Federal Street canal.pdf
Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions 3/10 for completing this form. FORM F − STRUCTURE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Photograph Locus Map Recorded by: Bonnie Parsons Organization: PVPC Date (month /year): November, 2010 Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s)
Form Number 31A-330; 30B-093 Easthampton NTH.428 Town/City: Northampton Place (neighborhood or village): Bay State Village Address or Location: Federal Street Name: Ownership: Public
Private Type of Structure (check one): ___ boat or ship __x_ canal ___ carousel ___ dam ___ fort ___ gate ___ kiln ___ lighthouse ___ pound ___ powderhouse ___ street ___ tower ___ tunnel
___ wall ___ windmill ___other (specify) Date of Construction: ca. 1836 Source: Registry of Deeds Architect, Engineer or Designer: Materials: fieldstone Alterations (with dates): Condition:
poor Moved: no yes Date: Acreage: More than 4 acres Setting: The canal passes behind behind a mill building on Federal Street.
INVENTORY FORMF CONTINUATION SHEET NORTHAMPTON Federal Street MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet
1 NTH.428 Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked, you must attach a completed National Register Criteria Statement form. Use as much space as
necessary to complete the following entries, allowing text to flow onto additional continuation sheets. DESIGN ASSESSMENT Describe important design features and evaluate in terms of
other structures within the community. The Northampton Paper Mill Company canal runs in a west-east direction departing from the Mill River on the south side of Federal Street behind
a row of residences. It then turns north, passes beneath Federal Street in a culvert. The canal has lost most of its stone lining walls but boulders do remain at its margins. It is about
three feet deep and about ten feet across. This section of the canal does not accord with the location location map of the previously submitted form (NTH.428), but is demonstrably a
canal that traces a different path than the adjacent river. HISTORICAL NARRATIVE Explain the history of the structure and how it relates to the development of the community. From the
Form B of 1980, “This canal is first mentioned in an 1836 deed. The owner at that time was the Northampton Paper Mills Company. They purchased the property from the Daniel Butler estate
that same year, and built a 125 x 38’ brick mill. This replaced an earlier paper mill which had been built by Daniel’s brother William about 1790. The c. 1790 paper mill was the first
in Northampton and one of the earliest in western Massachusetts. The site had first been used for a fulling mill, built in 1702 by John Co..bs. The earlier mills were probably more closely
situated to Broughton’s Brook that empties into the Mill River 200 yards farther downstream from the present mill site, and relied on the brook for their motive power.” BIBLIOGRAPHY
and/or REFERENCES “A Chronicle of Industry on the Mill River”, Smith College Studies in History, Volume XXI Nos. 1-4, p. 22, 47. Beers, F. W. County Atlas of Hampshire Massachusetts,
New York, 1873. Hales, John G. Plan of the Town or Northampton in the County of Hampshire, 1831. Miller, D. L. Atlas of the City of Northampton and Town of Easthampton, Hampshire County,
Massachusetts, Philadelphia, 1895. Walker, George H. and Company. Atlas of Northampton City, Massachusetts, Boston, 1884. Walling, Henry F. Map of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, New
York, 1860.
INVENTORY FORMF CONTINUATION SHEET NORTHAMPTON Federal Street MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet
2 NTH.428 National Register of Historic Places Criteria Statement Form Check all that apply: Individually eligible Eligible only in an historic district Contributing to a potential historic
district Potential historic district Criteria: A B C D Criteria Considerations: A B C D E F G Statement of Significance by _____Bonnie Parsons___________________ The criteria that are
checked in the above sections must be justified here. This property would contribute to a Paper Mill Village Historic District for the industry that occupied the site on the Mill River
from 1789 – 1889 and included a water power system, whose canal remains, as well as a boarding house for its workers at 111-117 Milton Street and the Mill Superintendent’s house at 122
Federal Street. Several properties not yet inventoried would contribute to the potential district as well. Subsequent history of the properties would develop further industrial uses
and residences for those associated with the cutlery industry after 1889. The remains of a canal are important as part of a water power system that began in the late 18th century. Architecturally
the buildings in this potential historic district represent Federal and Greek Revival and the common forms constructed for boarding houses, superintendents’ houses, single-family workers’
house and a paper mill.