BlockBefore
Decorative drawing: an ornate nineteenth-century American house. Not a photograph of this place.

North Brookfield Town House

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001. A historic map-sheet match is not published yet. The record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary.

From the record

one of 500 National Register listings in Worcester County · listed in 2001 · category: Building · one of 1 National Historic Landmarks in Worcester County.

Sources: the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

  • What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building as contributing to the listing.
  • Address. 185 N. Main St., North Brookfield, 01535
  • When was it listed? 2001-10-28
  • Category. building
  • Township. North Brookfield town
  • National Register reference number. 01001185 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

73 since 2015

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 73 fires within 5 miles of North Brookfield Town House between 2015 and 2020, burning about 51 acres in total. None started naturally. 7 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Debris and open burning22
Recreation and ceremony22
Smoking7
Arson/incendiarism7
Equipment and vehicle use6
Missing data/not specified/undetermined5
Railroad operations and maintenance2
Power generation/transmission/distribution1
Misuse of fire by a minor1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
2 September 2015Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
31 August 2015Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
31 August 2015Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
3 July 2016Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
24 July 2016Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
24 June 2016Smokingunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
22 June 2016Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
9 May 2018Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named

Every fire recorded in Worcester County

Specimens collected near this property

12 of 385 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 385 specimens collected within 10 miles of North Brookfield Town House between 1850 and 1975: 203 Plantae, 99 Animalia, 81 Fungi, 2 Unrecorded. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. B. Seymour, A. F. Hill, H. St. John, G.S. Torrey, A. Lavallee and others. Each is a physical object with a catalogue number, and each entry opens the museum's record. This is what was collected and kept, not a survey of what lives here - nothing can be concluded from a species being absent.

Image SpeciesYear Collected by Where, as recorded
Specimen of Carex tenera var. teneraCarex tenera var. tenera1899R. M. Harper
A photograph of the species Cladonia cornucopioides, not of this specimenCladonia cornucopioides F.Wilson1850J. L. RussellLeicester
A photograph of the species Carex vestita, not of this specimenCarex vestita Willd.1858J. BlakeWare
A photograph of the species Celastrus scandens, not of this specimenCelastrus scandens L.1858s.coll.
A photograph of the species Adiantum pedatum, not of this specimenAdiantum pedatum L.1866Collector(s): Elizabeth Emerson Atwater; Preparator(s): Alex LorenzLeicester
A photograph of the species Athyrium filix-femina, not of this specimenAthyrium filix-femina (L.) Roth1866Collector(s): Elizabeth Emerson Atwater; Preparator(s): Alex LorenzLeicester
A photograph of the species Dennstaedtia punctilobula, not of this specimenDennstaedtia punctilobula (Michx.) T.Moore1866Collector(s): Elizabeth Emerson Atwater; Preparator(s): Alex LorenzLeicester
A photograph of the species Cladonia squamosa, not of this specimenCladonia squamosa Hoffm.1870M.E.T.Hardwick
Nitella megacarpa (T.F.A.) R.D.W.1894G. E. SternLake Lashaway
Calyptospora goeppertiana J.G.Kühn1895not recordedUS, Massachusetts, Barre
Vaccinium corymbosum L.1895not recordedUS, Massachusetts, Barre
Calosoma calidum (Fabricius, 1775)1896Knab, Frederick (1865-1918)Massachusetts

All 385 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries near this property

1 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of North Brookfield Town House: 1 past producer. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Highway PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Worcester County

Storms near this property

5 since 2014

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names North Brookfield, the town this property stands in, in 5 storm reports between 2014 and 2023: 3 thunderstorm wind, 1 flash flood, 1 tornado. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
July 2023Tornado (EF0)North Brookfield$7,000A NWS survey determined at an EF-0 tornado, with maximum estimated peak wind of 80 mph, touched down in North Brookfield at 1056 AM EDT. There were no injuries or damage to homes in the area. There were several eyewitnesses to the tornado, although none of them saw an actual funnel. One eyewitness was in an auto body shop and reported strong winds making the garage door bow inward. Another eyewitness, the Fire Chief of North Brookfield, saw debris lofted into the air. A third eyewitness described chaotic swirling as the tornado passed by. The tornado is estimated to have touched down a little east of the North Brookfield Waste Water Center. It traveled about 2 miles to the northeast, although not on the ground continuously, and ended a little east of the intersection of Ryan Road and Hillsville Road. The damage was limited to trees, with the most concentrated damage area along Ryan Road, slightly north of the Ward Street intersection.
August 2014Flash FloodNorth Brookfield$3,000Gilbert Street was flooded and impassable. Flood waters extended into a home.
July 2020Thunderstorm WindNorth Brookfield$1,800In North Brookfield, a tree was down on Route 148 near Brooks Pond Road. Also, a large tree was down on power lines on Hillsville Road.
June 2015Thunderstorm WindNorth Brookfield$1,000A large tree branch on School Street was downed by thunderstorm winds.
July 2023Thunderstorm WindNorth Brookfield$500In North Brookfield, a tree was down on Ayers Street. Report relayed by amateur radio.

Every storm recorded in Worcester County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

From the nomination file

21,305 words on record

When this property was proposed for the National Register, someone wrote the case for it: what the building is, and why it matters. That document is a federal record in the public domain. It is quoted below word for word, never summarised. The text was read off the scanned case file by machine, so the occasional stray character is the recogniser's and the 1970s typewriter's.

Statement of significance

Applicable National Register Criteria (Mark "x" in one or more boxes for the criteria qualifying the property for National Register listing.) x A Property is associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history. - B Property is associated with the lives of persons significant in our past. x C Property embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction or represents the work of a master, or possesses high artistic values, or represents a significant and distinguishable entity whose components lack individual distinction. -D Property has yielded, or is likely to yield, information important in prehistory or history.

Criteria Considerations (Mark "x" in all the boxes that apply.) Property is: _A owned by religious institution or used for religious purposes. _B removed from its original location. _C a birthplace or grave. _ D a cemetery. _E a reconstructed building, object, or structure. -F a commemorative property. _G less than 50 years of age or achieved significance within the past 50 years.

Narrative Statement of Significance (Explain the significance of the property on one or more continuation sheets.) _Worcester, MA County and State Areas of Significance (Enter categories from instructions) ARCHITECTURE COMMERCE COMMUNITY PLANNING and DEVELOPMENT POLITICS/GOVERNMENT Period of Significance 864-195 Significant Dates 1864 dedication of newly completed building Significant Person (Complete if Criterion B is marked above) Cultural Affiliation Architect/Builder Elbridge Boyden & Son, architects, Worcester,MA 2.

The whole case file for this property - 21,305 words, 88 pages, reproduced complete.

Quoted from the National Register nomination for reference 01001185, 88 pages, held by the National Archives in Record Group 79. See the catalogue record.

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Photograph PropertyDistance Listed
Foster, Jedediah, Homesite3.3 miles2013
Barnes--Hill House3.7 miles2016
Pleasant Street School4.7 miles1996
White Homestead4.8 miles1975
Grove Street School5.0 miles1996
West Brick School6.5 miles2011

Sources for this property

National Archives recordThe nomination case file for reference 01001185 in Record Group 79.
Worcester CountyAll 500 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

  • Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
  • Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
  • How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
  • Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
  • Specimens. Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), https://www.gbif.org/. Only records licensed CC0 or CC BY are used. Records licensed CC BY-NC are excluded because this site carries advertising. Images are checked individually and any whose licence is non-commercial, no-derivatives or unreadable is refused.
  • Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
  • Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.