Historic Buildings of Massachusetts

Abiel Smith School (1835)

by Dan/February 20, 2011/Boston, Federal, Schools

In 1798, members of Boston’s black comunity organized a grammar school that met in in the home of Primus Hall, the son of Prince Hall, a community leader whose petitions to allow black children into the city’s school system had long been denied. The school moved to the African Meeting House on Beacon Hill in 1808 and received financial upport frm the city after 1812. In the 1820s, the city finally established two schools for black children. Abiel Smith was a white businessman who died in 1815 and left $4,000 for the education of African American children in Boston. Part of this bequest was used to build the Abiel Smith School, completed in 1834 and dedicated the following year on Belknap Street, now called Joy Street, near the African Meeting House. In 1849, most African-American parents in Boston withdraw their children from the Abiel Smith School to protest the segregation of schools in the city. In 1855, the Massachusetts legislature outlawed segregation and the Abiel Smith School was closed. The building was then used to store school furniture and after 1887 as the headquarters for black Civil War veterans. The restored building is now part of the Museum of African American History. The school is also on Boston’s Black Heritage Trail.

Capt. John Cross House (1804)

by Dan/February 18, 2011January 22, 2020/Federal, Houses, Marblehead

The house at 8 Washington Square in Marblehead was built in 1804 for Capt. John Cross, a mariner. Around 1886, it was the residence of Mary G. Brown, librarian at the Abbot Public Library.

Capt. Nathaniel Norden House (1686)

by Dan/February 17, 2011January 22, 2020/Colonial, Houses, Marblehead

Capt. Nathaniel Norden House, Marblehead

The Capt. Nathaniel Norden House, at 15 Glover Square in Marblehead, was built around 1686 with an integral lean-to. According to Eben Putnam’s Lieutenant Joshua Hewes (1913),

Capt. Nathaniel Norden of Marblehead, son of Samuel, was born 27 Nov., 1653. He was at first a mariner, and later a prosperous merchant. He was one of the selectmen of Marblehead in 1690, and that year he and Capt. Legg are asked by the General Court to explain why they have not kept better order at Marblehead. He was of the Council for Massachusetts, 1708-23.

A later resident of the house was the loyalist Ashley Bowen in the 1760s. As described by Samuel Roads in The History and Traditions of Marblehead,

Though there had been Roman Catholics in Marblehead for many years, there was no attempt to have a celebration of the mass in town until the year 1851. During that year, the Rev. Thomas Shehan, pastor of St. James Church, Salem, visited the town, and celebrated mass in the house of Mr. Dennis Donovan, on the corner of Prospect and Commercial streets. Father Shehan afterwards came to Marblehead twice a year for the purpose of hearing confessions and administering the Holy Communion, the services being held alternately at the house of Mr. Donovan and that of Mr. John Mahoney, on Glover Square [aka the Norden House].

Old West Church, Boston (1806)

by Dan/February 13, 2011/Boston, Churches, Federal

The original Old West Church in Boston was a wood-frame building, built in 1737. It was used as barracks by British soldiers during the occupation of Boston, but they soon razed the structure in 1775 due to concerns that supporters of the Revolution were sending signals to Cambridge from its steeple. The church was finally rebuilt in 1806. It was designed by Asher Benjamin and has similarities to his earlier Charles Street Meeting House of 1804. Originally a Congregationalist church, Old West Church was deeded to the City of Boston in 1894 to serve as the West End Library. The church remained a library until 1962, when a new library was built. Since 1964, Old West Church has been home to a Methodist congregation.

Solomon B. Griffin House (1904)

by Dan/February 11, 2011January 21, 2020/Houses, Organizations, Springfield, Tudor Revival

The Solomon B. Griffin House, at 185 Mill Street in Springfield, was built in 1904. It was designed by Charles E. Hamilton in the Tudor or English Revival style. Griffin was an author and managing editor of the Springfield Republican newspaper for many years. Today, the house is Amity Lodge 172 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

Rev. Samuel G. Buckingham House (1875)

by Dan/February 9, 2011January 21, 2020/Houses, Springfield, Stick Style

At 141 Mill Street in Springfield is a Stick-style house built in 1875. It was the home of Rev. Samuel G. Buckingham, who in 1847 had begun his forty-year tenure as pastor at South Congregational Church. Rev. Buckingham was the brother of William A. Buckingham, Governor of Connecticut during the Civil War, about whom he wrote a biography.

Julius H. Appleton House (1886)

by Dan/February 8, 2011January 21, 2020/Houses, Queen Anne, Springfield, Stick Style

Julius Henry Appleton (1840-1904) of Springfield was president and treasurer of the Riverside Paper Company. According to the Genealogical and Personal Memoirs Relating to the Families of the State of Massachusetts, Vol II (1910):

under his management the business grew from a capacity of two tons a day to twenty-three tons a day when he retired, after continuous service of twenty-seven years, on the formation of the American Writing Paper Company in 1899. […] Mr. Appleton was a prominent member of the South Church. In politics he was a Republican. He was a member of the city council in 1869 and 1874, and in the council of Governor Crane in 1901 and 1902. He served on the state board of health seven years. He was a director of the Springfield City Library, and on his retirement from active business, gave generously to the Holyoke City Library and the City Hospital and House of Providence of that city. As a trustee of the Horace Smith estate he was interested in the distribution of aid to institutions and individuals so quietly that its extent was little appreciated by the general public.

Julius H. Appleton’s Queen Anne/Stick Style house, at 313 Maple Street in Springfield, was built around 1886.