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.
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.
According to The History of the Town of Amherst (1896):
Chauncey W. Lessey, son of Alanson, was born in New Fairfield, Conn. in 1837. He came to Amherst in 1865, and engaged in business as a building contractor. He built the First church, Grace church, Walker hall, Palmer’s block and many dwelling-houses. He was for five years chairman of the board of selectmen and for many years one of the assessors. He represented the town in the General Court in 1876. He was a leading member of Grace church. For several years he was a trustee of the Amherst Savings bank. He married, Melvina Swanger. He died Aug. 26, 1877.
He also built his own stylistically eclectic home, at 94 Lessey Street, about 1870. After Lessey’s widow moved out of the house, it was purchased by Levi Stockbridge in 1886. Stockbridge was a farmer and agricultural scientist from Hadley who was instrumental in the early history of the Massachusetts Agricultural College, now UMASS. He helped clear the land for the school and was its first farm superintendent (1867-1869). He was later a full professor (1872-1879), acting president (when President William Smith Clark left for Japan in 1876), and fifth president (1880-1882). Stockbridge also had a hand in the development of the Massachusetts Agricultural Experiment Station. As a scientist, he held patents for his experiments in fertilizer development, nutrient leaching and soil mulching and wrote Experiments in Feeding Plants (1876). He also served in the state legislature and as a Selectman of Amherst.
John McClellan was a lawyer in Woodstock, Connecticut, active in the first half of the nineteenth century. His law office in Woodstock, built around 1796, was acquired by Old Sturbridge Village in 1962 and was moved there in 1965.
On Washington Street, off Market Square, in Marblehead is a house built in 1735 for Capt. Benjamin Stacy, hatter and innholder of the Three Cods Tavern. Benjamin Stacy married Tabitha Glover. She was the widow of Jonathan Glover and her son, John Glover, who would play an important role in the Revolutionary War, grew up in the Stacy House. The house was enlarged around 1770 by John Sparhawk, a merchant.
On State Street, near Washington Street, in Marblehead is a gambrel-roofed house which, according to the historic marker on the house, was built in 1795 by Benoice Johnson, cabinet maker, for John Adams, mariner. The facade of the house is now Greek Revival, so it was probably altered in the second quarter of the nineteenth century.
Built about 1855, the Enos Cook House stands at 30 Boltwood Walk (formerly 10 Lessey Street) in Amherst. Enos Foster Cook, a prominent Amherst businessman and entrepreneur, was president of the Amherst Savings Bank from 1870 until his death in 1909, at the age of 93. His house, an early example of the Stick style combined with Gothic and Georgian elements, became a nursing home in 1955. A north wing was added in 1960. More recently, the former house has been used as a restaurant with additional space for other businesses.
