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9 Florence Road Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form. FORM B − BUILDING MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Photograph Topographic or Assessor's Map Please see attached map. Recorded by: Bonnie Parsons Organization: Pioneer Valley Planning Commission Date (month / year): March, 2010 Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number 22D-056-001 Easthampton NTH.2495 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Florence Address: 9 Florence Road Historic Name: Laura Knowles Washington House Uses: Present: single-family residence Original: single-family residence Date of Construction: pre-1873 Source: map of 1873 Style/Form: Colonial Revival Architect/Builder: Exterior Material: Foundation: brick Wall/Trim: clapboards Roof: asphalt shingles Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Major Alterations (with dates): Porch added and enclosed, windows replaced and fenestration altered, portico and end wall chimney added, 1920-2005. Condition: Moved: no | x | yes | | Date Acreage: 1.46 acres Setting: This house is set on a rise in the landscape in a largely residential neighborhood. INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [9 FLORENCE ROAD] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 1 NTH.2495 __x_ 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. ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION: Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings within the community. This is a two-and-a-half story house under a side-gable roof. It is clapboard-sided, has brick foundations and an asphalt shingle roof. The house is five bays wide and three bays deep and has a one-story enclosed porch and portico on its north façade. It has an end wall chimney that was added to it and 1/1 replacement vinyl sash in its windows. The house has been greatly altered, so it has no particular architectural merit and only an interior investigation would confirm that it is indeed a house that dates from the 19th century. Given the potential history of the house, such an investigation is recommended. HISTORICAL NARRATIVE Discuss the history of the building. Explain its associations with local (or state) history. Include uses of the building, and the role(s) the owners/occupants played within the community. This house may have historical significance as it is thought to be the Laura Knowles Washington-George Hodestia House and part of the history of Florence’s Underground Railroad. Thomas Washington born in Maryland and Laura Washington born in Connecticut were listed as Black and 35 years old on the 1855 Massachusetts state census and as living with Rev. Thomas H. Jones in Florence. Thomas Washington was a former slave from Maryland, Laura Washington had been born in Connecticut, and Rev. Jones was a former slave who appears to have taken in other slaves. It is not listed in the 1850 census what the relationship was between Laura and Thomas Washington. The Fugitive Slave Act was passed in 1856 and by 1860 Thomas Washington was no longer listed in Florence. A Laura Washington, wife of John Washington, both Black, were listed in the census of 1860, however, indicating that they were free blacks who had managed to stay in the community rather than flee north after passage of the Act. Laura Washington in the 1860 census is listed as being 30 years old, though this discrepancy is not dis-positive, as ages were unclear at that point in time. The 1873 map of Florence shows a property at this site as the house of Mrs. Washington. In 1880 Laura K. Washington, 55 years old and Black, was keeping house and George Hodestia was a boarder. Hodestia was a former slave from Maryland and worked in the Park Street Cemetery in Florence. L. K. Washington, born in Connecticut, is identified as owning the property on the map of 1884. Joseph Meehan appears in the house in 1895 and still occupied the house in 1915. He was a carpenter. BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES 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. US Federal Censuses 1790-1930. Massachusetts State Census 1855, 1865. Walker, George H. and Company. Atlas of Northampton City, Massachusetts, Boston, 1884. Walling, Henry F. Map of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, New York, 1860. Strimer, Steve. African American Heritage Trail, David Ruggles Center. INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [9 FLORENCE ROAD] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 2 NTH.2495 INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON] [9 FLORENCE ROAD] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 3 NTH.2495 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. The Laura Knowles Washington House may be eligible for listing on the National Register as a part of the multiple resource Underground Railroad Historic District. As the home to a fugitive slave and several free Blacks on the 1855 census, this house would have considerable importance to Florence history and the larger history of the Abolition Movement.