BlockFrom the record
one of 28 National Register listings in Franklin County · listed in 2016 · category: Building · one of 1 National Historic Landmarks in Franklin County.
Sources: the National Register database, National Park Service
Shelburne Free Public Library
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016. 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.
The listing
- What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building, 1 structure as contributing to the listing.
- Address. 233 Shelburne Center Rd., Shelburne, 01370
- When was it listed? 2016-07-18
- Category. building
- Township. Shelburne town
- National Register reference number. 16000453 - assigned by the National Park Service when the property was listed.
Fires near this property
30 since 2002Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 30 fires within 5 miles of Shelburne Free Public Library between 2002 and 2020, burning about 22 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 |
|---|---|
| Debris and open burning | 22 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 5 |
| Smoking | 2 |
| 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.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 June 2020 | Smoking | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 8 May 2004 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Massachussetts State Fire Marshal's Office | not named |
| 31 May 2018 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 31 May 2018 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 9 April 2017 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 3 April 2019 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 29 April 2017 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 28 April 2003 | Debris and open burning | 5.0 acres | Massachussetts State Fire Marshal's Office | not named |
Specimens collected near this property
12 of 1,862 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 1,862 specimens collected within 10 miles of Shelburne Free Public Library between 1822 and 1975: 951 Plantae, 542 Fungi, 234 Animalia, 110 Unrecorded, 24 Protozoa, 1 Chromista. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A V Osmun, A. F. Beals, A. K. Harrison 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 | Species | Year | Collected by | Where, as recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Cardamine diphylla (Michx.) A.W.Wood | 1900 | F. F. Forbes | |
 | Ptilidium pulcherrimum (Weber) Hampe | 1822 | Ebenezer Emmons | |
 | Carex pauciflora Lightf. | 1825 | Collector unspecified | Ashfield. [Inferred county from precise loc.] |
 | Cinna latifolia (Trevir. ex Göpp.) Griseb. | 1847 | Russell | |
| unnamed (fossil) | 1867 | Othniel C. Marsh | black sh, [property of T.M. Stoughton, 1871 Beers County map, previously owned by Dr. Roswell Field], S side of Connecticut River, Horse Race, Montague | |
 | Carex prasina Wahlenb. | 1892 | J. R. Churchill | Montague |
 | Carex torta Boott | 1892 | J. R. Churchill | Montague |
| Rhexia virginica L. | 1892 | not recorded | Millers Falls | |
 | Spiranthes ochroleuca (Rydb.) Rydb. | 1894 | Swinerton, J.R. | Greenfield |
 | Asplenium ruta-muraria L. | 1895 | A. F. Beals | Sugar loaf Mountain, (north), South Deerfield |
 | Juglans cinerea L. | 1895 | C. W. Trow | Buckland. |
 | Botrypus virginianus (L.) Michx. | 1896 | W. W. Bailey |
All 1,862 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.
Mines and quarries near this property
6 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 6 workings within 5 miles of Shelburne Free Public Library: 3 producers, 3 past producers. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Dimension, Limestone, General, Limestone, Dimension. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Limestone - Marble Quarry | Limestone, General | Producer | Marble | |
| Limestone-Marble Quarry | Limestone, Dimension | Past Producer | ||
| Gneiss Quarry | Stone, Dimension | Producer | ||
| Gneiss Quarry | Stone, Dimension | Past Producer | ||
| Luther Smith Gneiss Quarry | Stone, Dimension | Producer | Metamorphic | |
| Luther Smith Gneiss Quarry | Stone, Dimension | Past Producer |
Storms near this property
27 since 1999Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Shelburne, the town this property stands in, in 27 storm reports between 1999 and 2025: 23 thunderstorm wind, 2 hail, 1 flood, 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2011 | Flood | Shelburne | $100,000 | After receiving nearly nine inches of rain associated with Tropical Storm Irene, the Deerfield River flooded, inundating the town of Shelburne. |
| May 2013 | Lightning | Shelburne | $25,000 | Lightning struck a tree outside a house on Colrain Shelburne Road, traveled through the ground and started a fire in the attic of the house. |
| May 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Shelburne | $25,000 | Trees and wires downed by thunderstorm winds, resulting in numerous road closures and power outages. |
| May 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Shelburne | $15,000 | Trees and wires on South Shelburne Road, Lucy Fiske Road, and Bardwells Ferry Road were downed by thunderstorm winds. |
| June 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Shelburne | $15,000 | Multiple trees and wires on Ashfield Road in the Shelburne Falls section of Shelburne were downed by thunderstorm winds. Some of these landed on cars. |
| July 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Shelburne | $10,000 | Trees and wires on Brook Road were downed by thunderstorm winds. |
| September 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Shelburne | $5,000 | A tree was downed onto wires. |
| July 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Shelburne | $5,000 | A tree just east of Gould's Sugar House on Route 2 was downed by thunderstorm winds. |
| July 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Shelburne | $5,000 | A tree on Bardwells Ferry Road was downed onto wires by thunderstorm winds. |
| October 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Shelburne | $5,000 | A tree and wires were downed on Route 2 at the Belchertown line. |
| June 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Shelburne | $5,000 | Numerous large trees were downed by thunderstorm winds; including one that blocked North Road. |
| July 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Shelburne | $5,000 | A large tree on Old Greenfield Road was downed onto wires by thunderstorm winds. |
| July 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Shelburne | $5,000 | no account filed |
| May 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | East Shelburne | $1,300 | In East Shelburne, trees and power lines were downed on Route 2 near the Shelburne/Greenfield town line. Time estimated by radar. |
| June 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Shelburne | $1,000 | A tree was downed by thunderstorm winds, blocking Shelburne Center Road. |
| July 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Shelburne | $1,000 | Trees were downed by thunderstorm winds. |
| September 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | East Shelburne | $800 | In Colrain, a tree and power lines were down on Van Nuys Rd. |
| July 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Shelburne | $800 | In Greenfield, a tree and wires were down on South Shelburne Road. Report relayed by amateur radio. |
| May 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | East Shelburne | $800 | In Greenfield, a tree was down on wires on Summit Drive. |
| June 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | East Shelburne | $500 | In Shelburne Falls, a tree was down on Fiske Mill Road. |
| July 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Shelburne | $300 | In Shelburne, a tree was down blocking a lane of travel on Rt 2. |
| May 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | East Shelburne | - | In Colrain, there was a tree down on wires on Smead Hill Rd. |
| June 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Shelburne | - | Thunderstorms downed large tree limbs in Shelburne and Conway. |
| August 2011 | Hail | Shelburne | - | no account filed |
| June 2008 | Hail | Shelburne | - | no account filed |
| May 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Shelburne | - | no account filed |
| July 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Shelburne | - | no account filed |
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.
Named in the fire insurance atlases
Sanborn surveyors printed an index of the town's establishments at the front of each atlas. This property is named in one, read straight off the scanned sheet.
Listed places nearby
6 within 8 milesOther 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 | Property | Distance | Listed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bardwell's Ferry Bridge | 2.4 miles | 2000 | |
| Odd Fellow's Hall | 2.8 miles | 1979 | |
| Tavern Farm, Old | 3.6 miles | 2005 | |
| Garden Theater Block | 4.5 miles | 1983 | |
| Leavitt-Hovey House | 4.6 miles | 1983 | |
| US Post Office--Greenfield Main | 4.6 miles | 1985 |
Sources for this property
| National Archives record | The nomination case file for reference 16000453 in Record Group 79. |
| Franklin County | All 28 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.