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Photograph of North Rochester Congregational Church
Photograph by Schlitzer90, CC BY-SA 3.0. Via Wikimedia Commons.

North Rochester Congregational Church

Built in 1841. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008. 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

“North Rochester Congregational Church is a historic Congregational church at 247 North Avenue in Rochester, Massachusetts. Built in 1841 for a congregation established in 1790, it is a high quality example of Greek Revival architecture.”

Wikipedia article North Rochester Congregational Church, CC BY-SA 4.0.

one of 93 National Register listings in Plymouth County · listed in 2008 · category: Building · built in 1841, by Solomon Keith Eaton · one of 1 National Historic Landmarks in Plymouth County.

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

The listing

  • What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 2 sitess, 1 building, 1 structure as contributing to the listing.
  • Address. 289 North Ave., Rochester, 02770
  • When was it listed? 2008-03-21
  • Category. building
  • Township. Rochester town
  • When was it built? 1841
  • Architect. Solomon Keith Eaton
  • National Register reference number. 07001400 - 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

41 since 2015

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 41 fires within 5 miles of North Rochester Congregational Church between 2015 and 2020, burning about 20 acres in total. None started naturally. None was 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
Missing data/not specified/undetermined16
Debris and open burning14
Misuse of fire by a minor5
Recreation and ceremony3
Power generation/transmission/distribution2
Equipment and vehicle use1

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
21 September 2017Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
18 September 2016Misuse of fire by a minorunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlLAKEVILLE
12 September 2016Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlLAKEVILLE
10 September 2020Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
4 August 2020Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
3 August 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
2 August 2015Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlPLYMOUTH
12 August 2020Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named

Every fire recorded in Plymouth County

Specimens collected near this property

12 of 1,530 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 1,530 specimens collected within 10 miles of North Rochester Congregational Church between 1848 and 1975: 658 Fungi, 463 Animalia, 396 Plantae, 6 Chromista, 5 Unrecorded, 2 Bacteria. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. B. Seymour, A. Humes, A. M. Vail 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
A photograph of the species Trypethelium virens, not of this specimenTrypethelium virens Tuck.1848ex herb. OakesNew Bedford.
A photograph of the species Condylura cristata, not of this specimenCondylura cristata (Linnaeus, 1758)1855Preparator(s): Edwin V. KomarekMiddleboro
A photograph of the species Microtus pennsylvanicus, not of this specimenMicrotus pennsylvanicus pennsylvanicus (Ord, 1815)1855John W. JenksMiddleboro
A photograph of the species Peromyscus leucopus, not of this specimenPeromyscus leucopus (Rafinesque, 1818)1855John W. JenksMiddleboro
Agapostemon sericeus (Förster, 1771)1899William WheelerNew Bedford
A photograph of the species Arethusa bulbosa, not of this specimenArethusa bulbosa L.1899J. Murdoch, Jr.Middleborough
A photograph of the species Carex comosa, not of this specimenCarex comosa Boott1899J. Murdoch, Jr.Middleborough
A photograph of the species Carex crinita, not of this specimenCarex crinita Lam.1899J. Murdoch, Jr.Middleborough
A photograph of the species Carex folliculata, not of this specimenCarex folliculata L.1899J. Murdoch, Jr.Middleborough
Carex merritt-fernaldii Mack.1899J. Murdoch, Jr.Middleborough
A photograph of the species Carex virescens, not of this specimenCarex virescens Muhl. ex Willd.1899J. Murdoch, Jr.Middleborough
Cortinarius collinitus (Sow. ex Fr.) Fr.1899H. WebsterWareham

All 1,530 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries near this property

2 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of North Rochester Congregational Church: 1 past producer, 1 producer. 1 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
Lakeville PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Southeastern Construction CoSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary

Every working recorded in Plymouth County

Storms near this property

6 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Rochester, the town this property stands in, in 6 storm reports between 1997 and 2023: 4 thunderstorm wind, 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
October 2014LightningRochester$300,000Lightning struck a tree 30 feet away from a house on Jason's Lane. The lightning traveled through the root system to the house, setting it on fire. The house was deemed a total loss.
July 2012Thunderstorm WindRochester$15,000Several trees were downed by thunderstorm winds, including one on Robinson Road.
July 2011Thunderstorm WindRochester$15,000Trees on Marys Pond Road and Walnut Plain Road were downed by thunderstorm winds.
February 2016Thunderstorm WindRochester$5,000Wires on Mary's Pond Road in Rochester were downed by thunderstorm winds.
August 2023Thunderstorm WindRochester$1,500In Mattapoisett, there were trees and wires down on North St around Eldorado Dr.
July 1997HailRochester-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Plymouth 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

18,532 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: X.

A owned by religious institution or used for religious purposes. X Bremoved 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.) Plymouth, MA County and State Areas of Significance (Enter categories from instructions) RELIGION COMMUNITY PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT ARCHITECTURE Period of Significance 1790-1957 Significant Dates 1790 - surviving stone walls constructed 1841 - church construction Significant Person (Complete if Criterion B is marked above) Cultural Affiliation Architect/Builder Eaton, Solomon K.

The whole case file for this property - 18,532 words, 54 pages, reproduced complete.

Quoted from the National Register nomination for reference 07001400, 54 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
Town Hall5.3 miles1976
East Rochester Church and Cemetery Historic District6.0 miles2008
Middleborough Waterworks6.9 miles1990
Middleborough Waterworks7.2 miles1990
US Post Office-Middleborough Main7.7 miles1987
Pierce, Peter, Store7.7 miles1976

Sources for this property

National Archives recordThe nomination case file for reference 07001400 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia articleCommunity-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Plymouth CountyAll 93 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.