Built in 1898 (Shingle style architecture). Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. 19 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1886.
From the record
“The Ames Schoolhouse is an historic school building at 450 Washington Street in Dedham, Massachusetts. It was originally part of the Dedham Public Schools.”
Wikipedia article Ames Schoolhouse, CC BY-SA 4.0.
One of 342 National Register listings published here for Norfolk County · listed in 1983 · category: Building · built in 1898, Shingle style architecture.
National Register reference number.83004284- 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 falls of Charles River here referred to, are the falls at Newton, and although the distance above the falls is understated in the record, yet the place designated can be none other than that now occupied by | the village of Dedham. This order was the fiat which proclaimed the existence of the settlement of Dedham, and the record therefore properly stands at the beginning of its written history. It marks with certainty the time when the settlement had been definitely determined upon. record clearly implies, the lands described, to some extent, must have been explored, and settlers were ready to undertake the new plantation. The settlement at Watertown, begun in 1630, had already become alarmed at the rapid increase of its inhabitants. The tide of emigration had then set strongly to the shores of Massachusetts Bay, and a new settlement had to be provided. In the preceding spring the General Court had given leave to the inhabitants of Watertown to remove themselves to any place they
The removal from Watertown was gradually effected, and it is probable that the year 1635-36 was mainly spent in preparation for occupying the new settlement. The fact, however, that in the register births of two children in June and July of 1635, would seem sufficient to prove that the plantation was actually begun in that year. It is said that there were twelve of these pioneers who first planted their rude houses upon the plains of Dedham. Although the names of all these cannot now be ascertained, yet among those who were here as early as 1635 were doubtless Edward Alleyne, Philemon Dalton, Samuel Morse, John Dwight, Lambert Genere, Richard Evered, and Ralph Shepherd. Capt. Thomas Cakebread was the military man of the company, but he never came as a settler. Mr. Robert Feake was a prominent man at Watertown, and although his name was first subscribed to the covenant, and he had an Possibly Abraham Shaw was one of the number, as his house and goods at Watertown were burned about - this time.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The
federal wildfire occurrence database
lists 172 fires within 5 miles of Ames Schoolhouse
between 2003 and 2020, burning about 435 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
91
Missing data/not specified/undetermined
49
Smoking
24
Equipment and vehicle use
5
Debris and open burning
3
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 15,594 specimens
collected within 10 miles of Ames Schoolhouse between 1815 and 1975: 5,964 Plantae, 4,750 Fungi, 4,294 Animalia, 292 Protozoa, 191 Chromista, 66 Unrecorded, 37 Bacteria.
12 distinct Species records are shown.
Collected by (MARSDEN, H W), ?, ? ex Herb. W.G. Farlow 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
5 workings within 5 miles of Ames Schoolhouse: 3 past producers, 1 producer, 1 unknown.
1 still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Granite, 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
Dedham, the town this property stands in, in 6 storm reports between 1999 and 2023: 3 thunderstorm wind, 1 lightning, 1 heavy rain, 1 flash flood.
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.
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 Ames School faces northwest on Washington Street (now Route 1A) just south of Dedham's Business District. Set back 120 feet from the street, on a 2.04 acre plot, the School- house is a freestanding structure presently surrounded by an asphalt playground which gradually slopes to the rear (photos 1 and 2). Fire Station, Town Offices, two gasoline stations, and densely packed commercial build- ings; architecturally they comprise Modern, 19th century and Colonial Revival styles. Across the street, and to the west, 19th century houses, separated from the road anc each other by lawns, Shrubs, and large trees, impart a domestic, suburban atmosphere. Several Greek Revival homes of brick or wooden frame constructionlead from the west, along Washington Street, to the Ames Schoolhouse.
Residences also abut the southern property line, but most of them are separated by back yards and a screen of deciduous trees- Occupying the largest site on this part of Washington Street, and standing larger than any of its neighbors, the Ames Schoolhouse physically dominates this area. By its restrained monumentality, and good state of preservation, it emerges not only as a functionally valuable link in Dedham's suburban fabric, but also as a commendable example of school architecture at the turn of the 19th century. Constructed in 1878, the Ames School is an imposing structure exhibiting elements of Colonial Revival and Shingle Style design.
It is symmetrically organized with a recessed central bay flanked by classroom wings, thus creating a H-Shaped plan which satisfied the requirements of a grammar school. It rises two stories from a foundation hangim of roughfaced pink Dedham granite to overhanging hip roofs currently covered with asphalt shingles.
/Architect Luther Greenleaf and Albert W. Cobb Statement of Significance (in one paragraph) The Ames Schoolpossesses integrity of location, design, materials, workmanship, feeding and association. Built on the site of Dedham's first school, it possesses romantic associations with the town's illustrious seventeenth century origins. As an impressive public building it directly represents the town's development as a prosperous suburb. Finally, it is an excellent example of a monumentally scaled turn-of-the-century school in a Colonial Revival/Shingle style design. Thus, the Ames School meets criteria A and C of the National Register of Historic Places. The Ames Schoolhouse was dedicated on Jüne 17th, 1896 to serve children in grades 1-6.
It was erected on the-site of a free school established in 1645 and tried to evoke Dedham's past in both its architectural style and its motto ("'1664" , The Ames SchooIhouse : 1897, named in honor of Fisher Ames, a native of Dedham, a wise statesman, and a friend of Washington"). Records of the dedication reveal that the style of the school was expected to inculcate patriotic virtues in the children who attended it. Funded by general taxation of the entire population, the first Dedham school predated the 1648 statewide decree establishing local public schools. By 1649, a sahoolhouse with a watch tower was built on the site of the present Ames School. Over the years, this became the First Middle School district, ah institution which continued until 1981, when the Ames School closed.
While Dedham is perhaps best known as a Colonial and Federal period town, it continued to develop in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as a prosperous Boston suburb. During the 1880's and 1890's, Dedham outgrew its rural character.
Quoted from the National Register nomination
for reference 83004284, 16 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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