Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. 18 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1886.
From the record
“The Lyman Block is a historic commercial building at 83-91 Main Street in Brockton, Massachusetts. Built in 1876 for a local business group, it is a fine local example of Italianate style, and one of the elements of a group of four well-preserved 19th-century commercial buildings in the city.”
Wikipedia article Lyman Block, CC BY-SA 4.0.
One of 138 National Register listings published here for Plymouth County · listed in 1982 · category: Building.
National Register reference number.82004430- 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.
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.
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.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The
federal wildfire occurrence database
lists 445 fires within 5 miles of Lyman Block
between 2005 and 2020, burning about 188 acres in total. 5 started naturally. 8 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 burning
217
Missing data/not specified/undetermined
137
Misuse of fire by a minor
31
Recreation and ceremony
30
Smoking
16
Arson/incendiarism
8
Natural
5
Fireworks
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 785 specimens
collected within 10 miles of Lyman Block between 1857 and 1975: 432 Plantae, 216 Fungi, 134 Animalia, 1 Chromista, 1 Protozoa, 1 Unrecorded.
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.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists
12 workings within 5 miles of Lyman Block: 9 past producers, 2 producers, 1 plant.
3 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.
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.
Numerous 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.
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.
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.
Description of the property
The 1876 Lyman Block is located in downtown Brockton at the corner of Main Street and Legion Parkway. It is a four story, twelve bay wide structure constructed of red brick with brownstone lintels and sills which are surmounted by a console bracketed sheet metal cornice. Two elongated brick panels form an additional horizontal element between the top floor windows and the cornice. The brownstone lintels are articulated by incised floral ornaments and the console brackets are highlighted with acanthus decoration. An additional embellishment to the main facade is a stone panel between the third and fourth floor with incised letters indicating the name of the building.
The use of these materials and motifs is repeated in the adjoining Howard Block which is stylistically similar to the Lyman Block and also erected in 1876. Together they consti- tute half of the intact 19th century Main Street block between High Street and Legion - o oron lie sero ni locem ! Parkway. The central bay of the Lyman Block is denoted by its larger size and variation of seg- mental lintels. The windows were originally double hung, 2/2 but are now fixed sash with hopper. The Lyman Block is shorter than the Howard Block because of the latter's upper story public hall. The granite quoins which visually delineate the separation of the Lyman Block from the Howard Block also indicate the existence of a party wall between them.
These granite quoins, which are also at the corner of the Lyman Block, enframe its facade. The first floor along Main Street was originally open, with storefronts. Seven granite columns and a 12" x 12" timber beam supported the masonry above. The center bay served as the entrance to the floors above.
/Architect Unknown Statement of Significance (in one paragraph) The Lyman Block is an excellent example of 19th century commercial development. Constructed in 1876 to serve as the new home of the prominent furniture and casket manufacturers Howard Clark & Co., it forms an integral part of the largest and most prominent block of 19th century build- ings remaining in Brockton. With the destruction of the historic Bixby Block/Home Bank Building (Iormer NR) by fire in 1979, this group of buildings has become one of the focal points of the Main Street business district. The building therefore meets criteria B and C of the National Reigster of Historic Places. Lyman Clark, Rufus Kimball, E.G, Rhodes, and W.H.
Savage were the owners of Howard, Clark & Co., at the time of construction, but Clark, for whom the building was named, must have held a major interest. At age 70 when construction began, Clark was the oldest partner. He had founded the firm in 1829 with Samuel Howard, the furniture maker, to whom Clark was apprenticed at age 16. Clark became active in real estate, and was the owner of many of Brockton's buildings by the tim of his death in 1885.
Lyman Clark must have used his first name to identify the 1876 structure because a "Clark Block" already existed, standing at the corner of Main Street and Centre Street, directly across from the Lyman Block._ The Clark Block, erected five years earlier, was three stories in height, but identical to the Lymar and Howard Buildings in architectural detail The quoins, brownstone, structures lintels, and bracketed cornice were copied directly from the earlier no demolished). Howard Clark & Co., was a prominent furniture manufacturer long before construction of the Lyman Block.
Quoted from the National Register nomination
for reference 82004430, 15 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.
Block
