36 Park Street
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
23A-025 Easthampton NTH.2543
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village) Florence
Address: 36 Park Street
Historic Name: Adeline Bowers House
Uses: Present: single-family residence
Original: single-family residence
Date of Construction: 1854
Source: Registry of Deeds
Style/Form: front-gabled
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: not visible
Wall/Trim: wood shingles
Roof: asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Wood shingles added as siding, windows replaced, ca.
2000.
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.419 acres
Setting: House faces west towards the Park Street
Cemetery.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [36 Park Street]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.2438
__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 small house, one-and-a-half stories in height under a front-gabled roof. It is three bays wide with a side hall entry on
the first story and a single window at the second story of the east façade similar to its neighbor at 32 Park Street. The house
has a cross gable bay on its north elevation and a secondary entry on its south elevation. Window sash is 1/1. This house
represents the smaller, rental housing that went up on Park Street to accommodate families that came to work in Florence’s
industries.
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.
Park Street began to be developed in 1854 when Isaac Parsons filed a subdivision plan for Park, Meadow and Prospect Streets.
Within six years there were five new houses on the street’s west side with Adeline Bowers owning two and Parsons owning
three. Parsons was a store owner who also invested in real estate owning a fourth house on Park Street as well as one on
Corticelli Street. Adeline Bowers owned this and the house next door to it on the south, though she does not appear in the
federal censuses for 1850 and 1860. Rather, in the 1955 state census Adeline E. Bowers lived in Bellingham, Massachusetts
with a husband and two daughters. He was a bootmaker. By 1884 the two houses had been sold and were owned by J. Riley
(#36) and F. Main (#30). In 1895 West Center Street is in and a new house is north of it. Charles E. and Mary Gould owned this
house, though he is listed in the 1895 directory as living at 30 Maple Street. Gould was superintendent of the Northampton
Water works, then treasurer of the Northampton Electric Light Company. They lived with their daughter Mary Gould who was
treasurer of the Florence Savings Bank and a fire insurance agent and this house was probably rented out as an investment.
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.
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 B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [36 Park Street]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 2
NTH.2438
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 Florence Center Historic District. The potential historic district of Florence
Center is significant as the commercial, residential, institutional center of the village that developed from 1657 when
it was set off as Northampton’s “Inner Commons” as agricultural land and 1681 when the first sawmill was erected at
a falls on the Mill River. The agricultural and industrial village developed through the 18th and 19th centuries around
industry on the Mill River, agriculture on the alluvial flood plain and the Strong Tavern and later Cottage Hotel at the
intersection of Main and Maple Streets. It is significant for the silk industry that flourished through the Civil war as
an alternative to slave-picked cotton and for the establishment of the Northampton Association for Education and
Industry, a utopian community that existed 1843-1847. Association members after its close continued in Florence
their principles of equality by running the Underground Railroad through the village and harboring fugitive slaves. It
is significant as the home of Sojourner Truth. 19th century industry in the Center included the Florence Sewing
Machine Company, which built its own housing.
Architecturally the Center is significant for the range of Gothic Revival, Italianate, Stick Style, French Second
Empire, Queen Anne and Colonial Revival style homes, for its commercial blocks and library in the Revival styles of
the late 19th century. Gothic Revival and Italianate style churches are architect-designed in high style versions. The
potential district has integrity of workmanship, design, feeling, association, and materials.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [36 Park Street]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 3
NTH.2438