Built in 1810. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. 17 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1888.
From the record
“The Fowler House is a historic house at 166 High Street in the Danversport section of Danvers, Massachusetts. Built in 1810, the brick structure is notable as a well-preserved example of Federal-style architecture in the area, and for its role in the early history of the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities.”
Wikipedia article Fowler House (Danvers, Massachusetts), CC BY-SA 4.0.
One of 480 National Register listings published here for Essex County · listed in 1974 · category: Building · built in 1810.
National Register reference number.74000367- 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.
The first and most distinguished name in our early annals has become, in the male line, utterly extinct. In the Danvers directory the name of Endicott appears but once, - " Lydia W., widow of William." The late William Endicott was one of the early antislavery men, was one of the last of the Danversport sea-captains, often served as moderator of townmeetings, and was otherwise prominent in local affairs ; his daughter, Mrs. H. G. Hyde, resides in Danvers, and two sons in Haverhill.
Within recent years a number of temperance societies have been organized. Apparently the oldest is the Catholic Total Abstinence Society, whose good work cannot easily be over-estimated. It was organized November 19, 1871, and bought and fitted up its present building some four years later. Its hall was dedicated February 17, 1879. The Danvers Reform Club was organized, January 21, 1876; the Woman's Christian Temperance Union of Danversport, January 17, 1876 ; a similar Union at the Plains, February 6, 1876.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The
federal wildfire occurrence database
lists 82 fires within 5 miles of Fowler House
between 2006 and 2020, burning about 250 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 1 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
Recreation and ceremony
20
Smoking
18
Debris and open burning
11
Equipment and vehicle use
9
Missing data/not specified/undetermined
8
Fireworks
5
Misuse of fire by a minor
5
Power generation/transmission/distribution
2
Natural
1
Railroad operations and maintenance
1
Other causes
1
Arson/incendiarism
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 8,996 specimens
collected within 10 miles of Fowler House between 1800 and 1975: 3,432 Plantae, 3,028 Animalia, 1,172 Fungi, 743 Chromista, 435 Unrecorded, 140 Bacteria, 46 Protozoa.
12 distinct Species records are shown.
Collected by A B. Proper, A H HIGGINSON, 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
13 workings within 5 miles of Fowler House: 5 plants, 4 past producers, 3 producers, 1 unknown.
8 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Zirconium, Thorium. 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
Danversport, the town this property stands in, in 2 storm reports between 2021 and 2022: 1 thunderstorm wind, 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 Danvers at 334 AM EDT (234 AM EST), there was a photo from the media of a large tree limb downed on Fowler Street, which damaged a pickup truck. In addition, amateur radio operators reported a large tree limb down blocking part of nearby Ash Street.
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
The Fowler House is architecturally significant since it has remained sub- stantially unaltéred since its construction in 1810, and it is a good example of Country Federal period architecture. The house served as the homestead for Samuel Fowler,Jr., an important commercial figure in Danvers during the first half of the 19th c. The civic involvements of Fowler and his children make the property an important one in local history and government. Documentation relating to the construction of the house, including Fowler's contract with Stephen Whipple and Levi Preston, the builders, as well as Fow- ler's own accounts, are included in the collection of Fowler's papers located at the Essex Institute.
Original and unusual wallpapers exist in the house today, the prime example being the hand-blocked "Pompeian Medallion" design in the front hall. Hand carving worthy of note includes egg-and-dart mouldings, scrolls, reeding, finger flufing, and spiral carvings in the first floor rooms. Some of the original Fowler family furnishings are on view at the house today; of note are family portraits and needlework examples. Samuel Fowler Jr. (1776-1854) began his commercial ventures in 1799, in that area of Danversport then known as New Mills, with the purchase of 1/36 part pI two corn mills, an old saw mill,and a dam. Bycke mht and Poied by 1821, he applied for insurance on his currier's shop, his grist mill, his bark mill and house, his large building for sawing marble, and his pulverizing mill.
He was one of eight men who financed the construction of the Liberty Bridge across Porter's River. Fowler is also credited with the introduction of the tanning industry into this part of Danvers.
Quoted from the National Register nomination
for reference 74000367, 10 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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