Category: Natick

John J. Perry House (1856)

by Dan//Houses, Natick, Vernacular

The Perry House, located on Pleasant Street in South Natick, was built in 1856 by John Jones Perry. In 1834, he had married Mary, the daughter of Oliver N. Bacon, author of A History of Natick (1856). Perry also acquired a barn on the property and moved it back from the street where he used it to stable horses used in his coal business. In 1907, the house and barn were purchased by Anna Kneeland Haggerty Shaw, widow of Robert Gould Shaw. She gave the barn (now Shaw Gym) for use by the town and renovated the house to become a children’s home for the Unitarian Society in Boston. The house has since had other owners, who have used it as a private residence.

First Congregational Church of Natick (1876)

by Dan//Churches, Gothic, Natick

The earliest Congregational Church in Natick was founded in 1651 by John Eliot and served the Natick Praying Indians, who were settled in what is now South Natick. After the retirement in 1799 of Rev. Stephen Badger, last pastor to the Praying Indians, a new First Congregational Church was organized to the north in 1802, with construction of a meeting house having already been started in 1799, in what is now the center of Natick. As described in the History of Middlesex County, Vol. I (1890):

The congregation having again outgrown the meeting-house, this was sold to a Universalist Society, which later, becoming extinct, sold the house to the Roman Catholic denomination. This, enlarged, is the Catholic Church of the present day in the centre of Natick. The Congregational Society then erected a third meeting-house upon the site of the one removed, during the years 1853-54, which was dedicated Nov. 15th of the latter year.

Disaster struck on January 13,1874 when, again quoting from the History,

nearly all the business portion of Natick was laid in ashes, including every hall in the place and the Congregational Church, just enlarged and improved at the cost of about $13,000. This loss of the sanctuary rendered necessary the building of a temporary tabernacle, which, in a rough way, was made ready for religious and other purposes as soon as possible, at the cost of about $1700. Additional land was purchased upon the east side of the old church lot, and the erection of the present beautiful brick church edifice commenced, and so far completed that the vestries could be used for public worship April 30, 1876.

The church, built in 1875-1880 and attributed to J.B. Goodall, is an an example of High Victorian Gothic, with a distinctive polychromatic steeple.

Casey’s Diner (1922)

by Dan//Commercial, Natick, Vernacular

A famous Natick landmark is Casey’s Diner, famous for its steamed hot dogs. Casey’s began as a horse-drawn lunch cart on Natick Common. In 1927, Fred Casey purchased a 1922 Diner, originally located in Framingham, and brought it to Natick. The Diner, produced by the Worcester Lunch Car Company, was first on Washington Street and was moved to its current location, on South Avenue, in 1977, to make way for a bank parking lot.

Odd Fellows’ Building, Natick (1888)

by Dan//Commercial, Natick, Organizations, Romanesque Revival

The Tackawanbait Lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows in Natick was named for the town’s Native American minister, Reverend Daniel Takawambpait. Founded in 1845, the Lodge utilized the upper floors of the Odd Fellows’ Building, constructed in 1887-1888 on the corner of Main and Pond Streets off Natick’s Town Common. The Richardsonian Romanesque Odd Fellow’s Block, designed by Ernest N. Boyden of Boston, continues to have retail space on the ground floors. According to the History of Middlesex County, Vol. I (1890), “The first story on Main Street is of iron and plate-glass, while on Pond Street it is of brick and plate-glass. The remaining three stories are constructed of brick with Long Meadow sand-stone trimmings.”

Walcott Building, Natick (1888)

by Dan//Commercial, Natick, Organizations, Romanesque Revival

The last building to be constructed in the aftermath of the 1874 Natick fire is the Walcott Building, also known as the Desban Building, built in 1888 in the Richardsonian Romanesque style. It replaced the Walcott shoe factory on the same site, at the corner of Main and Summer Streets, which burned in 1874. Again quoting from the History of Middlesex County, Vol. I (1890):

The new block is by far the most beautiful and elaborately finished structure in Natick. The lower story on Main Street is constructed of iron and plate-glass, and on Summer street of red sandstone. The upper stories are of brick, with sandstone trimmings. The staircase to the second story is wholly of polished marble, while the flagging-stones of the two fronts are very large and costly stones from the Hudson River Valley, perfectly cut and fitted in the best possible manner. On the lower floor, at the corner, is the spacious, well-lighted and finely decorated store of Leamy & Tilton, with a large stock of new dry-goods and small wares. On the same floor is the Bay State Clothing Store of Hastings & Lowell. On the second floor are six rooms for offices, with a large hall. Above are the elegant quarters of the Red Men, comprising a room for the ladies of the order with ante-rooms.; also the large hall for the society’s gatherings, and their banqueting-hall, with tables and a kitchen and pantry, furnished with ranges and crockery. The walls throughout have been treated with fresco or beautifully-tinted paints, and the entire establishment would be deemed ornamental in any city of our land.

Clark’s Block, Natick (1874)

by Dan//Commercial, Italianate, Natick, Public Buildings

Another building constructed in the immediate aftermath of the Natick fire of 1874 is Clark’s Block on Main Street. As described in the History of Middlesex County, Vol. I (1890):

This, which is the largest business block in Natick, or in this part of the Commonwealth, stands partly upon the site of a similar but smaller structure, which was erected in 1872, only to be burned in the great fire of 1874. That block was about 100 feet in length and three stories high, while the present structure is of the same height, but 260 feet long. The latter, as was true of its predecessor, was built and is owned by Mr. Nathaniel Clark, who, after a long and useful business life, is passing the time of old age with the respect and affection of the entire community.

The chief frontage of this block is on Main Street. The lower story, which is devoted to stores, is occupied as follows: Edward Clark, grocer; E.M.Marshall, watch-maker and jeweler; W. L. Doane, boots and shoes; Qardella & Cuneo, fruits; barber; W. F. Cleland & Co., dry-goods; C. H. Whitcomb, hats and furnishing goods; Arthur W. Palmer, readymade clothing and tailor; James H. Frost, apothecary; Charles W. Ambrose, watch-maker and jeweler; W. F. Demeritt, tailor; W. H. Jones, boots and shoes; George L. Bartlett, dry-goods; Miss C. H. Travis, milliner; Daniels & Twitchell, druggists; Harrison L. Whipple, art-store, dealer in pictures and picture-frames—sixteen stores.

In the second story are the rooms of the Natick National Bank and of the Five-Cents Savings Bank (elsewhere described), of O. J. Washburn, dentist, Judge Null’s law-office and Dislrict Court-room; the offices of tax-collector, of the selectmen, of the overseers of the poor, of the assessors, of the town clerk, of the School Committee and of the chief of police ; the law-offices of James McManus, I. W. Parker, C. Q. Tirrell, G. D. Tower and L. H. Wakefield; office of Dr. William Richards; rooms of John F. Dowsley, dentist; of Miss L. M. Hart, dress-maker, Palmer’s sewing-room and four large rooms occupied by the Natick Citizen Printing and Editing Company. In the third story are four halls, the largest of which—Concert Hall—is more than 100 feet long and well furnished for an audience of 1200 or 1400. This the town uses for all town-hall purposes.

The Italianate building has been restored and rehabilitated over the years and continues to have retail space on the ground floor, with offices above.