or Location: Federal 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: 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 a mill building on
Federal Street.
INVENTORY FORM F CONTINUATION SHEET NORTHAMPTON Federal Street
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY 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 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 FORM F CONTINUATION SHEET NORTHAMPTON Federal Street
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY 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.