which concentrate on areas with industry and population density.) McFarland, James C., and Josiah Noyes.
An Accurate Plan of Haverhill Laid down from an Actual Survey. 1795. Earlier building depicted in a generic cartoon, labeled "East Perish [sic] Meeting House." Online at the Salem Registry of Deeds website: http://www.salemdeeds.com/view_image.asp?ImageName=pltifs/Atlases/ESSEXCOUNTY 1795/HA VERHILL&ImageType=jpg. Accessed 4 July 2010. Wales, John G. Plan of the Town of Haverhill in the County of Essex. 1831. Gale, James. Map of Haverhill, Massachusetts. Boston: Lothrop, 1832. Walling, Henry F. Map of the Town of Haverhill, Essex County, Mass. 1851. City Atlas of Haverhill, Massachusetts. Philadelphia: Hopkins, 1881. Plate K: Parts of Wards 4 & 6. Haverhill-Bradford Atlas. 1892. Plate 14-15. The Meeting House is shown as a wide spot in the road, rather than a separate legal property. Haverhill Mass. - N.H. USGS Map. 1943 ed. Criteria C General Bibliography Brown, Jr., Clifford W.
"The Holbrook Bell." Chepachet Free Will Baptist Church, Chepachet, RI. http://www.chepachetfreewill.org/holbrookbell.htm.Accessed28 August 2010. Chiat, Marilyn J. America's Religious Architecture: Sacred Places for Every Community. New York: John Wiley, 1997. Donovan, Francis D. "The Holbrooks and the Holbrook Bell Foundry." 1989. Medway Library, Medway, MA. http://medwaylib.org/History/Holbrooks/Holbrooks.htm. Accessed 28 August 2010. Hamlin, Talbot. Greek Revival Architecture in America. 1944. Rpt. New York: Dover. Jameson, E.O. The Biographical Sketches of Prominent Persons and the Genealogical Records of Many Early and Other Families in Medway, Mass., 1713-1886. Millis: Reid, 1886. Kennedy, Roger. American Churches. New York: Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 1982. Kilham, Walter H. Boston after Bulfinch: An Account of Its Architecture 1800-1900. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1946.
MACRIS (Massachusetts Cultural Resource Information System). Massachusetts Historical Commission. http://mhc- macris.net/index.htm. Mallary, Peter T. New England Churches & Meetinghouses, 1680-1830. Seacaucus, NJ: Chartwell, 1985. Marlowe,George Francis. Churches of Old NewEngland: TheirArchitecture and their Architects, their Pastors and their People. New York: Macmillan, 1947. (continued) NPS Form 10-900-a (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet East Parish Meeting House Haverhill (Essex), MA Section number 9 Page 5 "Other Holbrook Bells." Chepachet Free Will Baptist Church, Chepachet, RI. http://www.chepachetfreewill.org/otherholbrookbells.hti.Accessed 28 August 2010. Pierson, Jr., William H.
American Buildings and their Architects: Volume 1, the Colonial and Neoclassical Styles. New York: Oxford UP, 1970. Smith, G.E. Kidder. The Beacon Guide to New England Houses of Worship: An Architectural Companion. Boston: Beacon Press, 1989. Tolles, Jr., Bryant F., with Carolyn K. Tolles. New Hampshire Architecture: An Illustrated Guide. Hanover: University Press of New England, 1979. Whiffen, Marcus. American Architecture Volume 1: 1607-1860. Cambridge: M.I.T. Press, 1981. Williams, Peter W. Houses of God: Region, Religion, and Architecture in the United States. Urbana: U of IL Press, 1997. Withey, Henry F., and Elsie Rathburn Withey. Biographical Dictionary of American Architects (Deceased). Los Angeles: New Age, 1970. Zimmerman, Philip D. "Congregational Churches," The Encyclopedia of New England: The Culture and History of an American Region. Ed. Burt Feintuch and David H. Watters.
New Haven: Yale UP, 2005. (end) East Parish Meeting House Name of Property 10. Geographical Data Essex, MA County and State Acreage of Property Less than 1 acre JTM References See continuation sheet (Place additional UTM references on a continuation sheet 1. 19 334480 4739560 Zone Easting Northing 2. Zone Easting Northing 3. Zone Easting "Zone Easting _ See continuation sheet Northing Northing Verbal Boundary Description (Describe the boundaries of the property on a continuation sheet.) Boundary Justification (Explain why the boundaries were selected on a continuation sheet.) 11. Form Prepared By name/title Timothy T.
Orwig, with Betsy Friedberg, NR Director, MHC organizationMassachusetts Historical Commission street & number_220 Morrissey Blvd _date_ February 2011 telephone_617-727-8470 city or town_ Boston _ stateMA Additional Documentation Submit the following items with the completed form: . zip code 02125 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 therequest oftheSHPO or FPO.) name East Parish Congregational Society street & number 267 Middle Road telephone978-373-6038 (David & Shannon Hewey) city or town Haverhill state MA _zip code_ 01527 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 reportingburden forthis form isestimated to average 18.1 hours per response including the time for reviewing instructions, gathering and maintaining data, and completing and reviewing the form. Direct comments regarding this burden estimate or any aspect of this form to the Chief, Administrative Services Division, National Park Service, P.0.Box 37127, Washington, DC 20013-7127; and the Office of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reductions Project (1024-0018), Washington, DC 20503. NPS Form 10-900-a (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 10 Page 1 10. Boundary Description OMB Approval No.
1024-0018 East Parish Meeting House Haverhill (Essex), MA The National Register boundary for this property in Essex County corresponds to the legal boundary of the single lot that contains East Parish Meeting House, owned by the East Parish Congregational Society. Its boundaries are illustrated on the City of Haverhill's Assessor's Map 466, Block 195, Lot 13. Boundary Justification This location has been the site of the East Parish Meeting House since the first building was built here in 1744. That building was replaced on the same site by the current building in 1838. The nominated property includes the entire parcel associated with the East Parish Meeting House throughout the period of significance. Although the 1745-1746 parsonage lot is directly across the road, East Parish sold it in about 1867, and neither the parsonage nor the barn remains standing.
A second parsonage that East Parish erected subsequently to the original, some distance away on Kenoza Street, burned down prior to 1911. None of the parish schoolhouses appear to remain standing. Walnut Cemetery, the parish burying ground, is approximately 1200 feet away from the current building, across marshy ground on nearby Kenoza Street, and not at any point contiguous; it has long been managed separately from the meetinghouse. (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 Additional Documentation Page 1 OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 East Parish Meeting House Haverhill (Essex), MA Additional Documentation - Site Sketch Map Map adapted by Timothy Orwig, based on a Building Permit Plot Plan filed 18 September 2006 with the Haverhill City Engineer's Office.
Circled numbers with arrows indicate the position of photographer and direction of view in the supporting photographs. Th Vational Register boundary for this site is the boundary of Lot 13, alongside Middle Road. The site of the Carriage Sheds structur was approximately where #7 is on this map. This detail map is not to scale. 13 0.5 ACRES - N 1 22500 137 14H 40 MIDDLE RD 2.2 A --. 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 Additional Documentation Page 2 OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 East Parish Meeting House Haverhill (Essex), MA Additional Documentation-Current Photographs Timothy Orwig was the photographer for all these digital photographs, which were taken on 22 April 2010. All of the photographs show the East Parish Meeting House, Haverhill, Essex County, Massachusetts.
Directions have been simplified; the building appears to face east-southeast, although it is difficult to verify its exact orientation. 1. Looking north, showing the south elevation and east façade. The Carriage Sheds (razed by fire in 1928) were located on the open lawn southeast of the church. 2. Looking south, showing the north elevation and east façade. The wooded area in the foreground is part of the lozenge- shaped lot. 3. Looking north, showing the south elevation and east façade. 4. Looking west, showing the east façade and Signboard. 5. Looking west, showing details of the east façade: front steps, pilastered southern façade door, sill of the gallery window. 6. Looking west, showing detail of the east façade: Signboard. 7. Looking north, showing the south elevation. 8. Looking north, showing detail of the south elevation: window with triangular pedimented lintel 9.
Looking southeast, showing western elevation of meeting house. Note the exterior brick chimney. 10. East Parish Meeting House belfry, removed from building and in storage offsite. Note the arched side openings with Italianate pendants and louvers. 11. East Parish Meeting House bell (1848), removed from building and belfry and in storage offsite. 12. Interior, showing the gallery and the entire eastern wall, from the northwest corner. The two tower support posts are a recent insertion. Note also the stove, stovepipe, and chandelier. 13. Interior, rear hallway, from the southeast corner looking north. 14. Interior, rear hallway, showing the north end doorways and original paneled doors leading into the (I. to r.) sanctuary, hall closet, gallery stairs, and outside. 15.Interior, southeast corner, showing the curved gallery front and rear box pews. 16.
Interior, front of the sanctuary, from the northeast corner of the gallery. 17. Interior, gallery level, from the northeast corner of the gallery, showing the curved gallery pews. 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 Additional Documentation Page 3 18. Interior, attic level, from the eastern end, showing the queen-post trusses. OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 East Parish Meeting House Haverhill (Essex), MA Additional Documentation - Historic Images (arranged chronologically) 1. East Parish Meeting House from the north, ca. 1900, from a later undated pamphlet. Note that all eight pinnacles and their connecting balustrades still survive on the corners of both the tower and belfry. The belfry opening shows the presence of the arch with center pendant, but not the side louvers.
Present location of photograph unknown. 2. East Parish Meeting House, exterior and interior views, from an uncredited newspaper article published 22 January 1911. Clipping file, Special Collections Room, Haverhill Public Library. Note the presence of the Carriage Sheds and the rear chimney. Photograph taken from the southeast. 3. East Parish Meeting House, exterior view, from a Haverhill Evening Gazette newspaper article published 6 September 1930. Clipping file, Special Collections Room, Haverhill Public Library. Note the rear chimney and a signboard centered between the doors. Photograph taken from the southeast. The presence of the carriage sheds likely indicates that this was an older image reused for this article, since the sheds were destroyed by fire in 1928. Historic Image #1 ca.
1900 East Parish Meeting House Haverhill (Essex), MA East Parish Meeting House Historic Image #2 1911 intion had been givens s iccorded under date receding:-"Wethink Parker should haves of all the parsonager our part in Haverhill, it with posts and railt quivalent to that, and sep it in repair, except wood-lot not to bef 1 build a house of this n length and 18 feet haighth, with a con- e, and to dige a well long and 20 feet wide, red pounds, old tenor, he shall carey on the3 try in this Parish." e intention was good, curred by the erection that the wherewithal oposed parsonage was and it was voted to : longer time in wilich ntention of the parish t Huckins and Deacon instructed to approach this request, and the iru wrird esided there, directly planned to let out the ) the house and barn, w and after consider- all its phases another on July 10, 1745 when "make the best use of barn standing on the id so the people set to and renovate the old ien in a bad condition, quarters of a century ras small at its best, tradition states, but with an unfinished t was about this old new home was com- : stood all these years, ficient labor and good ich it was designed.
room was added as a place and low ceiling, I winter evenings and Snow falls the family e the wind of an old Ongland winter of a go whistled and moan- chimney with fiendish ial were two items of racterized the building an itemized account of les and materials has lich gives a fair esti- ost of the old building intries are the follow- nders, boarding and ty pounds." East Parish Meeting House Haverhill (Essex), MA MEETING HOUSE, EAST PARISH, HAVERHILL 'INTERIOR OF EAST PARISH MEETING HOUSE. Historic Image #3 The East Parish Church 9/6/30 The East Parish church, which In old times was often called Shad par- 'ish because of a prominent fishing ground near the building, has survived the many years since it was built and has recently been put in fine order.
for tamilies who did not own a horse and in Winter so difficult mony times for all to attend, a petition was made organization of their own, whích was granted; lack of funds prevented the erection, of a meeting period they. met in some of the It is difficult for the present gen- eration to realize what these Distance from the home church in churches meant to the people filled all the seats; an empty pew was Winter was This section was called the east pre- long drive was a trial for his aged of the, mother. town. People of the present day won- This present church was organized Lack of money prevented a der why with so much land tc choose from, that they went so far from the building to worship in, but they had center to establish homes. good courage and selected a Jot on the - middle road at the foot of Turkey It will be remembered the first settlers came, the country was hill.
They commenced a building in heavily wooded, excepting the meadow a few years, built the frame and the, The interior was & long time lands and people settled near these meadows, for grass grew in them and in building; the records say was nearly a hundred years, they provided the hay needed to keep fore it iwas finished. .When a stock alive through the Winter. was able he built a pew and his fam- - meadows were so important that some grants of band were ily sat together, but those who could meadow so oftentimes this party was not afford a pew were arranged, the allowed a section of' a meadow far males on one side and the females on away, that all might have sufficient for the Winter. Peter Green was the frso deacon Another thing. there was running....
East Parish Meeting House Haverhill (Essex), MA Among her belongings was a of candlesticks that belonged pai to Johi Alden and ta mirror that came fron the Foote family that during hër life she was offered $700 for; but this mirror was not sold, as she willed it, to a relative and it is now safely hung in one of the fine homes in the High- lands. Miss Tompkins was one of the most loyal and interested mumbers of the North church and if I remember rightly, left a legacy to the organiza- The present meeting house of this east precinct was built in 1838. served the neighborhnood nany years, but this neighborhood. , Tike nieny such neighborhoods, found its staunch and honest young people,were wanted in the cities.
I recall Deacon Coffin, who moved to the city and his son, Fred, who held an important position in one of the city's banks; his daughter, Mary, a Cleveland and now re- sides in Delano, Fia. Mr. J. B. Nich- ols came into the city with his fam- ily and resided in the fine home now owned by Dr. Stokes. I might make a long list of people who have blessed with their sturdy charac- Many years ago, a few of the people who believed in the tenets of the Bap- tist church came out and formed the one at Rocks Village. The Riverside church, too, is a child of this old or- ganization; these removals brought this old-time society to a place where closing its doors seemed the crly thing to do, so for a season it stood silent and alone. But a few years ago Mrs.
Emma Elliott- Cote had a strong desire to have her old family church open in Summer and through her finar.cial aid and work in interesting others several Summers an afternoon service has been held; former residents have helped by their presence that the old church seems aiive again. This interest has also put the bulld- ing in good order and painted it in- side and out. The bell in the steeple that calls the people to worship is the one that formerly hung in the old Town hall; it tolled the announcement of Wash- ington's death and the passing of,Lin- coln. In the old cemetery nearby one can study the stones and learn. the life story of many early settlers and recall many who have served the City of Haverhill! in many positions of The row of horse sheds has wisely been kept in order as a reminder of former days and the families whose horses spent a day of rest there.
The farming in the old days was to stren- uous that a rest day, one in seven, Kept them in good health UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES EVALUATION/RETURN SHEET REQUESTED ACTION: NOMINATION PROPERTY NAME: East Parish Meeting House MULTIPLE NAME: STATE & COUNTY: MASSACHUSETTS, Essex DATE RECEIVED: DATE OF 16TH DAY: DATE OF WEEKLY LIST: 2/11/11 3/31/11 DATE OF PENDING LIST: DATE OF 45TH DAY: REFERENCE NUMBER: 11000149 3/16/11 3/29/11 REASONS FOR REVIEW: APPEAL: REQUEST: DATA PROBLEM: N LANDSCAPE: N LESS THAN 50 YEARS: N PERIOD: PROGRAM UNAPPROVED: SAMPLE: N SLR DRAFT: N NATIONAL: COMMENT WAIVER: N VACCEPT RETURN _REJECT 3.29.1/DATE ABSTRACT/SUMMARY COMMENTS: Entered in The National Register of Historic Places RECOM./CRITERIA REVIEWER DISCIPLINE TELEPHONE DATE DOCUMENTATION see attached comments Y/N see attached SLR I/N If a nomination is returned to the nominating authority, the is no longer under consideration by the NPS.
ENST PARISH nheeting House waverhill, Ms TIM APRI 1. LoolLIng NOrT#, SHOWING S ELEV. 8 MA HAVERHILL(ESSEKCOUNTY) - EASTPARISH O1. fig EAST PARISH Hfeefungttouse Naverhill, MA TIM APR 2. Lookeng south, SHOWING N ELEV, E MA_HAVERHILL(ESSEXCOUNTY)- EASTPARISHO2.- EAST PAReSH Meeting Nouse waverhill, Mst 3. hookng NortH MA_HAVERHILL(ESSEYCOUNTY)_EASTPARISHO3. SON -ON EAST PARISN Kheeting House Naverhill, ws 71 AP 4. hooking west af facade a MA_HAVERHILL(ESSEXCOUNTY)- EASTPARISHOY. EAST PARISt Kfeeting House Naver hill, Mt 5. hookng WesT- Detal of fac - FRONT STEPS - PILASTERED SOUTHERN FACADE DOOR - GALLERY WINDOW SILL MA_ HAVERHILL (ESSEXCOUNTY)_EAST PARISHO 1744 SITE OF FIRST MEETING HOUSE IN THE EAST PARISH EAST PARISH Weeting Fouse Naverhill, Wt 6. Looking west- Pefail of 519h MAHAVERHILL(ESSEXCOUNTY)_ EASTPARISH06 EAST PARESH Hheefing Hause Havechill, MA 2.
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Interion, northend doore MA_HAVERHILL (ESSEXCOUNTY) _ EASTPAI EPSON ENST PARISH Weeing Aause Haverhill, MA 15. Interior, sE corner - CURVED GALLERY FRONT - REAR BOXED PEWS MA_ HAVERHILL (ESSEX)_ EASTPARISHIS. tif EAST Parish Meeting House Hauerhill, mt 16. Interes, front ogsAnctu. MA_HAVERHILL (ESSEXCOUNTY)- EASTPARIS SON EAST Varish Wfeeting Hause Hauehill. Mt 12. Intereo, gacler - CURVED GALLERY PEWS MA_HAVERHILL(ESSEXCOUNTY)- EASTPA EAST BARISH neecting stause Haueckill, Wt i8. Intereos, attie QUEEN-POST TRUSSES MA_HAVERHILL(ESSEXCOUNTY) - EASTPAR FEB 1 : 2011 The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Massachusetts Historical Commission February 10,2011 Mr. J. Paul Loether National Register of Historic Places Department of the Interior National Park Service 1201 Eye Street, NW,8floor Washington, DC 20005 Dear Mr.
Loether: Enclosed please find the following nomination form: East Parish Meeting House, 267 Middle Road, Haverhill (Essex), 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 properties were notified of pending State Review Board consideration 30 to 45 days before the meeting and were afforded the opportunity Sincerely, Betay Fredlg Betsy Friedberg National Register Director Massachusetts Historical Commission enclosure CC: Timothy Orwig, consultant David & Shannon Hewey, East Parish Congregational Society James J. Fiorentini, Mayor, City of Haverhill Richard Raiche, Haverhill Historical Commission William Pillsbury, Planning & Economic Development 220 Morrissey Boulevard, Boston, Massachusetts 02125 (617) 727-8470 - Fax: (617) 727-5128 www.sec.state.ma.us/mhc KAVERHIL PENTUC JAMES J.
FIORENTINI MAYOR CITY OF HAVERHILL MASSACHUSETTS CITY HALL, ROOM 100 FOUR SUMMER STREET HAVERHILL, MA 01830 PHONE 978-374-2300 FAX 978-373-7544 WWW.CI.HAVERHILL.MA.US March 8, 2011 Mr. J. Paul Loether National Register of Historic Places Department of the Interior National Park Service 1201 Eye Street, NW, 8th Floor Washington, DC 20005 RE: East Parish Meeting House, 267 Middle Road, Haverhill, MA Dear Mr. Loether: I am writing to offer my support for the nomination of the East Parish Meeting House to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places. The East Parish Meeting House, located at 276 Middle Road, was constructed in 1838. It served as a place of worship for several 19t century congregants, including famed Haverhill poet and abolitionist John Greenleaf Whittier.
The old church is important to the history of East Haverhill, and has not been significantly altered or upgraded with any modern features such as electricity or running water. Entering the church is to walk back into the pre-Civil War era. Equally important, 1 am very impressed with the dedicated efforts of volunteers committed to preserving this important relic - just for history's sake. Various trustees, sewing circle members, neighbors and volunteers have dedicated time and resources in an attempt to preserve, maintain and restore the East Parish Meeting House. Their efforts would be greatly enhanced by the designation of this site onto the National Historic Registry. With funding from grants that require National Historic Registry status, the East Parish Meeting House could become a revenue source and community resource in the near future.
I urge you to support the nomination of the East Parish Meeting House for the historic designation it so richly deserves. Very truly yours, James J. Fiorentini Mayor
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