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Photograph of Palmer Memorial Hall
Photograph by John Phelan, CC BY 3.0. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Palmer Memorial Hall

Built in 1890 in the Romanesque Revival architecture. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999. 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

“Palmer Memorial Hall is a historic hall at 1029 Central Street in Palmer, Massachusetts, United States. The Romanesque building was designed by New York City architect R.”

Wikipedia article Palmer Memorial Hall, CC BY-SA 4.0.

one of 123 National Register listings in Hampden County · listed in 1999 · category: Building · built in 1890, Romanesque Revival architecture.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

  • What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building, 1 object as contributing to the listing.
  • Address. 1029 Central St., Palmer, 01069
  • When was it listed? 1999-09-03
  • Category. building
  • Township. Palmer Town city
  • When was it built? 1890
  • Architectural style. Romanesque Revival architecture
  • National Register reference number. 99001082 - 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

81 since 2015

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 81 fires within 5 miles of Palmer Memorial Hall between 2015 and 2020, burning about 72 acres in total. 10 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
Equipment and vehicle use44
Missing data/not specified/undetermined12
Recreation and ceremony10
Natural10
Debris and open burning3
Smoking1
Power generation/transmission/distribution1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
9 September 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
4 September 2020Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
22 September 2018Naturalunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
12 September 2016Naturalunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
9 August 2020Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
8 August 2015Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
4 August 2020Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
23 August 2020Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named

Every fire recorded in Hampden County

Specimens collected near this property

12 of 1,097 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 1,097 specimens collected within 10 miles of Palmer Memorial Hall between 1857 and 1975: 550 Fungi, 302 Plantae, 225 Animalia, 15 Chromista, 5 Unrecorded. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. B. Seymour, A. E. Kirk, A. Lavallee 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 SpeciesYear Collected by Where, as recorded
Specimen of Polygonum pensylvanicum L.Polygonum pensylvanicum L.1897Morris,E.L. s.n. [1897-08][label: Flora of North America - Herbarium of E.L. Morris] Monson. Massachussets. Rubbish heaps
A photograph of the species Krigia virginica, not of this specimenKrigia virginica (L.) Willd.1857not recorded
A photograph of the species Carex cephalophora, not of this specimenCarex cephalophora Muhl. ex Willd.1858J. Blake
A photograph of the species Carex vestita, not of this specimenCarex vestita Willd.1858J. BlakeWare
A photograph of the species Castilleja coccinea, not of this specimenCastilleja coccinea (L.) Spreng.1858A. P. Chute
A photograph of the species Celastrus scandens, not of this specimenCelastrus scandens L.1858s.coll.
A photograph of the species Ranunculus flabellaris, not of this specimenRanunculus flabellaris Raf.1858A. P. Chute
Trifolium agrarium L.1858not recorded
A photograph of the species Zizia aurea, not of this specimenZizia aurea (L.) W.D.J.Koch1859A. P. Chute
A photograph of the species Carex tribuloides, not of this specimenCarex tribuloides Wahlenb.1870H. G. JesupBelchertown
Acer spicatum Lam.1891not recorded
Chimaphila umbellata (L.) W.P.C.Barton1891not recordedBelchertown

All 1,097 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries near this property

7 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 7 workings within 5 miles of Palmer Memorial Hall: 5 producers, 2 past producers. 5 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
J J Raczka Sand and GravelSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
J.J. Raczka Sand and Gravel Co. PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Lizak's PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Palmer Bituminous CorpSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Palmer PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Palmer Sand and Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Tobias PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Hampden County

Storms near this property

23 since 1999

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Palmer, the town this property stands in, in 23 storm reports between 1999 and 2024: 15 thunderstorm wind, 4 flood, 2 hail, 2 lightning. The reports record 1 injury. 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
June 2007LightningPalmer1 hurtLightning injured a person in Palmer. The injuries were reported to be minor.
May 2012LightningPalmer$165,000Lightning struck the former Gales Newsstand building in Palmer at the corner of Main and Central Streets, setting the building on fire. The building was lost and the building next door was threatened but saved. No one was injured. Damage amount taken from the value of the building from the assessor's office.
July 2006Thunderstorm WindPalmer$30,000no account filed
July 2008Thunderstorm WindPalmer$15,000Trees and wires in the Bondsville section of town and on Stewert, Maple, and High Streets were downed by thunderstorm winds. One of these trees fell on a house on High Street.
June 2008Thunderstorm WindPalmer$10,000Trees were downed by thunderstorm winds in at least four locations; including on Lathrop, Mill, and Central Streets.
February 2016Thunderstorm WindPalmer$5,000A tree in Palmer was downed by thunderstorm winds.
June 2009Thunderstorm WindPalmer$5,000Trees and wires on Mount Dumplin Road, Breton Street and Knox Street were downed by thunderstorm winds.
June 2008Thunderstorm WindPalmer$5,000Trees and wires on Thompson and Park Streets were downed by thunderstorm winds.
June 2003Thunderstorm WindPalmer$5,000no account filed
July 2013Thunderstorm WindPalmer$3,000A tree on Pine Street was downed by thunderstorm winds.
June 2010Thunderstorm WindPalmer$3,000A tree on Church Street was downed by thunderstorm winds.
June 2008Thunderstorm WindPalmer$3,000Trees were downed by thunderstorm winds.
November 2020Thunderstorm WindPalmer$2,000In Palmer at 958 PM, several trees were reported down across town.
July 2017FloodPalmer$1,000At 656 PM EST, an amateur radio operator reported U.S. Route 20 in Palmer was flooded with manhole covers popped off the road. At 705 PM EST, broadcast media reported flooding on Wilbraham Street, which is Route 20 west of town.
June 2008Thunderstorm WindPalmer$1,000A large tree was downed by thunderstorm winds.
November 2021Thunderstorm WindPalmer$500In Monson, a tree was down on Hovey Road.
July 2024Thunderstorm WindPalmer$300In Palmer, a tree was reported down on a house.
February 2016FloodPalmer-The underpass at Route 181 and Route 20 was flooded with 12 inches of water.
August 2016FloodPalmer-Thorndike Street or Route 32 was flooded both at the underpass with Interstate 90 and near the Big Y supermarket parking lot.
July 2015FloodPalmer-Route 20 was flooded at the train underpass near Route 181 with one and a half feet of water.
August 2007Thunderstorm WindPalmer-Large limbs down on wires.
June 2000HailPalmer-no account filed
July 1999HailPalmer-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Hampden County

Map coverage status

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

8,383 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

Applicable National Register Criteria (Mark "x" in one or more boxes for the criteria qualifying the property for National Register listing.) X A Property is associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history. _B Property is associated with the lives of persons significant in our past. * C Property embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction or represents the work of a master, or possesses high artistic values, or represents a significant and distinguishable entity whose components lack individual distinction. _D Property has yielded, or is likely to yield, information important in prehistory or history.

Criteria Considerations (Mark "x" in all the boxes that apply.) Property is: _A owned by religious institution or used for religious purposes. _ B removed from its original location. _ C a birthplace or grave. _D a cemetery. _ E a reconstructed building, object, or structure. Hampden, MA County and State Areas of Significance (Enter categories from instructions) Architecture Community Development Period of Significance 1890-1949 Significant Dates 1890 Significant Person (Complete if Criterion B is marked above) n/a Cultural Affiliation N/a _ F a commemorative property. _ G than 50 years of age or achieved significance within the past 50 years. Architect/Builder Robert H.

Robertson Flynt Building and Construction Company Narrative Statement of Significance (Explain the significance of the property on one or more continuation sheets.) 9.

The whole case file for this property - 8,383 words, 32 pages, reproduced complete.

Quoted from the National Register nomination for reference 99001082, 32 pages, held by the National Archives in Record Group 79. See the catalogue record.

Listed places nearby

4 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.

Photograph PropertyDistance Listed
US Post Office--Palmer Mainunder 500 feet1985
Union Station0.1 miles1988
Thompson, Jacob, House3.3 miles2020
Memorial Town Hall4.1 miles1984

Sources for this property

National Archives recordThe nomination case file for reference 99001082 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia articleCommunity-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Hampden CountyAll 123 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

  • 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.