Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in
1982. 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
“The Tolman-Gay House is a historic house at 1196 Central Avenue in Needham, Massachusetts. Built in 1743, it is a well-preserved example of mid-18th century architecture, which was occupied for nearly two centuries by members of two of Needham's early families.”
Wikipedia article Tolman-Gay House, CC BY-SA 4.0.
one of 249 National Register listings in Norfolk County · listed in 1982 · category: Building · one of 2 National Historic Landmarks in Norfolk County.
National Register reference number.82004419- 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 Publishers desire to express their thanks to J. W. Lewis & Co., of Philadelphia, for permission to use their history of Norfolk County, also to C. C. Greenwood, Esq., and George K. Clarke, Esq., for their valuable assistance in preparing this historical sketch of Needham, and to all other citizens of Needham for the courtesy extended to them in their labor of canvassing, and for the patronage received for the work.
There are various papers, and certified copies of town records introduced to prove the Nehoiden transaction. On February 8, 1711/12, Needham appointed Jonathan Gay and Joseph Daniell to treat with Dedham as to the boundary, and on March 10 the mother town chose three men to appeal to the General Court to change the line In favor of Dedham, and the same day Needham selected Jeremiah Woodcock, Joseph Daniell and John Smith, Jr., to maintain that "the Longe Diche, a straite Line from Riuer to Riuer" should be the line. "Sargeant" John Fisher and Robert Cook were added to the committee and directed to answer the Dedham men before the General Court. On April 7 the same citizens, with the exception of Ebenezer Ware in place of Daniell, were chosen "to Come to a Loveng a Greement" with Dedham. The General Court ended the controversy by deciding in favor of the existing line.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The
federal wildfire occurrence database
lists 131 fires within 5 miles of Tolman-Gay House between
2003 and 2020, burning about 390 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
Recreation and ceremony
67
Missing data/not specified/undetermined
45
Smoking
8
Debris and open burning
7
Equipment and vehicle use
2
Power generation/transmission/distribution
1
Other causes
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 15,993 specimens
collected within 10 miles of Tolman-Gay House between 1805 and
1975: 6,559 Animalia, 4,819 Plantae, 4,157 Fungi, 205 Protozoa, 169 Chromista, 52 Unrecorded, 32 Bacteria. 12 distinct Species records are shown.
Collected by ?, ? ex Herb. W.G. Farlow, A C Gibson 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
8 workings within 5 miles of Tolman-Gay House: 6 past producers, 1 producer, 1 unknown.
1 still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, 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.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The National Weather Service names
Needham, the town this property stands in, in 19 storm reports between 2000 and 2023: 8 thunderstorm wind, 5 hail, 4 flood, 2 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.
Flooding reaching the tops of tires in Needham at the intersection of Great Plain Avenue and Ivy Road. The Canton Street railroad underpass in Sharon was flooded. A section of Village Street in Medway was flooded. The exit ramp from U.S. Route 1 near an auto dealership in Norwood was flooded; Dean Street in Norwood was flooded; two sections of University Avenue in Norwood were flooded. Oak Street at Park Street in Medfield was flooded. Albion Road at Cliff Road in Wellesley was flooded; State Route 9 near the Fire Department Headquarters was flooded.
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
3,326 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 Tolman-Gay House stands on 1ts original site, a high point of land on the easterly side of Central Avenue, about 3/4 of a mile south of the original town center. Surrounded by spacious lawns, gardens and shade trees, it is part of a residential neighborhood which has grown up around it within this century. Now expanded, it was constructed in 1743 as a two story, wood frame dwelling with an L-shaped plan. It had a three bay facade (west) and a rear kitchen ell (northwest). The original fieldstone foundation remaining under this portion, measures 25' on the west by 30' on the north (see sketch). It is believed that this house was enclosed by inter- secting gable roofs with a single chimey (which remains today) rising from the intersection.
Today, the Tolman-Gay House retains much of its original interior and exterior building fabric; the primary alteration to the structure has been the extension of the rear ell by two bays sometime atter construction, and by a porch and garage, c. 1930. In addition, its gable roofs have been replaced by hip roots. The three bay facade (west) contains windows in the two northerly bays and the entry in the south bay; windows are located above all three openings at the second story. These windows, along with the rest in the original house, measure 27 1/2" X 45"' and consist of 6/6 double hung sash with simple frames. The two stories are separated by a slight overhang. The north elevation consists of two parts: the westerly end dating trom 1/43, and the easterly end from 1930.
The westerly end is enclosed by a hip roof and exhibits a slight overhang separating the stories.
(in one paragraph) Builder/Architect _ landscape architecture law literature X military music philosophy -politics/government - religion science sculpture social/ humanitarian theater transportation other (specify) Nathaniel Tolman The Tolman-Gay House possess integrity of location, design, materials and workmanship as well as associations with the development of Needham since the mid-eighteenth century. It 15 Important because of its location near the original town center, because its primary occupants, the Tolmans and the Gays, were active in the military and governmental affairs of the town, and because it retains its original design features which reflect its long history. Thus the Tolman-Gay House meets criteria A, B and C of the National Register of Historic Places.
provision: ana the chimney under the same, with the liberty to pass and repass from said east end the barn easterly of the floorway, viz. -the northwardly half with a common use of the floorway and convenient yard room by said barn with liberty to pass and repass from said barn to the same." The barn is long gone, but the division of the house can The name of John Tolman first appears in town records as one of the builders of the Second Meeting House in 1774, where he is identified as a "housewright" or carpenter. It is unknown if Nathaniel was also a carpenter. On the morning of April 19, 1775, at the age of eighteen, John Tolman marched with the East Militia Company of Needham to the Lexington Alarm.
On the afternoon of that day he received a musket ball in the chest at Menotomy, now Arlington, Massachusetts, where the Needham company were harassing the British troops in their retreat from Lexington and Concord. One of his companions on that day was Jonathan Gay, whose son Jonathan Gay, Jr.
Quoted from the National Register nomination
for reference 82004419, 17 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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