Photographs from the nomination case file, National Park Service records.
Fletcher, Jonathan, House
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in
1975. 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
“Medford owes its first settlement to the influence of Governor Cradock and Governor Winthrop. The first gentleman was the richest individual attached to the New England Company; and he gave his money with the freedom of an enthusiast.”
History of the Town of Medford, Middlesex County, Massachusetts : from Its First Settlement, in 1630, to the Present Time, 1855 (1855). Machine-read text.
one of 1100 National Register listings in Middlesex County · listed in 1975 · category: Building · one of 3 National Historic Landmarks in Middlesex County.
National Register reference number.75000274- 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.
In writing this History, it has been my -wish to secure Medford such territory in time as its acres are territory in space. The gathering of these annals has been too long delayed. Time, moth, and rust have done thenfatal work on many valuable materials ; and some gentlemen, who felt a deep interest in their native town, have died without leaving any manuscript testimonies. When the history of New England shall be written, the true data will be drawn from the records of its towns. Now, therefore, in humble imitation of those States in our Union which have contributed each its block of granite, marble, or copper to the National Monument at Washington, I ask leave to offer Medford's historical contribution to the undecaying pyramidic monument which justice and genius will hereafter raise to the character and institutions of New England.
The records of the first forty years are lost. I have reproduced them, as far as I could, from documents in the General Court relating to our earliest history ; from several monuments of the first settlers, which are yet standing among us ; from authentic traditions which were early recorded ; and from collateral histories of the neighboring towns. To find the lost, and remember the forgotten, seems to be the province of the local annalist. From the moment I reached the first town-records of Medford (1674), I implicitly followed those excellent guides. Where I could save space by abbreviations, without altering the sense, I have occasionally done so in my quotations, and have used our modern orthography. The spirit of antiquarian research, now beginning to show itself, will lead to the discovery of many facts concerning the early history of Medford which are beyond my reach. These may soon render necessary a new history of the town ; and I hope it may be undertaken by a person whose ability and leisure will enable him to do far greater justice to the subject than has been within my power.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The
federal wildfire occurrence database
lists 78 fires within 5 miles of Fletcher, Jonathan, House between
2015 and 2020, burning about 101 acres in total. None started naturally. 28 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
Arson/incendiarism
28
Missing data/not specified/undetermined
22
Debris and open burning
13
Recreation and ceremony
9
Smoking
3
Misuse of fire by a minor
2
Equipment and vehicle use
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 1,830 specimens
collected within 10 miles of Fletcher, Jonathan, House between 1898 and
1975: 802 Animalia, 563 Plantae, 399 Fungi, 28 Protozoa, 17 Bacteria, 12 Chromista, 9 Unrecorded. 12 distinct Species records are shown.
Collected by ?, A B Seymour, A B. Proper 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
11 workings within 5 miles of Fletcher, Jonathan, House: 6 plants, 4 past producers, 1 producer.
7 still produce. What was taken out: Iron, Lead, Gypsum-Anhydrite, 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.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The National Weather Service names
Medford, the town this property stands in, in 20 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 14 thunderstorm wind, 3 flood, 1 flash flood, 1 hail.
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.
Trees were downed on Corey Street and Riverside Avenue. A telephone pole was downed onto Massachusetts Avenue and wires on Lawrence Street were downed, all by thunderstorm winds.
At 12:52 AM EST, a large tree was down on a car and laying across Auburn Street in Medford. At the same time, a tree was reported down on Summer Street and a large tree was down on George Street.
In Winchester, a large tree was down on a house, which took the chimney off the house on Alden Lane. A tree was down on Cambridge Street by the boat club. A tree was down on wires on wires on the 30 block of Allen Road. Trees and wires were down on Ledyard Road. A tree was down on the 70 block of Lawson Road.
In Medford, multiple trees were reported downed. In Somerville, a tree was down on a house on Vernon Street and a large branch was down on power lines on Walker Street.
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
2,163 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.
Description of the property
The Jonathan Fletcher House built in 1834-35, is situated on a deep half acre lot on High Street. A retaining wall of rock-faced and hammered granite blocks with square hammered granite gate posts surmounted by pyramid shaped tops defines the front of the lot line. The building is a typical three bay by four bay side hall Greek Revival structure, with transitional elements from the Federal period. The entrance is in the gable end, which is perpendicular to the street, and an accented cornice at the gable gives a pedimented effect. The facade has one window centered in the gable end, three windows across the second story, and two windows and the entrance in the first floor.
The side elevation which runs parallel to the street has regular fenestration , and two dormers, added in the late nineteenth century. The building is shingled, and is painted deep red with white trim, as are all the ells and outbuildings. The roof is covered with asphalt shingles. Additions to the building include a rear ell attached to the northeast corner and a two story addition (1925) attached to the north side of the main structure. A porch was added to the first floor of the facade, and consists of six Tuscan columns supporting a roof which extends approximately fifteen feet eastward from the facade, and is two bays wide. A partially glazed porch, four feet deep, is attached to the main entrance, and is covered by a low sloping roof attached to the facade.
Wriers are ad LEBNICH 6-17-75
Statement of significance
/ARCHITECT c. 1835 STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE The Jonathan Fletcher House, built in 1834-35, is a significant example in Medford of the transition between the Federal and Greek Revival architectural styles, and contains many interior features taken from the designs of Asher Benjamin. The house has both Federal and Greek Revival features. The entrance is in the gable end, a Greek Revival plan, but the gable is perpendicular to the street. A four bay side elevation, with sloping roof and dormers, is presented to the street. The tops of the second floor windows are close to the cornice, an early architectural feature, and the corners are sheathed with narrow cornerboards, also a Federal detail.
The main entrance to the house is an adaptation of entries shown in Plate 26 of Practice of Architecture, a book of Greek Revival designs published in 1833 by Asher Benjamin. The paneled dado, surrounds and interior shutters of the first floor windows are taken from Plate 43 of the same book. Some of the interior doors, including the sliding double doors of the first floor parlor are of a five pane1 type illustrated in Plate XXXIX of The Architect or the Practical House Carpenter, also by Asher Benjamin. Many of the elaborately molded surrounds of other doors and windows in the house were also taken from The Architect and reflect the builder's attempts at keeping up with current taste.
The land on which the Fletcher House stands was part of the industrial center dominated by the Brooks family. The land was the site of a tannery, a leather shop, and a slaughter house. A "dwelling house" is recorded on this lot as far back as 1795, but when Jonathan Fletcher bought the property in 1834, he built the present structure.
Quoted from the National Register nomination
for reference 75000274, 12 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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