Built in 1862 (Richardsonian Romanesque). Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002. 17 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1886.
From the record
One of 1,353 National Register listings published here for Middlesex County · listed in 2002 · category: Building · built in 1862, Richardsonian Romanesque.
National Register reference number.02000549- 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.
LL authorities agree that the first settlers of Sudbury were drawn to this locality chiefly by the rich meadow-lands on either side of the river bearing the same name as the town through wliicli it flowed, as also by the abundance of woodland and the strength of the soil when once subdued. Johnson, in his Hidory of Xew England, 16o4, page 141, says: -
May 13, 1640, the court granted to the town " the addition of a mile in length upon the southeast and southwest sides of this plantation " ; and May 2, 1649, " Sudbury is granted two miles westward, next adjoining to them for their further enlargement."
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The
federal wildfire occurrence database
lists 108 fires within 5 miles of Goodnow Library
between 1995 and 2020, burning about 143 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 12 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 burning
47
Missing data/not specified/undetermined
30
Arson/incendiarism
12
Power generation/transmission/distribution
7
Smoking
4
Recreation and ceremony
3
Equipment and vehicle use
2
Misuse of fire by a minor
1
Natural
1
Fireworks
1
The most recent of
them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service
that recorded it.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. Museums hold 1,194 specimens
collected within 10 miles of Goodnow Library between 1898 and 1975: 783 Animalia, 267 Plantae, 137 Fungi, 4 Chromista, 2 Protozoa, 1 Unrecorded.
12 distinct Species records are shown.
Collected by A. B. Seymour, A. B. Seymour & M. D. Feigley, A. F. Newton 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.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists
8 workings within 5 miles of Goodnow Library: 7 past producers, 1 unknown.
None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Peat. Distance is straight-line from the
map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring
settlement's page as well.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The National Weather Service names
Sudbury, the town this property stands in, in 14 storm reports between 1998 and 2025: 8 thunderstorm wind, 3 hail, 2 lightning, 1 flood.
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.
In Sudbury, Maynard Road was flooded with two feet of water stranding several cars. Numerous other side roads also were flooded making them impassable. A large number of basements and backyards were flooded with water accumulating up to several feet in the basements. Four feet of water covered Main Street in Hudson, closing the road. In Maynard, numerous basements and backyards were flooded with water accumulating several feet in the basements.
United States Geological Survey topographic
sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the coordinate the National Park Service records for this property, then
testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.
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
(Explain the significance of the property on one or more continuation sheets.) Middlesex, MA County and State 8. Statement of Areas of Significance (Enter categories from instructions) ARCHITECTURE COMMUNITY PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT EDUCATION Period of Significance 1862 to 1951 Significant Dates 1862 1894 Significant Person (Complete if Criterion B is marked above) N/A Cultural Affiliation N/A Architect/Builder Joseph R. Richards J.R. and W. P. Richards (1894 addition) Staniunas, Joseph P. (1971 addition) Tappe & Associates (1997-99 addition/renovations) Badger Brothers (Civil War Memorial) 9.
Quoted from the National Register nomination
for reference 02000549, 45 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.
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.
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