Peabody School

The Peabody School, built in 1895, is a red brick structure located in the part of Haverhill that was formerly the town of Bradford. The schoolhouse, which faces south onto Salem Street, remains in a semirural setting. To the ast and northeast of the school lies Elm wood Cemetery. oriainally farmland elongng t t keabdy family, whose farmhouse still stands at 172 Salen Street. A residential area adjoins the property to the west. The school is set back about 40 feet from Salem Street, on a lot of approximately 1 1/2 acres that slopes gently from south to north. The school grounds are bounded on the west and south by a stone wall, built in 1937 as a W.P.A. project. The school is an imposing structure, designed in a restrained version of Victorian Romanesque that befitted a municipal building.

The 2 1/2 story school is built into the hillside, with a fully exposed basement visible on the rear, northern side. The building is capped by a hipped roof of dark gray slate, intersected in the center of the front facade by a projecting gable. rectangular chimey rises from the center of the roof, and a cornice of corbelled brickwork with modillion blocks runs along the roofline. The front (south) facade is symmetrical and consists of a central pavilion, incorporating the gable, and flanking bays. Six long wood-framed 4/4 windows, grouped in pairs by common sills and lintels, characterize the first and second floors of the pavilion. On the basement level, six smaller 4/4 windows also have sills and lintels of granite.

The central gable is pierced with three short 4/4 windows--two narrow windows flanking a single wider one--that are united by a common granite sill and lintel.

/Architect C. Willis Damon Statement of Significance (in one paragraph) The Peabody School retains integrity of location, design, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association. Built in 1895, the building holds historical associations with the growth of Bradford (now part of Haverhill), a prosperous residential community for Haverhill manufacturers in the late 19th The imposing Romanesque Revival-style school is a well-conceived reflection of the educationaltheory of the period, with its concern for health, lighting, and thoughtful design. The Peabody School fulfils Criteria A and C of the National Register of Historic Places on the local level.

The town of Bradford (annexed to Haverhill in 1897) was originally part of the Rowley Plantation, settled in 1639, and served as agricultural land for that community. In 1672, Bradford was established as a separate town, settled primarily by immigrants from the Bradford area of England. The area was still ractond area or Engtand Daniel Hardy, a Bradford resident, began the manufacture of shoes in 170, and thereby established a cottage industry that grew to include most households in the Although shoemaking became an increasingly important part of Bradford's economy, the focus of the industry was across the Merrimack River in Haverhill (established 1645).

In 1837, when a railroad bridge was constructed across the river, Bradford's shoe manufacturers moved their plants to Haverhill, and according to a late 19th century local history, "the town has been a quiet place of residence, while its people have been among the most active, industrious and successful in the pursuit of industry. By the 1870s, Haverhill, on the other hand, was known as the "Queen Shoe City." At the time the railroad crossed the Merrimack, only three streets comprised Bradford--Andover, Salem, and Old Ferry Street.