Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007. 19 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1886.
From the record
“The Roberts School is a historic school building at 320 Union Street in Holbrook, Massachusetts. The one-room schoolhouse was built in 1873; it is a wood-frame structure, with two doorways providing access to separate vestibules, as well as the singular classroom.”
Wikipedia article Roberts School, CC BY-SA 4.0.
One of 342 National Register listings published here for Norfolk County · listed in 2007 · category: Building.
National Register reference number.07000860- 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.
ELSEWHERE in this volume Holbrook is alluded to as the daughter of Randolph. Technically, this is correct enough ; practically, however, the distinction between the West and East villages of the present town - now respectively the towns of Randolph and Holbrook - was as marked for many years previous to the division as it has ever been since.
General History. - The division of the town of Randolph, by a line running in the vicinity of the Cochato River, had been a topic of conversation, especially in East Randolph, for many years previous to the autumn of 1871, when the first really decisive steps were taken. to consider the subject were held, at which it was dolph were in favor of the formation of a new town east of the Old Colony Railroad line ; but there was not the harmony and unanimity which seemed desirable, and the matter was dropped. Early in the autumn of 1871, however, it seemed to some that the | meeting, held on Saturday evening, December 9th, was made noteworthy by reason of the proposal by Mr. K. N. Holbrook, there advanced, to give to the new town, in the event of its incorporation, the sum of fifty thousand dollars - of which twenty-five thousand dollars were to be expended for a town hall and library building, ten thousand dollars fora public library, and the remaining fifteen thousand dollars for the pay- The tent, more particularly outside the borders of the present town, that Mr. Holbrook made his munificent gift conditional upon the proposed town being named for him, deserves emphatic contradiction at the hands of the present writer, based upon the most reliable At the meeting where the generous proposal was made, the citizens assembled at once brought forward the name " Holbrook" for the new town, and it received almost unanimous approval by the townspeople. The name was adopted not so
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The
federal wildfire occurrence database
lists 361 fires within 5 miles of Roberts School
between 2015 and 2020, burning about 169 acres in total. 3 started naturally. 2 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
Recreation and ceremony
118
Debris and open burning
92
Missing data/not specified/undetermined
87
Smoking
38
Misuse of fire by a minor
19
Natural
3
Arson/incendiarism
2
Fireworks
1
Railroad operations and maintenance
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 5,994 specimens
collected within 10 miles of Roberts School between 1832 and 1975: 2,633 Plantae, 1,624 Fungi, 1,544 Animalia, 145 Protozoa, 28 Chromista, 16 Unrecorded, 4 Bacteria.
12 distinct Species records are shown.
Collected by (MARSDEN, H W), A W Cheever, A. A. Eaton 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
15 workings within 5 miles of Roberts School: 10 past producers, 4 producers, 1 plant.
5 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken. 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
Holbrook, the town this property stands in, in 6 storm reports between 2005 and 2020: 2 thunderstorm wind, 2 flood, 1 hail, 1 lightning.
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 Holbrook, a nearly stationary thunderstorm along a sea breeze front caused one foot of street flooding at Route 139 and Poole Circle and on South Franklin Street (Route 37) just north of Collins Road.
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
Applicable National Register Criteria (Mark "x" in one or more boxes for the criteria qualifying the property for National Register listing.) XA 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.) _Norfolk, MA County and State Areas of Significance Enter categories from instructions EDUCATION ARCHITECTURE Period of Significance 1873-1957 Significant Dates Significant Person (Complete if Criterion B is marked above) Cultural Affiliation Architect/Builder Morrison M. Alden (builder) 2.
Quoted from the National Register nomination
for reference 07000860, 27 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.
Block
