or Location: Arch Street
Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form. 3/10
FORM F − STRUCTURE
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Photograph
Locus Map
Recorded by: Bonnie Parsons
Organization: Pioneer Valley Planning Commission
Date (month / year): November 23, 2010
Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
11B-A Easthampton NTH.903
Town/City: Northampton
Place (neighborhood or village): Leeds
Address or Location: Arch Street
Name: New Haven and Northampton Railroad Overpass
at Arch Street Ownership: Public Private
Type of Structure (check one):
___ boat or ship
___ canal
___ carousel
___ dam
___ fort
___ gate
___ kiln
___ lighthouse
___ pound
___ powderhouse
___ street
___ tower
___ tunnel
___ wall
___ windmill
___other (specify) Railroad overpass
Date of Construction: ca. 1867
Source: date of completion of railroad line
Architect, Engineer or Designer:
Materials: granite
Alterations (with dates):
Rails removed and rail bed became a rail trail.
Condition: good
Moved: no yes Date:
Acreage: under one acre
Setting: The overpass is located in a residential area.
INVENTORY FORM F CONTINUATION SHEET NORTHAMPTON ARCH STREET
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.903
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 Arch Street overpass is a stone arch approximately 17 feet high from pavement to overpass top, 24 feet deep measured
along the inner face of the arch, and 40 feet wide from outer edge of wing to outer edge of wing. The arch is made of rough-
faced granite blocks of varying size. There may be several blocks of stone other than granite in the mix, but the majority of the
blocks are a grey granite. A row of keystones frames the arch; the balance of the stonework is made up of rows of random -
sized blocks. All the stones are mortared together. At each side of the arch on both sides of the overpass wing walls curve
toward the roadway and are laid in stepped, parapet fashion. Between the wing walls is a compacted earth berm that carries the
rail trail to and away from the stone arch over the street.
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE
Explain the history of the structure and how it relates to the development of the community.
From the Form F of 1980, “This large stone arch was built to carry the tracks of the Williamsburg division of the New Haven and
Northampton Railroad over Arch Street just south of its junction with Florence Road. This branch railroad opened in 1867 and
tied the industrial villages of Williamsburg as well as Leeds and Florence in Northampton to the main railroad line running north-
south along the Connecticut River. The arch is similar in material, shape and design to the Beaver Brook Arch located off River
Road, which is also for the Williamsburg division of the New Haven-Northampton Railroad.”
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES