Monthly Archives: November 2011

Dr. S. H. Spaulding House (1829)

Posted on November 30, 2011 by Daniel

Dr. Stephen Hodgman Spaulding (1787-1866) was born in Chelmsford and studied three years at the Harvard Medical School. As described in the History of Middlesex County, Vol. III (1890):

He commenced practice in Littleton, Mass., remained a few years, then removed to Dublin, New Hampshire, where he secured an excellent and lucrative practice. After a few years he found that the severity of the winters, and the almost impassable state of the roads—being obliged to travel with snowshoes without any regard to boundary lines or fences —was telling upon his health, and this decided him to accept an invitation to settle in South Natick, Mass., where again he succeeded in building up an extensive practice.
In about 1841 he removed to Newton Upper Falls, and associated himself with his son-in-law, Dr. Samuel S. Whitney, who had married his only child, Sarah W. Spalding, in general practice. In 1843 his house and stable were burned. He then settled in Reading, Mass., and continued in practice there for several years. Later in life, after an active practice of thirty years, he retired, and removing back to South Natick, made that his home till he died. In his last years he was a great sufferer from disease. He was a member of the Unitarian Church and Parish of South Natick, and the large number at his funeral attested the respect and esteem of his towns-people.

His 1829 hipped-roof house is at 42 Eliot Street in South Natick.

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Springfield City Library (1911)

Posted on November 30, 2011 by Daniel

Springfield’s City Library Association was formed in 1857. After occupying a room in City Hall, a red-brick Gothic style building was erected at the corner of State and Chestnut Streets in 1863. When this building was outgrown, plans were made to erect a larger structure. Andrew Carnegie donated funds to build the central library and three branches. In order to continue providing library service during construction of the new building, the old library was moved back 200 feet to make room for the new one. Charles R. Trask, one of the old library’s original builders, was hired to move it (it was later torn down). Christ Church also moved its Rectory to the other side of the church. The new library, designed by Edward Lippincott Tilton in the Italian Renaissance Revival style, was built of reinforced concrete with a pink granite base, white Vermont marble, and has a frieze of white terra cotta. The building was completed in 1911 and opened in January, 1912. (more…)

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Fisher House (1830)

Posted on November 29, 2011 by Daniel

The Fisher House, at 227 South Pleasant Street in Amherst, was built in 1830, possibly by brick mason Hiram Johnson. The house was used as a school by the Nelson sisters, but opinion is divided as to whether or not Emily Dickinson attended school there or not in 1837. Amherst College purchased the house from Anna A. Fisher, wife of G. Edward Fisher, in 1917 and it served for a time as a student residence. It is now a single family home.

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Wilson Admission Center, Amherst College (1810)

Posted on November 29, 2011 by Daniel

In 1780, Colonel Elijah Dickinson of Amherst married Jerusha Smith. Jerusha’s grandfather, Dr. Nathaniel Smith, had moved from Hadley about 1730 to become the first physician to practice in Amherst. He built a log cabin, next to what would later become College Hill, and eventually replaced the cabin with a new house, painted yellow. This house was moved to South Pleasant Street to make way for a new Federal-style house, built by Col. Dickinson in 1810. Dickinson gave the land on which Amherst College would be built. The house was later owned by John White. Known as the White Homestead, it was purchased by Amherst College from the White Family in 1924. It served as the College’s Faculty Club and was later converted to become the Wilson Admission Center, named for former Dean of Admission Eugene S. Wilson.

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Thomas Bodkin House (1729)

Posted on November 28, 2011 by Daniel

The Thomas Bodkin House is at 6 Union Street in Marblehead. In its earliest form, it was a gambrel-roofed house, built in 1729 by Thomas Bodkin, a brewer and merchant, around the time of his marriage to Sarah Rhodes. His brewery was located in a separate building behind the house. Bodkin lived in Marblehead until 1748. The house was later owned by Capt. Benjamin Hind who, around 1765, connected the brewery with the main house, which he also enlarged. Hind was responsible for laying out Union Street, which had previously been a cart path.

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74 Bridge Street, Northampton (1866)

Posted on November 28, 2011 by Daniel

Designed by William F. Pratt, the house at 74 Bridge Street in Northampton was built in 1866 as the First Parish parsonage. It was later owned by the Shepard, Parsons and Damon families and was an inn. Today, it is the Historic College Inn of Northampton.

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Masonic Block, Northampton (1898)

Posted on November 19, 2011 by Daniel

The Masonic Block, at 25 Main Street in Northampton, is a Classical Revival commercial and office structure which, given its name, no doubt also once had a Masonic Hall. Its architect was R. F. Putnam and it was built in 1898. The law office of Calvin Coolidge, who later became president, was located in the central section of the building from 1898 to 1918.

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