Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990. 17 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1888.
“The Prince Osborne House is a historic First Period house in Danvers, Massachusetts. It is a wood-frame structure, five bays wide, with a side-gable roof and clapboard siding.”
Wikipedia article Prince Osborne House, CC BY-SA 4.0.
One of 480 National Register listings published here for Essex County · listed in 1990 · category: Building.
Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service
The chapter on Danvers Town in History of Essex County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1888 names Danvers. This is what it says, exactly as the scans read.
The first and most distinguished name in our early annals has become, in the male line, utterly extinct. In the Danvers directory the name of Endicott appears but once, - " Lydia W., widow of William." The late William Endicott was one of the early antislavery men, was one of the last of the Danversport sea-captains, often served as moderator of townmeetings, and was otherwise prominent in local affairs ; his daughter, Mrs. H. G. Hyde, resides in Danvers, and two sons in Haverhill.
Passage source: History of Essex County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1888.
Downing's son George, who was one of the first graduates of Harvard, became Sir George Downing, a prominent figure in the history of the Old Country in Cromwell's time. The old Ipswich, road, the first higliway connecting Lynn and Boston with the northern settlements, was laid out through this land, and in 1648 one of his tenants was allowed to keep an " ordinary " to accommodate travelers. For a time the Downings let the farm, and in 1666 it was occupied by John Proctor, who subsequently bought a part of it. Proctor, who came from Ipswich, was a strong man in every sense, and he was one of tlie conspicuous victims of the witchcraft delusion. Many of his descendants have been prominent citizens of South Danvers, where the family is still well represented.
Passage source: History of Essex County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1888.
Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.
Read the whole chapter on Danvers Town - 19,549 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.
Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 103 fires within 5 miles of Prince Osborne House between 2003 and 2020, burning about 318 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 1 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 | 24 |
| Debris and open burning | 21 |
| Smoking | 19 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 16 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 8 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 5 |
| Fireworks | 4 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 2 |
| Natural | 1 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 1 |
| Other causes | 1 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 September 2007 | Recreation and ceremony | 1.0 acres | Massachussetts State Fire Marshal's Office | not named |
| 6 September 2007 | Recreation and ceremony | 1.0 acres | Massachussetts State Fire Marshal's Office | not named |
| 5 September 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | BEVERLY |
| 4 September 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | BEVERLY |
| 27 September 2020 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 21 September 2020 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 21 September 2020 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 17 September 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | PEABODY |
Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 7,653 specimens collected within 10 miles of Prince Osborne House between 1800 and 1975: 2,824 Animalia, 2,782 Plantae, 1,140 Fungi, 375 Unrecorded, 369 Chromista, 116 Bacteria, 47 Protozoa. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A B. Proper, A H HIGGINSON, A. A. Eaton 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.
| Image | Species | Year | Collected by | Where, as recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Rhodocollybia prolixa var. distorta (Fr.) Antonín, Halling & Noordel. | 1800 | R. B. Mackintosh | Peabody |
| Erysiphaceae | 1803 | A. B. Seymour | ||
 | Brasenia schreberi J.F.Gmel. | 1821 | not recorded | Pleasant Pond, Wenham, Mass. |
 | Diphyscium foliosum (Hedw.) D.Mohr | 1822 | ALCOTT | |
 | Arcyria oerstedii Rostaf., 1875 | 1826 | F. A. Gilbert | |
 | Glyceria obtusa (Muhl.) Trin. | 1838 | W Oakes | |
 | Lecanora tartarea (L.) Ach. | 1839 | E. Tuckerman | Manchester |
 | Ochrolechia yasudae Vainio | 1839 | Tuckerman, E. | [USA] Manchester, Massachusetts. |
 | Euphorbia polygonifolia L. | 1840 | Wolle, J. | Ipswich |
 | Iva frutescens L. | 1840 | Oakes | ad Ipswich |
 | Potentilla anserina L. | 1840 | Wolle, J. | Ipswich |
 | Sisymbrium officinale (L.) Scop. | 1840 | Oakes | Ipswich |
All 7,653 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.
Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 10 workings within 5 miles of Prince Osborne House: 4 past producers, 4 plants, 2 producers. 6 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Zirconium, Thorium. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (Facility) Travers Labs Refinery--Beverly, Ma. | Mercury, Silver, Gold, REE | Plant | ||
| Hale Engineering Co--Danvers, Ma. | Tungsten | Plant | ||
| Thiokol Ventron Div--Danvers, Ma. | Thorium | Plant | ||
| Camillieri Corp Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Donald Innis Inc | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | Sedimentary | |
| Thiokol Ventron Div--Beverly, Ma. | Zirconium | Plant | ||
| Ventron Corp--Beverly, Ma. | Zirconium | Past Producer | ||
| Danvers Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Essex Bituminous Concrete Products | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | Sedimentary | |
| Peabody Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer |
Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Danvers, the town this property stands in, in 9 storm reports between 1993 and 2018: 5 thunderstorm wind, 2 hail, 1 lightning, 1 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 2018 | Flood | Danvers | $5,000 | At 348 AM EST, amateur radio operator reported a flooded basement on Liberty Street in Danvers. |
| January 2014 | Lightning | Danvers | $4,000 | An isolated lightning strike caused minor damage to the roof of a house on Lakeview Avenue. |
| June 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Danvers | $1,000 | Four inch diameter branches were downed onto Commonwealth and Harvard Avenues. |
| July 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Danvers | - | Several trees down on North Street. |
| August 1994 | Thunderstorm Wind | Danvers | - | Seventy-five to 100 trees were reported blown down and 50 to 60 telephone poles were knocked down, per local police. |
| August 1993 | Thunderstorm Wind | Danvers | - | Numerous trees were downed by thunderstorm winds. |
| August 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Danvers | - | no account filed |
| August 2001 | Hail | Danvers | - | no account filed |
| July 2000 | Hail | Danvers | - | no account filed |
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 reproduced in full on its own page, word for word and 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.
The whole case file for this property - 2,322 words, 17 pages, reproduced complete.
Quoted from the National Register nomination for reference 90000203, 17 pages, held by the National Archives in Record Group 79. See the catalogue record.
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.
| Photograph | Property | Distance | Listed |
|---|---|---|---|
 | James Putnam Jr. House | 0.3 miles | 1990 |
 | Salem Village Historic District | 0.6 miles | 1975 |
 | Derby Summerhouse | 0.6 miles | 1968 |
 | Gen. Israel Putnam House | 0.9 miles | 1976 |
 | Rea Putnam Fowler House | 1.0 miles | 1990 |
 | Peabody Institute | 1.1 miles | 1997 |
| National Archives record | The nomination case file for reference 90000203 in Record Group 79. |
| Wikipedia article | Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA. |
| Essex County | All 480 listed properties in this county. |
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