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Photograph of Howard Home for Aged Men
Photograph by Magicpiano, CC BY-SA 4.0. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Howard Home for Aged Men

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016. 18 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1886.

From the record

“The Howard Home for Aged Men, more recently Building 60, is a historic residential care building on the campus of the Brockton Veterans Administration facility at 940 Belmont Street in Brockton, Massachusetts. Built in 1924, it was one of two institutions in the city specifically for the care of elderly men.”

Wikipedia article Howard Home for Aged Men, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 138 National Register listings published here for Plymouth County · listed in 2016 · category: Building.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · 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. 940 Belmont St., Brockton, 02301
  • When was it listed? 2016-12-22
  • Category. building
  • City. Brockton city
  • Architectural style. Colonial Revival architecture
  • National Register reference number. 16000871 - assigned by the National Park Service when the property was listed.

The ground it stands on

2,821 words

The chapter on Brockton City in History of Plymouth County, Massachusetts : with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1884 names Brockton. This is what it says, exactly as the scans read.

TJniversalist Society. - Since the settlement of Rev. Mr. Surt, in 1864, the pulpit of the Universalists of Brockton has had a varied experience, and the supply been somewhat irregular. Rev. Stephen L. Rorapaugh was pastor from May, 1864, to Dec. 16, 1806, when he resigned, though he continued preaching till March 24, 1867. The next pastor was the Rev. Isaac M. Atwood, from May, 1807, to 1872. Rev. S. S. Hcbard, April, 1872.

Passage source: History of Plymouth County, Massachusetts : with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1884.

Several changes took place in the affairs of the society from 1872 to 1877. About that time Rev. Samuel L. Beal removed to Brockton from Provincetown, and gathered a new organization of members of the disbanded society, and preached in the old Universalist Church, which was then unoccupied, where he remained for a few months, and then removed to the Grand Army Hall, East Elm Street, where he remained for two to three years. His first great effort was to organize a Sunday-school, which he did on the 5th day of June, 1877. In 1880 this society removed to Cunningham Hall, formerly the old Universalist Church, where he continued for about three years. On the 9th of November, 1880, a new and legal organization of the society took place, under the name of New Universalist Society. The success uf the society has been largely through the efforts and labors of Rev. Mr. Beal, who had gatliercd au assembly representing nearly one hundred families, and a Sunday-school having a library of about one thousand volumes. Mr. Beal was an active and earnest man in the pulpit. He was also deeply interested in temperance and other reforms in the city, and labored vigorously with tongue and pen to check the tide of intemperance and vice, and often with telling effect. Mr. Beal did faithful service on the school committee in 1882. Rev. Mr. Beal retired from the service of this church in August, 1883.

Passage source: History of Plymouth County, Massachusetts : with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1884.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Brockton City - 2,821 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.

Fires near this property

389 since 2002

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 389 fires within 5 miles of Howard Home for Aged Men between 2002 and 2020, burning about 157 acres in total. 5 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 burning185
Missing data/not specified/undetermined122
Recreation and ceremony27
Misuse of fire by a minor26
Smoking16
Arson/incendiarism7
Natural5
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
9 September 2015Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlBROCKTON
9 September 2015Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlBROCKTON
8 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
8 September 2015Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlBROCKTON
8 September 2015Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlABINGTON
7 September 2015Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlSTOUGHTON
7 September 2015Naturalunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlBROCKTON
7 September 2015Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlBROCKTON

Every fire recorded in Plymouth County

Specimens collected near this property

12 of 506 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 506 specimens collected within 10 miles of Howard Home for Aged Men between 1857 and 1975: 198 Fungi, 189 Plantae, 118 Animalia, 1 Protozoa. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. A. Eaton, A. B. Seymour, A. Clark 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 Chamberlainia salebrosa, not of this specimenChamberlainia salebrosa (Hoffm. ex F.Weber & D.Mohr) H.Rob.1857T. P. JamesRandolph
A photograph of the species Rhynchospora macrostachya, not of this specimenRhynchospora macrostachya Torr. ex A.Gray1870Booth, W.South Weymouth
A photograph of the species Myosotis laxa, not of this specimenMyosotis laxa Lehm.1874H. G. JesupSouth Weymouth
A photograph of the species Dichelyma capillaceum, not of this specimenDichelyma capillaceum (Dicks.) Myrin1878PiperEast Bridgewater
A photograph of the species Hieracium venosum, not of this specimenHieracium venosum L.1879not recorded
A photograph of the species Liriodendron tulipifera, not of this specimenLiriodendron tulipifera L.1879not recorded
A photograph of the species Thalictrum thalictroides, not of this specimenThalictrum thalictroides (L.) A.J.Eames & B.Boivin1879not recorded
A photograph of the species Chelone glabra, not of this specimenChelone glabra L.1880not recorded
A photograph of the species Doellingeria umbellata, not of this specimenDoellingeria umbellata (Mill.) Nees1880not recorded
A photograph of the species Dendroica petechia, not of this specimenDendroica petechia aestiva (J.F.Gmelin, 1789)1899Arthur C. DykeBridgewater
Glyceria fluitans (L.) R.Br.1899E. F. Williams
Lysimachia quadrifolia L.1899E. F. Williams

All 506 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries near this property

10 of 11 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 11 workings within 5 miles of Howard Home for Aged Men: 7 past producers, 3 producers, 1 plant. 4 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.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Easton PitStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
A Edward SarniSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Avon Building Supply CoSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Avon Building Supply Inc.Sand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Brockton PlantSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Brockton Sand & Gravel Company PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Easton Sand and Gravel CoSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Gerald Kelleher Pit and PlantSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Klondyke PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Sharon PlantSand and Gravel, ConstructionPlant

Every working recorded in Plymouth County

Storms near this property

26 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Brockton, the town this property stands in, in 26 storm reports between 1994 and 2023: 8 thunderstorm wind, 8 hail, 3 heavy rain, 3 lightning. The reports record 60 injuries. 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
May 1996Thunderstorm WindBrockton60 hurt, $4,000,000no account filed
July 2002LightningBrockton$250,000no account filed
August 2006Thunderstorm WindBrockton$75,00058 mph gust at Plymouth Airport
July 2011Thunderstorm WindBrockton$60,000Numerous trees and wires were downed by thunderstorm winds throughout Brockton. This includes trees and wires on Warren Avenue in front of the Boys and Girls Club, near the high school, on Route 14, on French and Perkins Avenues, and on Ash Street. One of these trees fell on a dentists office on South Street in the Campello neighborhood.
April 2010LightningBrockton$50,000Lightning struck a house on North Main Street, igniting a fire.
April 2010LightningBrockton$50,000Lightning struck a house on Gibbon Street, igniting a fire.
August 2005Flash FloodBrockton$20,000no account filed
October 2006FloodBrockton$10,000Significant urban flooding was reported in Brockton.
July 2016Thunderstorm WindBrockton$3,000A large branch was downed onto wires on Wayland Street.
August 2023Thunderstorm WindBrockton$2,000In Brockton, the side of a house sustained damage from high winds.
September 2016Thunderstorm WindBrockton$1,000A large limb was downed in the north end of Brockton.
July 2021HailBrockton-In Brockton, dime size hail was reported.
June 2020Flash FloodBrockton-In Brockton, flash flooding on West Street caused manhole covers to pop off.
March 2014FloodBrockton-Montello Street was flooded and impassable.
May 2009HailBrockton-Quarter size hail fell in northeastern Brockton near the Avon line.
May 2009HailBrockton-Nickel to quarter sized hail fell in Brockton.
September 1995Thunderstorm WindBrockton-A line of thunderstorms moved across parts of central and eastern Massachusetts with wind gusts to 40 to 50 mph. In Lowell, two children received minor injuries when a tree fell on them after it was uprooted by winds gusting to an estimated 50 mph. In Southboro, large tree limbs were downed. In Swampscott, a tree fell on an automobile. In Belmont, Cambridge, and Watertown, tree limbs and a few power lines were reported blown down. In Brockton, two large tree limbs were knocked down. In downtown Boston, a street sign was blown down and hit a man on the head.
August 1994Thunderstorm WindBrockton-Police reported several trees blown down.
August 2014HailBrockton-no account filed
June 2011HailBrockton-no account filed
September 2002Heavy RainBrockton-no account filed
July 1999HailBrockton-no account filed
July 1999HailBrockton-no account filed
July 1999Heavy RainBrockton-no account filed
August 1996Heavy RainBrockton-no account filed
July 1994HailBrockton-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Plymouth County

Maps showing this location

18 surveys

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.

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
Brockton VA Hospital Historic District0.3 miles2022
Forest Avenue School0.7 miles1982
Blanchard Plat Historic District1.7 miles2025
Moses Packard House1.8 miles1978
South Street Historic District1.8 miles1983
Gardner J. Kingman House1.9 miles1977

Sources for this property

National Archives recordThe nomination case file for reference 16000871 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia articleCommunity-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Plymouth CountyAll 138 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.