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
“The Middleborough Waterworks are historic waterworks on E. Grove St. at Nesmasket River and Wareham St. at Barden Hill Road in Middleborough, Massachusetts.”
Wikipedia article Middleborough Waterworks, CC BY-SA 4.0.
one of 93 National Register listings in Plymouth County · listed in 1990 · category: District · one of 1 National Historic Landmarks in Plymouth County.
National Register reference number.90000129- 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.
Fires near this property
115 since 2015
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The
federal wildfire occurrence database
lists 115 fires within 5 miles of Middleborough Waterworks between
2015 and 2020, burning about 106 acres in total. None started naturally. 2 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
61
Missing data/not specified/undetermined
34
Misuse of fire by a minor
13
Recreation and ceremony
4
Arson/incendiarism
2
Smoking
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 830 specimens
collected within 10 miles of Middleborough Waterworks between 1855 and
1975: 368 Plantae, 251 Animalia, 192 Fungi, 15 Protozoa, 4 Unrecorded. 12 distinct Species records are shown.
Collected by A. B. Seymour, A. Humes, A. K. Harrison 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
14 workings within 5 miles of Middleborough Waterworks: 7 past producers, 5 producers, 2 unknowns.
5 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Clay. Distance is straight-line from the
map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring
settlement's page as well.
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
6,326 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.
Statement of significance
Certifying official has considered the significance of this property in relation to other properties: nationally X statewide LX locally Applicable National Register Criteria XA Criteria Considerations (Exceptions) Areas of Significance (enter categories from instructions) Architecture Community Planning & Developinent Engineering XC Period of Significance 1885 - 1921 Significant Dates Cultural Affiliation N/A Significant Person Architect/Builder Blake, Perey M.; Boyden,Ernest N.; Weston, robert Spurr; Sampson, George faunce, Q. A.; State significance of property, and justify criteria, criteria considerations, and areas and periods of significance noted above.
The Middleborough Waterworks, a late 19th century pumping station with early 20th century ancillary structures, possesses integrity of location, design, materials, workmanship, and association. The pumping station and original well are significant as an intact engineering complex designed by the prominent waterworks engineer Percy M. Blake. Architecturally, the station is significant as a well-detailed, intact example of the work of the Boston architect Ernest N. Boyden. The deferrization plant, completed in 1913 to the designs of Robert Spurr Weston, is one of the earliest examples in the United States of a water treatment plant for iron removal; it remains in service with few modifications.
The Tower Tank, constructed of reinforced concrete in 1915, was the first such tank in Massachusetts to be constructed of that material and held to be the highest in the world at the time of its construction. The tower has been out of service since 1970. Included within the boundaries of the discontiguous district are two noncontributing structures: a five-million-gallon standpipe constructed in 1970, and a concrete and brick maintenance garage, constructed in 1975. The period of significance of the Middleborough Waterworks spans the years from the pumping station's construction in 1885 to 1921, when the water department was reorganized and electric pumps replaced the original steam equipment.
Quoted from the National Register nomination
for reference 90000129, 22 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.
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