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NPS Form 10-900 (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Registration Form OMB No. 1024-0018 RECEIVED 2280 JAN - 8 1999 NAT. REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES NATIONAL PARK SERVICE This form is for use in nominating or requesting determinations for individual properties and districts. See instructions in How to Complete the National Register of Historic Places Registration Form (National Register Bulletin 16A). Complete each item by marking "x" in the appropriate box or by entering 1.Name of Property historic name_WEST STCCKBRIDGE GRANGE #246 other names/site number_Methodist Episcopal Church 2. Location street & number_5 Swamp Road -_ not for publication city or town WEST STOCKBRIDGE vicinity state_MASSACHUSETTS _code MA county_ BERKSHIRE code 003 _ zip code_01266 3.
State/Federal Agency Certification As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act of 1986, as amended,I hereby certify that this nomination - request for determination of eligibility meets the documentation standards for registering properties in the National Register of Historic Places and meets the procedural and professional requirements set forth in 36 CFR Part 60. In my opinion, the property 'meets does not meet theNational Register Criteria.1 recommend that this property be considered significant Q nationally O statewide /@ locally. ( See continuation sheet for additional comments.) sudit IhuDonouah Sighature of certifying official/Title Judith B.
McDonough, Executive Director 12/33/98 Massachusetts Historical Commission, State Historic Preservation Officer State or Federal agency and bureau In my opinion,the property meets does not meet the National Register criteria. ( See continuation sheet for additional Comments.) Signature of certifying official/Title Date State or Federal agency and bureau 4. National Park Service Certification 1, hereby certify that this property is: dentered in the National Register - See continuation sheet. - determined eligible for the National Register - See continuation sheet. - determined not eligible for the National Register - removed from the National Register - other (explain): len Il Beal Date of Action 2.5.99 WEST STOCKBRIDGE GRANGE #246 Name of Property 5.
Classification Ownership of Property (Check as many boxes as apply) x private _ public-local _ public-State _ public-Federal (Check only one box) x_ building(s) _ district _site _ structure _ object BERKSHIRE, MA County and State Jumber of Resources within Property Do not include previously listed resources in the count. Contributing Noncontributing 1 0 building sites _structures objects Total 1 Number of contributing resources previously listed in the National Register N/A Name of related multiple property listing (Enter "N/A" if property is not part of a multiple property listing.) N/A 6. Function or Use Historic Functions (Enter categories from instructions) RELIGION: religious facility SOCIAL: meeting hall Current Functions (Enter categories from instructions) SOCIAL: meeting hall 7.
Description Architectural Classification (Enter categories from instructions) MID 19th CENTURY: Greek Revival Materials (Enter categories from instructions) foundation STONE: granite, marble, fieldstone walls_WOOD: weatherboard, plywood roof METAL other Narrative Description (Describe the historic and current condition of the property on one or more continuation sheets.) See continuation sheets. 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 - 7 Page - 1 OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 West Stockbridge Grange West Stockbridge (Berkshire Co.), MA DESCRIPTION The West Stockbridge Grange Hall (MHC #C-47) consists of a single contributing building. There are no outbuildings or other structures on the nominated property.
The principle façade faces east at 5 Swamp Road, a residential street of single family houses dating from 1830 to 1845, with the exception of a Ranch style house across from the Grange Hall built within the past 25 years. Setting The rear of the Grange Hall is onthe west side of Swamp Road approximately 50 to 60 feet from the east edge of Shaker Mill Pond, animpoundment of the Williams River.Swamp Road wasalso known asthe Pittsfield Road in earlier years and its south end, three hundred feet south of the Grange Hall, meets the south end of the pond and the current main road to Pittsfield, now Routes 41 and 102 which run together over the river. Swamp Road today is only built up around a quarter mile north of this intersection.
The business and governmental center of West Stockbridge begins at the river and runs south along Route 41 east of the river with a business area on the west side of the river, where a railroad depot is located The Grange Hall sits 22 feet back from the sidewalk and 31 feet back from the edge of the road. This setback is slightly less than the average setback of houses along the street. The front facade is partially obscured by two large sugar maple trees and a small crabapple tree. The north side of the property is a mowed lawn extending approximately 70 feet north of the north side, and the south side of the building is 11 feet from the south property line and approximately 15 feet away from the adjacent house to the south. The south property line is lower than the adjacent house and has a low two foot stone wall running east-west which defines the south property line.
There are no foundation plantings along the south side of the building and only several clumps of day lilies and ferns on the north side. The grange hall occupies the southern end of the middle of three, which comprise the nominated property. Lot sizes on Swamp road vary from 12 to 120 feet of road frontage and parcels have been combined so that the buildings are unevenly spaced along Swamp Road with open side yards. The Grange Hall, originally built as a Methodist Episcopal Church in 1838, has a total frontage on the west side of Swamp Road of 122 feet, consisting of a north 40 foot-wide lot, a middle 70 foot- wide lot, and a south 12 foot-wide lot. The building sits on the middle lot. It is surrounded by older houses of approximately the same age and built mostly in the compatible Greek Revival style.
These houses include the 1830 two story Federal and Greek Revival style Calender, Chaterfield, Spencer-Baldwin House (MHC #C-44); the 1841 two story Greek Revival style Benjamin Bissell House (MHC #C-45); the ca. 1830-40 Late Federal style Cone-Parmalee-Gaston-Lamont House (MHC #C-46); the 1842- 45 two story Greek Revival Dr. William Leavitt House (MHC #C-48); the two-and-a-half story Greek Revival style ca. 1842-45 Leavitt, Dewey, Martin House (MHC #C-49); the ca. 1830-32 two story Greek Revival style Dr. Nathaniel Leavitt House (MHC #C-50); and the one-and-a-half story ca. 1835-40 Greek Revival style Fox-Hollenbeck House (MHC #C-51). The Grange Hall is the best preserved building on the street with the fewest alterations.
The front facade and lateral north and south sides of the exterior have not been altered significantly since construction in 1838, whereas the Bissell House (MHC #C-45) and the Leavitt, Dewey, Martin House (MHC #C-49) have been aluminum sided, and across the road from the Grange Hall is a newer ranch-style house. General characteristics and architecture The Grange Hall is a one-and-a-half story rectangular Greek Revival temple style church building. It measures 30 1/2 feet wide (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 7 Page 2 OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 West Stockbridge Grange West Stockbridge (Berkshire Co.), MA by 50 1/2 feet deep.
It is of wooden-frame post and beam construction with six-inch wide weatherboard sheathing and a metal standing seam front-gabled roof. The foundation is a mixture of local marble, granite, and fieldstone uncut blocks. The front facade is symmetrical, with two five-paneled doors under a Gothic-arched opening. Flanking the entrance are two Gothic-arched windows. Each corner of the building terminates in slightly battered undecorated flat pilasters and the front-facing gable is fully pedimented over a wide plain wooden frieze. The wooden trim is molded. The south and north sides of the building continue the wide frieze over three Gothic-arched windows and end pilasters. There is an additional small square window on the east end of both the north and south sides of the building up under the frieze which lighted the upstairs front gallery above the front entrance.
Windows are 36-over-36 of wood and appear to be original. Window panes in the Gothic arches are separated by curved muntins visible only from the interior. The arched tops of the windows are covered in fixed wooden louvered covers. At the apex of each Gothic arch is a plain wooden keystone. The lower 30 lights of the lower sashes are covered over on the interior with fiberboard coverings set close to the panes, with a picture frame molding and bas-relief Grange motif of a bundled wheat sheaf visible from the exterior through the glass panes. These coverings give privacy to the interior hall. Alterations Alterations to the exterior are few. The rear of the building shows evidence of at least one window which was removed, probably during the 1918-19 conversion to a grange hall. The rear addition probably masks another rear window which was removed at the same time.
At the front of the north side is a small exterior propane tank against the building for a front kitchen. Flush metal plates cover the plinths of the two front pilasters where water has rotted the original wood. At the front entrance is an unpainted handicapped ramp made of plywood flooring and 2 x 4 inch lumber for a hand rail. This is temporary and a reversible alteration. The building has no gutters or storm windows. Otherwise, the building does not appear to have had much maintenance and virtually no exterior alterations, viewed from the street, since the church was converted to a grange hall in 1918-19. At the south end of the west rear side is a small addition, built in 1970, which measures 10 feet deep by 14 feet nine inches wide, housing a forced hot air furnace room and two bathrooms.
This addition is sheathed in chipboard and plywood sheets, has a gabled roof and asphalt shingles, and a concrete block chimney with concrete block and poured concrete foundation. Eaves on this addition are overhung and there is one double-hung wood-framed 6-over-6 window on the south and two similar windows on the west. It was built of scrap material by John Astore, current West Stockbridge assessor and Grange member. According to Mr. Astore, the weatherboard sheathing has never been applied to this addition and it remains uncompleted to this day. Interior features There are no interior photographs from the time the building was used as a Methodist Episcopal church from 1838 until the church building was closed in 1910.
Remaining vacant until 1917, it was purchased by the Patrons of Husbandry, the interior converted to use as a grange hall, and was opened with a dedication ceremony on August 1, 1919. The current interior arrangement largely dates from these 1918-19 renovations. The interior shows evidence of what was altered and what fabric may be original to the 1838 church construction. The 1838 interior consisted of a large interior sanctuary with the pulpit to the west rear wall and a choir or gallery upstairs at the front or east end of the building accessed by a stairway south of the front door. Inside the front entrance was a "porch" or front entrance hall extending the width of the building under the gallery. When used as a church, the choir terminated over the hall in a low two to three feet wooden five-paneled railing of wide horizontal planks with and molded trim, still in place.
Above this rail, the wall was open to the ceiling. A description from 1885, notes that the church would seat 220 persons, a sum which probably included seating in the upstairs front choir. Also intact from its time as a church (continued) NPS Form 10-900-a (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet 7 3 Section number Page OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 West Stockbridge Grange West Stockbridge (Berkshire Co.), MA is the wide horizontally-laid wainscot underneath the windows on the lower walls. These are painted white. The floor of the choir contains the original four-inch wide pine flooring and the plaster in the second floor gallery is also original.
Original fabric to the building appears to include the first floor ceiling which is slightly arched and consists of narrow boards laid flush in an east-west direction and curving down to the top of the lateral walls. In the middle of the hall is a decorative wooden vent, which may or may not have contained a chandelier at one time. The sanctuary floor of the church must have contained pews arranged on the north and south sides of two side aisles located where the two entrance doors from the front porch into the sanctuary are still located, and a center set of pews. The records and minutes of the West Stockbridge Patrons of Husbandry are missing for the years 1918-1920, so that there is no written record of what was done to convert the church to a grange hall, nor who did the work.
The 1918-1919 renovations to the interior covered the original plaster walls of the hall with vertically-laid beadboard. The rear gallery was closed in with beadboard to the ceiling and two sliding glass 12-light windows were installed above the rail which could be opened to the hall below. The original pulpit was removed at the rear west end of the hall and a stage was built across the back of the hall. This stage has a pine floor. At some time after the 1918-1919 renovations, forced air heating ducts were added to the front of the stage area under the stage floor. The main floor of the hall is hard maple and birdseye maple. It was refinished in 1979. Two west-facing large rear windows were apparently removed at this time. The pews were removed from the floor of the hall to open the space for grange functions.
The north two-thirds of the interior front porch under the gallery was converted to use as a kitchen for grange functions. The door from the hall into the kitchen has a brown ceramic door handle and is a four-paneled door. The kitchen has a beadboard ceiling and walls and a blue enamel kitchen sink. A floor hatch leads to the basement under this sink. The kitchen is equipped with a propane stove, refrigerator, counters, and cupboards today. Upstairs, at the north end of the gallery, two bathrooms were installed, probably as many as 50 years ago. These are no longer used. Through the center of the porch hall or vestibule against the inner wall to the sanctuary is a red brick chimney, probably used for a wood-burning stove at one time. It is used to vent kitchen appliances today. The grangers rearranged the sanctuary to be a hall with a large unobstructed open space.
What may have been a few of the original pews from the church were permanently installed along the north and south sides of the hall under the windows. They sit atop low raised platforms. The front legs of these benches are fat piano-style wooden legs. These benches are finished in a brownish red color and the original white horizontal planking from the church wainscot can be seen underneath the benches at the bottom of the north and south lateral walls. The "stations," podiums used during grange ceremonies, were made from the black walnut of the original pulpit, according to a 1930 Berkshire Evening Eagle article, and the master's station was the main part of the pulpit in the old Methodist church. The same article adds that much of the 1918-1919 renovations were done by several of the grange members.
The stage sports an advertising drop curtain, which were often found in grange halls and fraternal organizations. Such curtains were painted on materials like canvas and contained a central landscape and advertising blocks paid for by local merchants and businesses in the area. The curtain in the West Stockbridge grange hall contains a central scene with a lake and mountains in the background, around which is grouped 21 advertisements, including those for banks, funeral homes, plumbing contractors, lumber mills, florists, druggists, a dairying operation, feed store, and Ford garage. It is brightly colored with a light blue background and red border. The grangers would drop this curtain at the outset of meetings so that the attendees could see the advertising and patronize regional businesses.
The cost of the curtain was paid for by the businesses advertised, at no cost to the grange, and the money collected used to pay the man who solicited the businesses and person who painted the curtain. (continued) NPS Form 10-900-a 8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet 4 Section number - Page. OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 West Stockbridge Grange West Stockbridge (Berkshire Co.), MA Archaeological Description While no prehistoric sites are currently recorded on the property or in the general area(within one mile), sites may be present. Environmental characteristics of the property indicate locational criteria which are favorable for many types of prehistoric sites.
The physical characteristics of the property include a well drained level to moderately sloping terrace within 1000 feet of Shaker Mill Pond, an impoundment of the Williams River. The presence of prehistoric sites has also been demonstrated in the region, especially in upland areas west of Stockbridge Bowl (Lake Mahkeenac) approximately 1.5 miles east of the nominated property and adjacent to wetlands and streams located in uplands approximately one mile to the north. Given the above information, the size of the nominated property (0.39 acres), and construction of the earlier barn and church/grange, a moderate potential exists for the recovery of prehistoric resources. A high potential exists for locating historic archaeological resources on the Grange Hall property. Documentary evidence exists indicating a barn was present on the parcel at the time it was purchased for the church.
Structural evidence of the barn, which was torn down prior to church construction, may exist on the property. Archaeological evidence of outbuildings and occupational related features (trash pits, privies, wells) associated with the structure's use as a church and Grange Hall may also be present. At least one well, later used as a trash pit is rumored to exist on the property. (end) WEST STOCKBRIDGE GRANGE #246 Name of Property 8. Statement of Significance