196 Pleasant Street
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FORM B − BUILDING
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Photograph
Topographic or Assessor's Map
Recorded by: Jayne Bernhard-Armington
Organization: Pioneer Valley Planning Commission
Date (month / year): June, 2010
Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
32C-166 Easthampton NTH.949
Town: Northampton
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Address: 196 Pleasant Street
Historic Name: Hayden Foundry & Machine Company /
Chilson Building
Uses: Present: Commercial
Original: Foundry
Date of Construction: circa 1873-1880
Source: 1873 Map & Registry of Deeds
Style/Form: Colonial Revival
Architect/Builder:
Exterior Material:
Foundation: Brick
Wall/Trim: Brick
Roof: Asphalt
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Major Alterations (with dates):
Massive interior center chimney removed post 1975
Condition: good
Moved: no | x | yes | | Date
Acreage: 0.124 acres
Setting: Building sits very close to the street in this former
industrial area of the city. Surrounding land uses include a
lumber yard and auto repair shops, office and retail, multi-
family housing.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [196 PLEASANT STREET]
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.949
___ 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.
The former factory building is a three-and-a-half story brick building that has lost its industrial context as other brick factories that
surrounded it have been removed. However, the building is important in the architectural history of Northampton as it is one of its
earliest Colonial Revival style industrial buildings. It is ten bays wide and six bays deep and has a jerkin-head roof. A three-
and-a-half story ell on the east also has a jerkin head roof. On the main block two end wall chimneys rise through the jerkin
head formation. The building has lost a former center chimney. Quoins mark the building’s corners and give it a deliberate
Colonial Revival style. Modeled on such a building as Rhode Island’s Colony House in Newport designed by Richard Munday in
1739, the Hayden Foundry was likely architect-designed. Joel Hayden’s house and mills in Haydenville set the precedent for the
Hayden family architecture being high-style. Windows are segmentally arched and an original arched entry has been altered,
but the building retains a portion of its original appearance.
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.
Joel Hayden (1793-1873) was a local merchant and manufacturer. He was the embodiment of the successful Jacksonian
capitalist. In Haydenville, he began the manufacture of power looms in 1822. His diversified operations included the production
of door locks and harness trimmings and buttons. The button business he began in 1831 with the help of brother Josiah Hayden,
and the flexible shank button they developed in 1834 (reported as the first made in the country) was so successful that it
eclipsed the button making business of Samuel Williston in Easthampton. The Hayden enterprises were carried on by Joel
Hayden Jr. following the death of his father in 1873.
Was used as the Manhan Potato Chip Company (1941-1945) and then as Chilson’s Awning and Canvas.
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.
Obituary of Joel Hayden, Dail Hampshire Gazette, 11/18/1873
Registry of Deeds: 1398.419-21, 1378.414, 1097.348, 987.387, 962.119, 566.21, 362.201, 227.414