Photographs from the nomination case file, National Park Service records.
Mystic Gatehouse
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in
1990. 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
“Burlington, Lexington, Stoneham, Andover, and their adjoining towns. Magoun's first purchase of it was trees standing in what is now Winchester.”
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 1990 · category: Structure · one of 3 National Historic Landmarks in Middlesex County.
Also known as. Water Supply System of Metropolitan Boston MPS
Township. Medford city
National Register reference number.89002284- 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.
Strenuous efforts were made to defeat the petition, but without success. Some inhabitants of Medford, who would be included in the new town, opposed this separation from their old friends. The act of separation and the act for the incorporation of Winchester were passed together, April 30, 1850. The act defines the bounds of Winchester, but does not state what territory was taken from each of the old towns, out of which the new town is made. The regulations and conditions respecting debts, paupers, congressional districts, &c, were made, which usually accompany such acts. Thus Medford lost a large tract of excellent land, and became separated territorially from many long-cherished and valuable friends.
At Baconville, now in Winchester, Medford had a factory, first owned by Mr. Josiali Symmes. About forty years ago, a company of Boston gentlemen purchased the water-power of Mr. Symmes, for the purpose of setting in motion a new machine for spinning yarn for the manufacture of broadcloth. This project, introduced by a Frenchman, failed; and the mill-power was then applied to the manufacture of wood screws, by a machine entirely new. This would have succeeded; but, the war of 1812 with Great Britain having ended, wood screws were imported from England so cheap as to render competition ruinous. John L. Sullivan, Esq., the chief agent, afterwards sold the establishment to Mr. Stowell for $4,000, through whom it came into possession of its present owner, Robert Bacon, Esq. He has built three factories and two dwelling-houses, which have been burned ; three in 1840, the last in 1843.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The
federal wildfire occurrence database
lists 75 fires within 5 miles of Mystic Gatehouse between
2015 and 2020, burning about 99 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
11
Recreation and ceremony
10
Smoking
2
Misuse of fire by a minor
2
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 1,845 specimens
collected within 10 miles of Mystic Gatehouse between 1898 and
1975: 795 Animalia, 575 Plantae, 407 Fungi, 30 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
15 workings within 5 miles of Mystic Gatehouse: 7 past producers, 6 plants, 2 producers.
8 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Iron, Lead, Peat. 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
Winchester, the town this property stands in, in 5 storm reports between 1995 and 1999: 4 flash flood, 1 thunderstorm wind.
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.
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
1,225 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.
Statement of significance
: Criteria Criteria A & C are applicable; they were inadvertantly unspecified in editing the individual inventory form. This information was confirmed with Betsy Friedberg, National Register Director, MASHPO, by telephone.
DISTRIBUTION: National Register property file Nominating Authority (without nomination attachment) UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES EVALUATION/RETURN SHEET REQUESTED ACTION: NOMINATION PROPERTY Mystic Gatehouse NAME: MULTIPLE Water Supply System of Metropolitan Boston MPS NAME: STATE & COUNTY: MASSACHUSETTS, Middlesex DATE RECEIVED: 12/05/89 DATE OF 16TH DAY: 1/04/90 DATE OF PENDING LIST: 12/19/89 DATE OF 45TH DAY: 1/19/90 DATE OF WEEKLY LIST: REFERENCE NUMBER: 89002284 NOMINATOR: STATE REASONS FOR REVIEW: N PDIL: REQUEST: N SAMPLE: COMMENT WAIVER: N LACCEPT _RETURN ABSTRACT/SUMMARY COMMENTS: N PROGRAM UNAPPROVED: N N SLR DRAFT: Y NATIONAL: N REJECT 1/18/70 DATE rpelatl Mitack mid-12h-contur .
bldg.tupe and associated unta huptic water uirlre septeno. RECOM./CRITERIA Aceept ard REVIEWER Nauz DISCIPEINE Crchekstmal Histery DATE 01- 18-90 DOCUMENTATION see attached comments Y/N see attached SLR(y) CLASSIFICATION _count resource type STATE/FEDERAL AGENCY CERTIFICATION FUNCTION historic current DESCRIPTION architectural classification materials descriptive text SIGNIFICANCE Period Areas of Significance--Check and justify below Specific dates Builder/Architect Statement of Significance (in one paragraph) summary paragraph completeness clarity applicable criteria justification of areas checked relating significance to the resource context relationship of integrity to significance justification of exception other BIBLIOGRAPHY
Quoted from the National Register nomination
for reference 89002284, 8 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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