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Section 2 Rev. 09-21-2022 Section 2. Introduction 2.1. Historic Preservation Planning 2 2.2. Historic Context and Major Themes in History of the City of Northampton 4 2.3. History of Historic Preservation Planning in Northampton 21 2.4. Annotated List of Preservation Partners and Stakeholders in Northampton 28 Sustainable Northampton Historic Preservation Element / Section 2 2 Section 2.1. INTRODUCTION TO HISTORIC PRESERVATION PLANNING Historic preservation has long celebrated our community history. For the last fifty years, historic preservation has helped us maintain and enhance the character of our community through the municipal planning process. The Northampton Historical Commission was established in 1973 under G.L. c. 40 § 8d to preserve, protect, and develop the city’s historic and cultural resources. Working in partnership with public and private entities, the Historical Commission is the municipal agency responsible for ensuring that preservation concerns are considered in community planning and development decisions. Northampton’s historic and cultural resources are finite, nonrenewable, and dwindling in number. Tangible evidence of growth and change in Northampton over centuries, they are major character-defining features of Northampton’s cultural landscape and heritage, and convey a sense of place. Examples include buildings, areas and neighborhoods, agricultural landscapes and parks, cemeteries, objects such as statues, and structures such as canals and bridges.1 These resources reflect patterns of human activity, some still not yet fully understood, through their design, construction, use, and survival. They derive their significance from their location, setting, and appearance as much as from their history. While certain resources may stand alone for their exceptional significance in local history, most are significant for their contribution to the unique character of the areas and neighborhoods that distinguish Northampton from other communities. Preservation planning is the process by which we identify, evaluate, and protect Northampton’s historic and cultural resources. To set community priorities for preservation, we began in the early 1970s to identify where these resources are and what form they take, consider their history and state of preservation, then evaluate which are most significant and best contribute to defining the city’s character. We look at Northampton’s historic places in a communitywide context, to understand how the full range of historic resources represents intertwined themes in the city’s history. As standards for identification and evaluation have evolved in recent decades to justify and support protection measures, we continue to update the city’s historic properties inventory. Preservation planning helps ensure the public interest in historic places is protected. In 1955, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court held that establishing special act historic districts in Boston (Beacon Hill) and Nantucket was constitutional and in the interest of the public welfare. Demolition and clearance of other historic places through projects funded with tax dollars, such as federal urban renewal programs and interstate highway construction in the 1950s and 1960s, demonstrated that historic resources merited further 1Archaeological sites are critical historic and cultural resources in Northampton that require treatment in a separate document designed to safeguard the locations of those sites. Sustainable Northampton Historic Preservation Element / Section 2 3 consideration through emerging environmental review and permitting procedures. The National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 established a process to eliminate, minimize, or mitigate potential adverse effects of federal projects on historic and cultural resources listed in the National Register of Historic Places. In 1982, the Massachusetts Historical Commission (MHC), the State Historic Preservation Office, established a parallel process to assess the impact of state projects on historic and cultural resources listed in the State Register of Historic Places. Under the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act (MEPA), the MHC also considers the environmental impact of state agency activity on properties in the State Register as well as the statewide historic properties inventory.2 Like natural resources, historic and cultural resources merit careful consideration in the municipal planning and environmental review process. “Saving it all” is not the goal of preservation planning, which recognizes that new development will occur. The preservation planning process is designed to encourage objective analysis of Northampton’s historic and cultural resources and to inform decisions about which resources are most important to the community and merit preservation. The greatest protection is achieved at the local level. Northampton has established a local historic district under M.G.L. c. 40C, two architecture review districts under municipal home rule authority, and a demolition review ordinance, in addition to listing numerous properties in the State and National Registers of Historic Places. As a community, we have engaged in identifying, evaluating, and protecting our historic and cultural resources for fifty years. Building on the work of Northampton’s first preservation plan in 1992, this planning document guides residents, business owners, elected and appointed volunteers, taxpayers, and employees as we continue to define, and work together to protect, the city’s unique character as reflected in our historic places. 2State and federal reviews apply to both historic and archaeological resources. Sustainable Northampton Historic Preservation Element / Section 2 4 Section 2.2. UNDERSTANDING NORTHAMPTON’S HISTORIC RESOURCES IN CONTEXT Preservation planning evaluates the significance of historic and cultural resources in the context of broad patterns of historical development across Massachusetts. Many resources are significant at the local level, yet others possess state or even national significance. To counter traditional biases toward a limited range of historic periods, places, events, and people, a cultural landscape approach to preservation planning considers representative and outstanding resources as expressions of the successive patterns of social, cultural, and economic activity that shaped and defined the community.3 Understanding the historic contexts, or themes, in the community’s history and each resource’s association with one or more themes helps support preservation planning decisions. The Massachusetts Historical Commission (MHC) offers two important sources for historic contexts in Northampton. Both are products of MHC’s statewide historic properties reconnaissance survey and available online through the agency’s website. The Reconnaissance Survey Report: Northampton (1982) summarizes topography, political boundaries, transportation, population, settlement patterns, economic base, and architecture in the city from ca. 1500 to 1940. Pursuant to the methodology established by the statewide reconnaissance survey, the Reconnaissance Survey Report covers seven periods of historic development: • Contact (1500-1620) • Plantation (1620-1675) • Colonial (1675-1775) • Federal (1775-1830) • Early Industrial (1830-1870) • Late Industrial (1870-1915) • Early Modern (1915-1940) If the report were updated today, the Modern period (1940-ca. 1975) would be added. A companion volume, Historic and Archaeological Resources of the Connecticut River Valley (1984/1988/2007), demonstrates Northampton’s importance in regional developments across Hampshire and adjacent Hampden and Franklin counties during the same historic periods. The regional report includes maps, regionwide overviews of topography, prehistory, settlement patterns, land use, and architecture, and short historical 3 Steinitz, Michael. Foreward to the 2007 PDF Reprint Edition of Historic and Archaeological Resources of the Connecticut River Valley: A Framework for Preservation Decisions. Massachusetts Historical Commission State Survey Team: Sarah Zimmerman, Neill DePaoli, Arthur J. Krim, Peter Stott, and James W Bradley. Boston, MA: Massachusetts Historical Commission, February 1984 (reprinted 1988, 2007). Sustainable Northampton Historic Preservation Element / Section 2 5 sketches of seventeen principal industries that operated in the study unit to 1940. The reader is referred to these two sources for additional information. The goal of the following historic context is to highlight, briefly, some of the major themes in the history of Northampton’s built environment and cultural landscapes, and to identify important concentrations of historic development extant in Northampton. The narrative compiles information from preservation planning and local history sources cited in the List of Sources. It is not intended to be a definitive or comprehensive history of the city. Some themes are well documented; others merit further research. This context provides a broad overview for general preservation planning purposes. Historic Context Northampton is an important civic, educational, industrial, and commercial center at the junction of regional routes from Springfield and Pittsfield to northern and western New England. Historically, Northampton has been the principal focus for settlement in the mid- section of the Connecticut River Valley, a broad central valley flanked by the Worcester Highlands to the east and the Berkshire Hills to the west. Situated twenty miles north of Springfield and fifty-six miles west of Worcester, Northampton is bordered by Williamsburg on the north, Hatfield on the north and northeast, Hadley and the Connecticut River on the east, Easthampton on the south, and Westhampton on the west. Fertile Connecticut River floodplain in the easternmost section of the city is considered to be some of the most productive cropland in New England. Mill River, a western tributary of the Connecticut River, crosses Northampton from the northwest to the southeast. Prominent elevations, concentrated in western areas of the city, include Roberts Hill, Saw Mill Hills, and Mineral Hills. State Route 9 is part of a regional artery passing through the mid-valley from east to west, crossing the Connecticut River between Northampton and Hadley and connecting the central business district to villages at Florence and Leeds. U. S. Route 5/State Route 10, along with the later Interstate 91, provide the major north-south connections. State Route 66 branches from Route 9 west of the central business district, linking to settlements at Pine Grove and West Farms. Contact Period (1500-1620) The Connecticut River Valley was a principal focal point for native settlement during this period, and the Norwottuck were the dominant native group in Northampton and Hadley. The prevalence of large tracts of fertile agricultural land in Northampton suggests the area was the site of extensive native horticulture. Concentrated native settlement probably extended as far west as Round Hill. The Connecticut and Mill rivers would have provided native residents with large quantities of fish. Small short-term hunting camps were probably established in lowland marshes as well as uplands west and north of probable native settlement nodes. Additional areas of likely native settlement include the Clark Brook intervale in the Roberts Meadow vicinity and the Mill River intervale in the vicinity of Spring Sustainable Northampton Historic Preservation Element / Section 2 6 and North Main streets. Regionally important trails through Northampton connected the west bank of the Connecticut River with western uplands and the Housatonic Valley. Plantation Period/First European Settlement (1620-1675) Permanent European settlement of the Connecticut River Valley began at Springfield in 1636 and, by the 1650s, spread north through the valley’s mid- section. In May 1653, twenty-four persons petitioned the General Court for permission to “plant, possess and inhabit” Nonotuck (Norwottuck), later the town of Northampton. Early families traveled up the valley from Springfield as well as Hartford, Windsor, and Wethersfield, Connecticut, joined a few years later by settlers from eastern Massachusetts. Nonotuck proprietors laid out a meetinghouse lot spacious enough to include a burial ground, a minister’s ten-acre tilling lot, common agricultural land, and house lots. Elements of the original town plan survive in the location of Court Square, the house lot grid along the Main Street-Bridge Street axis, and Bridge Street Cemetery (1661, NRDIS). Built at the intersection of King and Main streets, the first meetinghouse (ca. 1655, demolished) was subsequently used as a school. The second meetinghouse (ca. 1661, demolished) to the west was built on what would become Meetinghouse Hill, later Main Street. By the end of the period, an institutional core had emerged in the present downtown area. House lots were taken up along King, Pleasant, Market, and Hawley streets, and extended to Bridge, West, and Elm Streets, all of which originated as Native American pathways. Aside from the Springfield vicinity, the Northampton area, including neighboring towns Hadley (1661) and Hatfield (1670), was the most important economic and political center in the Connecticut Valley. The first ferry service across the Connecticut River to Hadley operated in the late 1650s. With its extensive agricultural land, the area became a major agricultural producer in Massachusetts. Locally produced grain, flour, malt, and pork were sent by cart or boat to Springfield, Boston, Hartford, and New Haven in exchange for goods or payment of taxes and debts. Northampton’s regional importance was underscored by its designation as a joint shire town, with Springfield, after 1661, though the community apparently did not have a court house until the early nineteenth century. Colonial Period (1675-1775) Northampton and vicinity saw the most substantial Colonial-period development in the Connecticut Valley. King Philip’s War (1675-1676) initially kept Northampton’s settlement concentrated within a defensible perimeter, encompassing the area known as the Plain as well as Bridge Street, Hawley Street, and the Bridge Street Cemetery. Much of the last quarter of the seventeenth century was devoted to rebuilding and re-fortifying the settlement after the war. The eastern end of Main Street (now Bridge Street) was part of a regional throughfare through the center village leading to a new ferry landing (1685) to Hadley. Following agriculture, important local industries included lumbering; trading of native furs, port, and grain; and brickmaking. Alluvial flood plains along the Connecticut River that had been set off as 15- and 3-acre lots were essential to the success of local Sustainable Northampton Historic Preservation Element / Section 2 7 agriculture, and houses lots along Hawley and Bridge streets were well located for access to riverside meadows. Channeling of the Mill River (1710-1720) around Manhan Meadows reoriented the main highway from Springfield through Pynchon Meadows as Old Springfield Road. Division of common lands at West Farms and North Farms led to scattered upland agricultural settlement on connecting roads in the early eighteenth century. In 1685, Robert Lyman of Northampton discovered lead in the form of galena along an outcrop near the Manhan River in the area later known as Mineral Hills. For the next two centuries, various mining companies worked the claim. A parcel on Westhampton Road contains the last known remnants of a lead mine in Northampton. The oldest of Northampton’s architecturally significant buildings are Colonial-period dwellings, with most surviving examples located downtown: The Manse-Stoddard House, 54 Prospect Street (1684/c. 1750, NRIND 1976); the Nathaniel Parsons House, 58 Bridge Street (ca. 1730, NRDIS 2001); and the Charles Clapp House, 148 South Street (ca. 1753, NRDIS 1989). In addition to its associations with the theme of exploration and settlement, Bridge Street Cemetery possesses significance in art for its preservation of several Colonial- period grave markers and table stones associated with known Connecticut Valley carvers. By the mid-eighteenth century, Northampton rivaled Springfield as a center of wealth and influence in the region. As new towns continued to be established farther north and west, Northampton’s importance as a distribution center grew. Northampton and its smaller neighbors, Hadley and Hatfield, controlled some of the best agricultural land in the Connecticut Valley and were major exporters of livestock, salted beef, and other agricultural products to markets in Boston and elsewhere. While Northampton grew as a trade and marketing center in the eighteenth century, religious fervor accelerated during the ministry of Jonathan Edwards, whose preaching in the third meetinghouse (1737, demolished) sparked the religious revivals of the Great Awakening in the 1740s. In 1765, Northampton numbered 188 dwellings, 203 families, and 1,285 individuals, eleven of whom were Black. Population figures for the native Norwottuck population have not been identified. Federal Period (1775-1830) The Connecticut River Valley was the fastest growing region in Massachusetts during this period, and river towns like Northampton saw increased commercial and industrial development. Following considerable economic upheaval and a post-Revolutionary War depression that led to Shay’s Rebellion (1786), unprecedented agricultural prosperity starting in the 1790s and the beginning of successful manufacturing after 1800 provided the basis for renewed expansion. Northampton grew rapidly during the rest of the period, at twice the rate of Hampshire County as a whole, despite portions of its territory being set off to form the new towns of Westhampton (1778), Southampton (1778), and Easthampton (1785). The population in 1790 was 1,628 persons, increasing to 3,613 by 1830. Northampton maintained its traditional role as the seat of Hampshire County, following a Sustainable Northampton Historic Preservation Element / Section 2 8 realignment of county boundaries that set off Franklin County (1811) and Hampden County (1812) on the north and south, respectively. Northampton’s center village began to acquire a more urban character during the Federal period, displaying defined civic, commercial, and residential areas. County and town institutional buildings were clustered at Meetinghouse Hill and adjacent Court Square on Main Street at Center Street. Construction of the first bridge (1809) over the Connecticut River to Hadley fueled growth. The burgeoning business center grew in scale and density, with construction of banks and hotels (none extant) and its earliest three-story masonry commercial stores. Affluent residential development first centered in the Hawley Street vicinity, shifting west along Elm Street to Round Hill in the early nineteenth century. A cluster of five residences at Fort Hill, 124, 130, 134, 135, and 144 South Street (NRDIS 1989), is an important collection of Federal-period dwellings occupied by farmers and artisans. Local mason Seth Strong built his own residence at 32 Conz Street (1829), distinctive architecturally for its brick construction on a circular plan with a conical roof and pair of interior chimneys. The town gained a reputation as a center for architectural innovation, attracting renowned architect-builders then working in the Boston area, chief among them Greenfield native Asher Benjamin (1771-1845) and Isaac Damon (1781-1862) of Weymouth. Benjamin designed Northampton’s Federal-style fourth meetinghouse, the First Congregational Church (1810-1812, burned 1876) on Meetinghouse Hill, though his most lasting influence on vernacular building, both locally and nationally, was achieved indirectly through his publication of seven architectural pattern books from 1797 to 1843. By contrast, Isaac Damon’s impact on the Connecticut Valley was both direct and long-lived. He arrived in Northampton in 1811 to take over the job of completing the First Church, constructed his own residence at 46 Bridge Street (ca. 1813, NRDIS 2001); and remained in the region for forty years, working exclusively on bridge design from 1831 onward. Damon’s work in Northampton includes the pair of granite-faced commercial buildings across the street from the First Church at 108 Main Street and 110-112 Main Street (both 1828, NRDIS 1976, and since remodeled), the 1813 Hampshire County Courthouse on Main Street (demolished 1886), and the 1814 Town Hall on Main Street (demolished 1872). He reportedly designed and built only one other Northampton residence aside from his own, the John Hopkins House, 101 King Street (ca. 1830). Agriculture continued as Northampton’s primary economic activity, principally along the Connecticut River meadows with secondary upland grazing at West Farms and North Farms. Most large-scale manufacturing during the Federal period took place on the upper Mill River at Leeds, though J. S. Kingsley produced broadcloth at his Manhan River woolen mill at Loudville, and paper mills (1817, demolished) opened on the Mill River at Bay State. Federal-period industries operating at the center village included a large tannery and sail cloth factory. Sustainable Northampton Historic Preservation Element / Section 2 9 First settled in the late eighteenth century as a cluster of large farms associated with James Smith, Calvin Clark, and Luke Day, Leeds proved to be an ideal location for water-powered manufacturing. Both cotton and woolen mills were built from 1808 to 1812. Col. James Shephard established a woolen mill in 1809, later known as Shepherd Woolen Manufacturing Company, the first fully developed factory on the Mill River and the most important Federal-period woolen mill in the Connecticut Valley due to its technological innovations. Using a power loom patented in 1816 and built in 1822, the company greatly reduced the cost of producing fine broadcloth. The Shepherd company imported Merino sheep, experimented with raising Saxony sheep, and later reduced expenses by replacing its all-male work force with women and girls and paying them lower wages. A small community grew up around the mill buildings, including boarding houses, private dwellings, a school house, and a company store. Known initially as Shepherd’s Hollow, the village was later renamed for Leeds, England, hometown of its first postmaster, Thomas Musgrave. The Shepherd company closed in 1857. Early Industrial Period (1830-1870) During this period, Northampton grew 181 percent, recording a population of 10,160 persons in 1870. The greatest increase occurred between 1855 and 1870. In 1855, nearly one-quarter of the population had immigrated to the United States from Ireland, with smaller numbers from England, Scotland, Germany, and Canada. Many immigrants would work in mills. Industrial growth was modest during the first part of this period and focused on the Mill River. Opportunities for large-scale shipping of produce and manufactured products on the Connecticut River were limited, as high falls several miles to the south necessitated that cargo shipped by boat be transported overland around the falls. Construction of the New Haven-Northampton Canal between 1825 and 1834 was intended to address this problem. Not opened in its entirety until 1835, the canal entered Northampton from Easthampton, crossed Main Street, and continued along the current path of State Street. The canal ceased operations in 1847 with the introduction of railroads, never having been profitable. Railroad connections enhanced Northampton’s traditional role as the distribution center for goods in the mid-section of the Connecticut Valley, connecting farmers, businesses, and industry to their markets in a faster and more profitable manner than the canal allowed. The Connecticut River Railroad (1844-1847) opened a north-south through-route across Oxbow and meadowland from Holyoke to Hatfield. Two shorter routes connecting downtown opened later: the Hampshire and Hampden Railroad (1855), along South Street from Easthampton, and the Mill River or Williamsburg Branch Railroad (1868) to Williamsburg, via Florence and Leeds. The latter two roads were consolidated as the New Haven & Northampton Railroad. On the axis from downtown Northampton northwest to Williamsburg, industrial villages had formed by 1870 at Leeds (about 4½ miles from downtown), Florence (about 3 miles), Sustainable Northampton Historic Preservation Element / Section 2 10 and Bay State (about 1½ miles), producing silks, woolens, cotton, buttons and sewing machines, as well as machinery and cutlery. Each village encompasses dams and bridges on the Mill River, industrial buildings, associated worker housing, private residences, and community buildings connected by established roads and the new branch railroad. Primarily a farming community until the 1830s, Florence grew around the Northampton Silk Company factory organized by Samuel Whitmarsh in 1836, later taking its name from the famous silk-producing city in Italy. Within a year, the company produced nearly three- quarters of silk production in Massachusetts, with financial backing from investors in Middletown, Connecticut (chief location of that state’s silk industry) and New York. Whitmarsh’s success prompted a run on the Morus multicaulus strain of mulberry tree, tempered only by a hard winter in 1839-1840 and a blight in 1840 that strained the industry. The Northampton Association of Education and Industry acquired the Whitmarsh holdings at Florence and continued silk production. George W. Benson, Jr., president of a cotton factory bearing his name in the village, was a founder of this Utopian community in 1841, one of several in New England at the time that espoused progressive ideals of nonresistance, nondenominationalism, manufacture, temperance, education, and equal rights. Though short-lived, the community served as a local center of abolitionist and feminist sentiment. Once-enslaved and nationally known speaker Sojourner Truth (Isabella Van Wagenen) from New York lived in Florence from 1844 to ca. 1857, residing in the 1850s in the house she owned at 35 Park Street . Two properties in the village have been listed in the National Register to date for their associations with the community and the Underground Railroad in Massachusetts: the Basil Dorsey – Thomas H. Jones House, 191 Nonotuck Street (1849/1854, NRIND/NRMPS), residence of two notable fugitives from slavery, and the Samuel L. Hill – Austin Ross Farm, 123 Meadow Street (ca. 1825, NRIND/NRMPS), residence of two important assistants on the Underground Railroad effort in the 1840s. Hill was also a founder of the community. Research is underway to record additional properties in Florence associated with abolitionist activity. Samuel Hill went on to establish the Nonotuck Silk Company, producers of silk thread for sewing machines, as well as a sewing machine factory. By 1865, the sewing silk and sewing machine factories of Florence led in the total value of goods manufactured in Northampton, though mills producing cotton cloth, paper, buttons, and agricultural implements figured prominently in the town’s industrial economy. Following the 1857 closure of the Shepherd woolen business at Leeds, English immigrant Alfred P. Critchlow purchased one of the mills and manufactured vegetable ivory buttons from palm nut imported from Panama and South America. The Nonotuck Silk Company at Florence acquired substantial acreage on and adjacent to Grove Hill at Leeds, leading to construction of management dwellings as well as worker tenements at 7-9, 15-17, and 25- 27 Water Street (1860s). The Northampton Emery Wheel Company, which started in Florence in 1867, moved to Leeds in 1870. Sustainable Northampton Historic Preservation Element / Section 2 11 Previously a location for paper mills in the 1830s, the village of Bay State takes its name from the Bay State Tool Company (1854), which employed 150 men in the manufacture of edge tools and agricultural implements in 1855. Guns and bayonets were manufactured here during the Civil War. The separate Bay State Hardware Company (1859-1870) later became Northampton Cutlery, producers of fine quality knife blades into the early twentieth century. Also operating at Bay State was the International Screw Nail Company, 20 Ladd Street (1866), later owned by Clement Cutlery Company. With its mansard roof, this historic mill is one of Northampton’s finest examples of nineteenth century industrial design. Bay State also retains several examples of worker housing built in the 1860s. During the Early Industrial period an institutional core emerged at the rural settlement of West Farms (Lonetown), where Northampton’s second oldest burial ground, West Farms Cemetery, 200 West Farms Road, had been established by 1788. A Greek Revival-style chapel (ca. 1835) associated with a local Methodist society and a brick public school (ca. 1860, possibly earlier) joined the burial ground on West Farms Road. This upland community, also notable for its agricultural landscapes, anchored Northampton’s dairy farming activity into the twentieth century. A gravel quarry of undetermined vintage operated on nearby Turkey Hill Road at Mineral Hills into the twenty-first century. Farming at the town’s center village was largely abandoned by the mid-nineteenth century as land proved more valuable for residential development. An affluent residential neighborhood expanded from its original Hawley Street axis to Pomeroy Terrace (1847, NRDIS 2018) toward the Connecticut River meadows. Developed from ca. 1850 to 1885, this neighborhood is considered one of Northampton’s finest historic residential areas. The first residents – merchants, lawyers, railroad executives, ministers, farmers, and bankers – were part of a growing middle class in Northampton who were building new and in the latest architectural styles of the period. Development here contributed to the rise of the architectural profession in Northampton, as many residents hired skilled carpenters and architects to design their houses. A new area of residential development on the south slope of Round Hill featured spacious architect-designed houses in estate settings. Known for its magnificent vistas but largely unsettled until the early nineteenth century, Round Hill was transformed during the Early Industrial period, serving in succession as the site of the experimental Round Hill School for Boys (early 1820s), a water cure retreat, a popular hotel, and ultimately new quarters, from 1870 onward, for the Clarke School for the Deaf. In relocating from Gothic Street to Round Hill, Clarke School for the Deaf (1867, NRDIS 2022, LHD 2013) joined a belt of institutional campuses immediately west of the business district that would be more fully developed through the end of the nineteenth century. The first school for the deaf chartered in Massachusetts, Clarke School was a leader in the education of deaf students and training of educators for the deaf. The school curriculum emphasized the acquisition of oral skills rather than the teaching sign language. Nearby on Sustainable Northampton Historic Preservation Element / Section 2 12 Rocky Hill, Northampton State Hospital (1855, NRDIS/NRMPS 1994) opened as the Commonwealth’s third facility in a hospital system devoted to treatment of the mentally ill. Its hilltop site, landscaped grounds, and architectural design reflected the most up-to-date hospital planning of the period, a program that incorporated outdoor farm work and recreation to help effect cures. Relative affluence during the Early Industrial period is reflected in the volume of construction. This is the first period for which clearly delineated neighborhoods of housing survive for different socio-economic groups. The city retains an uncommonly high number of picturesque Gothic buildings from the mid-nineteenth century, chief of which is Town Hall (later City Hall), 210 Main Street (1848-1849, NRDIS 1976). Local architect William Fenno Pratt made major contributions to the building stock, ranging from the Town/City Hall to the Renaissance Revival-style Smith Charities Building, 51 Main Street (1865, NRDIS 1976), and the old Northampton National Bank, 135 Main Street (1866, NRDIS 1976) with its cast iron front. By the end of the period, Main Street was lined with three- and four-story brick commercial blocks largely of Italianate design, sizable institutional campuses were under construction just beyond the center, and outlying industrial villages and agricultural settlements encompassed houses of worship and municipal buildings. Late Industrial Period (1870-1915) Northampton’s population grew 113 percent during this period, propelled by the establishment of Smith College (1871), continued industrial expansion along the Mill River, and electrification of previously horse-drawn street cars (1893), all of which attracted new residents and generated greater development in areas outlying the center. Immigrants comprised about one-quarter of the population, largely Irish with an influx of French Canadians and Poles in the early twentieth century. In response to this growth, Northampton was incorporated as a city in 1883. While manufacturing dominated the local economy, Northampton remained a major agricultural producer in the region. Tobacco farming was the primary agricultural activity along the Connecticut River meadows, and dairying and poultry farming were present at West Farms and North Farms. Lumber rafting on the Connecticut River, initially supplanted by the railroads, resumed in earnest after 1870 when the railroads could not keep up with the demand for spruce timber. Lumber rafting also proved less expensive than railroad transport. The Connecticut River Lumber Company at the Oxbow was a major collection point for spruce timber and built worker housing on Island Road. Funded through the will of Sophia Smith of Hatfield, Smith College was chartered as a women’s college in 1871 and opened in 1875. The present central campus encompasses more than 125 acres, an appreciable number of high-style architect-designed historic campus buildings, and eleven extant historic houses that predate the opening of the college. The core 12-acre campus featured College Hall, 10 Elm Street (1874, NRDIS 1976, LHD 1994), designed in the High Victorian Gothic style by Boston architects Peabody and Stearns. The firm would design seven more academic and dormitory buildings for the Sustainable Northampton Historic Preservation Element / Section 2 13 College by 1882. Additional dormitories were built on Green Street in the 1880s, all designed by William C. Brockelsby of Hartford, Connecticut, though by that time the College trustees had already acquired land to expand the campus northward on Elm Street. Brocklesby designed nine campus buildings between 1885 and 1900, including Alumnae Gymnasium (1891, NRIND 1976). By the end of the Late Industrial period, the campus encompassed much of the land between Elm Street, Green Street, the Mill River, and Kensington Street. Substantial buildings campaigns would enlarge the campus in the 1920s. Establishment of the college generated residential development up Elm Street to Round Hill and anchored the western limits of the center village to Elm and West streets. Architects involved in building the college campus were also commissioned to design new buildings beyond the college grounds. Peabody and Stearns designed First Church of Christ, 123 Main Street (1876, NRDIS 1976; Peabody and Stearns, architect), following an 1870 fire that destroyed the third meetinghouse. A second fire that year burned a number of Main Street commercial blocks, which were rebuilt in the early 1870s as three- and four-story buildings. While working at the college, William C. Brockelsby designed important municipal buildings for the city: the Renaissance Revival-style Academy of Music, 260 Main Street (1891, NRDIS 1976), reportedly the first municipal theater in the nation, and the Romanesque Revival Forbes Library, West Street (1894, NRDIS 1976). These buildings joined Memorial Hall, 240 Main Street (1872, NRDIS 1976; James McLaughlin, architect), Northampton’s most prominent example of the Second Empire style, then used as a meeting hall and museum. A new Renaissance Revival-style high school, the D. A. Sullivan School, 17 and 25 South Street (1895, NRDIS 1976; Gardner, Pyne and Gardner, architect), rounded out the municipal presence at this location. In Northampton’s sparsely settled northeastern section, 1872 brought the opening of Laurel Park as the Springfield District Camp Meeting associated with the Methodist Church. Access to the camp improved greatly with new railroad service in 1881, when the New Haven & Northampton Railroad built its own branch line next to the Connecticut River Railroad tracks, extending service northward from the center to Conway Junction (later known as Shelburne Junction). The railroad reportedly transported thousands each summer; visitors walked up the hill from the station in Hatfield near the town line. Wood- frame summer cottages and a Chautauqua-style educational and cultural program replaced the open-air religious camp meetings and tent structures by the late 1880s. The program remained active until ca. 1917. A closely settled community with about 100 cottages, a tabernacle (meeting) building, dining hall, and common grounds, Laurel Park is distinguished from other historic neighborhoods in Northampton. The cottages display a range of Stick, Victorian Gothic, and Queen Anne-style details. Manufacturers built at Leeds, Florence, and Bay State, generating concomitant residential and institutional development in these villages. At Leeds, extensive new construction followed a catastrophic flood on May 16, 1874, caused by the failure of an earthwork and Sustainable Northampton Historic Preservation Element / Section 2 14 masonry reservoir dam on the upper Mill River at Williamsburg. At least fifty-one of 139 known deaths in the river valley that day occurred at Leeds, where the flood hit with tidal- wave force before spreading and slowing in the meadows south of the village. The highly successful Nonotuck Silk Company built a new plant at Leeds in 1880. One of the largest silk manufacturers in the nation, the Florence-based company reportedly employed one- half of Northampton’s work force during this period. Nonotuck Silk Company adopted the name Corticelli for some of its products in the late nineteenth century, and the business as a whole in 1922. Important Florence-based industries included the Florence Manufacturing Company, 221 Pine Street (1866, later known as the Pro-phy-lac-tic Brush Company); and Norwood Engineering Company, 28-32 North Maple Street (ca. 1870), maker of industrial water filters. A village business district and civic core emerged in Florence, including the Alfred Lilly Public Library, 19 Meadow Street (1890, Charles H. Jones, architect). Bay State continued to grow as a knife and cutlery center with the operations of Northampton Cutlery Company, 320 Riverside Drive (1871) and Clement Manufacturing Company. At their peak in the 1880s and 1890s, these companies employed 350 to 400 men. E. E. Wood, a former superintendent of Northampton Cutlery, took over the old paper mill at Bay State and established his own cutlery firm in 1889. A small business district formed on Riverside Drive. Downtown Northampton attracted industries that relocated to the community. Horace Lamb moved his wire manufacturing business to Northampton from North Hadley in 1873, working out of a brick mill at 51-53 Clarke Avenue (late nineteenth century, altered). Belding Brothers of Connecticut established a large silk mill in 1876, with worker housing surviving on Isabella Street. Belding’s own box maker, Kingsbury Box Company, relocated to Northampton in 1879, and later built a factory at 84 North Street (1885-1890), producing both wood and paper boxes. Further institutional development occurred outside the villages. Northampton Country Club, 135 Main Street, Leeds (1898), eventually encompassed a nine-hole golf course, with the present clubhouse added by 1960. Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School, 80 Locust Street (1908) was the first vocational technical school to open in the Commonwealth. Built by the City of Northampton, the school was funded by the will of Oliver Smith (d. 1845), who established Smith Charities. Hampshire County built a sanatorium for consumptive patients (ca. 1914, demolished) on River Street at Leeds near the Williamsburg town line, now the location of a rehabilitation and hospice facility. Construction in 1871, 1883, and 1894 of dams and reservoirs associated with Northampton’s public water supply system contributed to the decline of Roberts Meadow village in the northwest part of town, located principally along Roberts Meadow Brook and Chesterfield Road west of Kennedy Road. The rural settlement once encompassed farmsteads, a public school, taverns, and small-scale industry, including a carding factory, sawmill, tannery, and blacksmith shop. The City of Northampton discontinued active use of Sustainable Northampton Historic Preservation Element / Section 2 15 the reservoirs in 1905 after building larger facilities in Whately and Williamsburg. Only Todd Farm, 64 Kennedy Road (ca. 1775), and the Clapp House, 1031 Chesterfield Road (ca. 1800) remain. The Upper Reservoir dam was partly dismantled in 2018. Residential construction during this period ranged from high-style architect-designed dwellings associated with estates and affluent neighborhoods to more modest single- family cottages and the camp dwellings at Laurel Park. Rowhouses, double houses, and two-families were the most common multiple-family dwellings, the latter two appearing in the 1880s and 1890s and often constructed as investment properties with their owners sometimes, but not always, living elsewhere. Very few three-deckers were built in Northampton, and some apartment blocks were constructed by the end of the period. Residing in Northampton at this time was Vermont native, Amherst College graduate, and attorney Calvin Coolidge (1872-1933), whose home from 1906 was 19-21 Massasoit Street (1900, NRIND 1976). Coolidge served as a city councilor then mayor of Northampton (1910-1912), moving on to become Governor of Massachusetts (1919-1921), Vice- President of the United States (1921-1923) under Warren G. Harding, and President of the United States (1923-1929). Returning to Northampton in retirement, Coolidge resided at The Beeches, 16 Hampton Terrace (1914). Early Modern Period (1915-1940) This period brought significant industrial activity associated with World War I, establishment of the Veterans Hospital, expansion of the Smith College campus, and residential growth through the 1920s. Business reversals associated with the Depression era slowed the local economy in the latter part of the period, with the population increasing only 1.7 percent between 1930 (24,381 persons) and 1940 (24,794 persons). In 1917, Northampton sent 771 soldiers to fight in World War I; twenty-six died in service. Poles remained one of Northampton’s largest immigrant groups and were closely associated with the city’s agricultural activity. By 1940, four-fifths of Northampton farms reportedly were owned by residents of Polish descent. Agriculture continued as a primary activity along the Connecticut River meadows toward Easthampton and Hadley. Uplands at West Farms and North Farms supported dairy farms. World War I boosted local industry, especially silk production, toothbrushes, the cutlery plants, and Norwood Engineering. Contractions in manufacturing after the war contributed to the end of silk production and the manufacture of baskets and industrial filters. Pro-phy- lac-tic Brush Company, 221 Pine Street (1866-1902), the city’s largest employer in 1930 with 1,000 employees, was recognized as the world’s largest manufacturer of brand-name toothbrushes. The company did not change its name from its original Florence Manufacturing Company, however, until 1924. Automobile ownership in the 1920s created new businesses devoted to car sales and repair, delivery services, and trucking. As a result, garages were built throughout Northampton. Though the Depression slowed industry, farming continued. Sustainable Northampton Historic Preservation Element / Section 2 16 Major institutional campus construction occurred in Northampton in the 1920s and 1930s. In health care, the Northampton Veterans Administration Hospital, 421 North Main Street, Leeds (1922-1950, NRDIS/NRMPS 2012) opened in 1924 as a neuropsychiatric hospital serving veterans of all New England states except Connecticut. The campus was designed with multiple buildings in the Colonial Revival style and ample acreage for farming operations conducted as therapy for the patients. Northampton’s was the first veterans hospital built in Massachusetts by the Veterans Bureau of the Federal government. Private and public education buildings were built on the Elm Street axis. Smith College added twenty new buildings and structures to its campus from 1918 to 1939, designed chiefly in revival styles. In addition to the Grecourt Gates, Elm Street (1924, NRDIS 1976, LHD 1994), the college completed the ten-dormitory Quadrangle, 186 Elm Street (1922- 1936) in the Georgian Revival style, for the first time housing all boarding students on- campus. The Boston architecture firm of Ames, Putnam and Dodge or its partners or successor firm designed the Quadrangle, the Colonial Revival President’s House, 8 Paradise Road (1920), and Scott Gymnasium, Belmont Avenue (1924). Other notable academic and administration buildings of this period include Sage Hall, Green Street (1924; Delano and Aldrich, architect) and Alumnae House, 33 Elm Street (1938, NRDIS 1976, LHD 1994; Frederick J. Woodbridge, architect). One of very few high schools built in the Connecticut Valley during the Early Modern period, Northampton High School, 380 Elm Street (1939), is perhaps the city’s finest example of municipal construction in the Stripped Classical Modern mode. J. Williams Beal and Sons, the same Boston firm that designed the Stripped Classical First National Bank downtown (1928), also designed the high school. Major engineering works were completed during this period. Like the High School, another important example of Depression-era construction is Calvin Coolidge Memorial Bridge (1939; Maurice Reidy/Desmond and Lord, architects) crossing the Connecticut River to Hadley. Funded under the Hayden Cartwright Act, one of numerous Federal aid programs to provide jobs during the Depression, the bridge replaced an earlier bridge damaged by disastrous flooding that occurred March 14-16, 1936. An ice jam on the Connecticut River between Northampton and Holyoke with ensuing rains flooded the river meadows, Island Road at the Oxbow, Bridge Street neighborhoods, and the downtown business district as far west as City Hall. From 1939 to 1941, the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers constructed a flood control system to protect a large portion of Northampton from flooding of the Connecticut and Mill rivers. As part of this construction, the path of the Mill River was diverted from its original channel (through Veterans Field and behind City Hall) to a diversion channel that empties into the Oxbow at the Connecticut River. New construction of several noteworthy buildings occurred in the central business district. The Northampton Institute for Savings, 109 Main Street (1916, NRDIS 1976; Thomas M. James Co., architect), and the First National Bank, 1 King Street (1928, NRDIS 1976; J. Williams Beal and Sons, architect), were designed by Boston firms. Taken together they Sustainable Northampton Historic Preservation Element / Section 2 17 illustrate how approaches to classical design evolved from the traditional to the Stripped Classical Modern mode that came to be associated with commercial and municipal architecture of the 1930s. A significant addition to the business district was the Colonial Revival-style Hotel Northampton, 36 King Street (1927, NRDIS 1976; H. L. Stevens Company, architect), built after a five-year subscription drive by the city’s Chamber of Commerce to sponsor a prominent local hostelry for business purposes. Smaller hotels had been built in the business district in the late nineteenth century. Residential growth continued through the 1920s, and areas of new construction included the western end of South Street, upper Prospect Street, and Bridge Road in Florence. Most were single-family dwellings, some architect-designed; very few workers’ or multiple-family houses were built. Revival-style house predominated, though the number of bungalow house types is noteworthy, especially in period neighborhoods such as Hubbard Avenue, Swan Street, and Marshall Street. Concrete block construction was introduced during this period – the bungalow at 18 Cedar Street (1916) is a notable example – though most commonly used in garages. Among Northampton’s most significant open spaces from the Early Modern period is Frank Newhall Look Memorial Park, 289 Main Street (1928-1930). Located on the Mill River adjacent to Northampton County Club, the park includes a fountain (1928) and a Mission- style former pool building now known as the Garden House (1930). At the Connecticut River meadows near the Coolidge Memorial Bridge, Lafleur Airport (Northampton Airport), 160 Old Ferry Road, opened in 1929. Three County Fairground, Bridge and Fair streets, occupies the former site of the Northampton Driving Park Association horse-racing track. Racing continues to be a major part of the fair. The fairground also encompasses exhibit buildings and playing fields. Modern Period (1940-ca. 1975) Approximately 2,900 men and women from Northampton served in World War II; ninety died in service. The city’s population peaked at 30,058 persons in 1960, with the greatest period of growth (17.2 percent) occurring in the 1940s. Beginning in 1970, the city recorded gradual population losses for the next forty years. New residential neighborhoods were developed with capes, ranches, and split-level houses. Among the residential subdivisions built in the 1950s and 1960s were the Spring Grove Avenue neighborhood off Bridge Road in Florence, and several neighborhoods near Ryan and Burts Pit roads, around Westwood Terrace, Cahillane Terrace, Forest Glen Drive, Deerfield Drive, Acrebrook Drive, Gilrain Terrace, and Pioneer Knolls. The City of Northampton built new schools at Jackson Street downtown (1951), Leeds (1952), Florence (Kennedy Junior High, 1964), and Ryan Road (1967). Smith College added nine buildings to its campus from 1955 to 1972. Prominent buildings on Elm Street designed by New York architects and still extant are the traditionally styled Helen Hills Hills Chapel, 123 Elm Street (1955, LHD 1994; William and Geoffrey Platt, architects), and the Sustainable Northampton Historic Preservation Element / Section 2 18 paired International-style dormitories, Cutter House and Ziskind House, 79 Elm Street (1957, LHD 1994; Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill, architects). In commercial construction, Northampton retains notable examples of prefabricated diners manufactured by Worcester Lunch Car Company from the 1930s to 1950. The former Miss Northampton Diner, 6 Strong Avenue (ca. 1930, NRDIS 1976), reportedly is the longest operating diner in the Connecticut River Valley. Miss Florence Diner, 99 Main Street, Florence (1941, NRIND/ NRMPS) is a fine example of a diner remodeled and expanded by the Worcester company within a decade of its original construction. A barrel-roofed diner attached to a larger restaurant on U. S. Route 5 north of downtown, the Bluebonnet Diner, 324 King Street (1950), is one of few Worcester diners in the state manufactured in the 1950s. Transportation-related improvements of this period left an indelible mark on Northampton, especially in the Connecticut River meadows. With the construction of Interstate 91, several bridges were built between 1963 and 1965, carrying the highway over Island Pond Road, Mount Tom Road (U. S. Route 5), Hockanum Road, Old Ferry Road, Bridge Street (State Route 9), Damon Road, and the Boston & Maine Railroad. As highway construction accelerated, railroads ended passenger service. The Shelburne Falls branch past Laurel Park was suspended in 1943. New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad cut back service on the Williamsburg branch line to Florence in 1962 and ended service from Easthampton in 1969. Only the Boston & Maine Railroad, formerly the Connecticut Valley Railroad line, remained in operation, terminating local passenger service in 1966 but offering high-speed Amtrak service by 1972. The City of Northampton opened an Industrial Park off Damon Road, selling its first parcel for development on Industrial Drive in 1974. The industrial park provides easy access to U. S. Route 5/State Route 10 (North King Street) and Interstate 91, with the Boston & Maine Railroad corridor abutting the park on the west. Sustainable Northampton Historic Preservation Element / Section 2 19 List of Sources African-American Heritage Trail, 1840-1860. Florence, Massachusetts. Florence, MA: The David Ruggles Center, undated. “Chronology of Northampton.” Unattributed list (prepared ca. 2001). City of Northampton, Office of Planning and Sustainability. Accessed May 2022. https://northamptonma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/832/CHRONOLOGY-OF- NORTHAMPTON1?bidId=. Clapp, John Irving. Map of the Village of Roberts Meadow, 1770-1900. In Lost Village of Roberts Meadow: Northampton’s Forgotten Settlement (Amherst, MA: Off the Common Books, 2016). Map online at https://www.kestreltrust.org/wp- content/uploads/2017/09/1770-1900-Roberts-Meadow-Map.pdf. Community Preservation Project Application, Critical Open Space Acquisitions: Mineral Hills – Mining Heritage and Rocky Hill Addition. Northampton Conservation Commission and Office of Planning and Sustainability. September 15, 2017. Elm Street Historic District: Round Hill Road Extension. City of Northampton, Historic District Commission. Final Study Report (Approved April 1, 2013). Historic and Archaeological Resources of the Connecticut River Valley: A Framework for Preservation Decisions. Massachusetts Historical Commission State Survey Team: Sarah Zimmerman, Neill DePaoli, Arthur J. Krim, Peter Stott, and James W Bradley. Boston, MA: Massachusetts Historical Commission, Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth. February 1984 (reprinted 1988, 2007). https://www.sec.state.ma.us/mhc/mhcpdf/regionalreports/CTValley.pdf. Historic Northampton Online Collection Catalog. https://www.historicnorthampton.org/online-collections-catalog.html. Karr, Ronald Dale. The Rail Lines of Southern New England. A Handbook of Railroad History. Pepperell, MA: Branch Line Press, 1995. Lincoln, Eleanor Terry and John Abel Pinto. This, the House We Live In. The Smith College Campus from 1871 to 1982. Northampton, MA: Smith College, 1983. Local Historic Districts Final Report. City of Northampton, Local Historic District Study Committee. 1991. No districts created. Massachusetts Cultural Resource Information System (MACRIS). Massachusetts Historical Commission, Boston, MA. https://mhc-macris.net with companion mapping at MACRIS Maps, https://maps.mhc-macris.net. Sustainable Northampton Historic Preservation Element / Section 2 20 National Register of Historic Places nominations. Massachusetts Historical Commission (accessible online through MACRIS database above): Clarke School for the Deaf Historic District (NRDIS 2022) Dorsey-Jones House, 191 Nonotuck Street, Florence (NRIND/NRMPS 2005) Downtown Historic District and District Boundary Increase (NRDIS 1976, 1985) Fort Hill Historic District (NRDIS 1989) Northampton State Hospital (NRDIS/NRMPS 1994) Parsons, Shepherd. Damon Houses Historic District (NRDIS 2001) Pomeroy Terrace Historic District (NRDIS 2018) Ross Farm (NRDIS/NRMPS 2008) The Underground Railroad in Massachusetts, 1783-1865 (NRMPS 2005) Raber, Michael S. and Carl E. Walter. Survey and Inventory of the Hampshire and Hampden Canal (New Haven and Northampton Canal) for a Proposed National Register of Historic Places Nomination. Prepared for the Towns of Southwick, Westfield, and Southampton, Massachusetts. November 2002. Reconnaissance Survey Town Report: Northampton. Massachusetts Historical Commission, Boston. 1982. https://www.sec.state.ma.us/mhc/mhcpdf/townreports/CT-Valley/nth.pdf. Shanley, Joshua. Connecticut River Valley Flood of 1936. Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2021. Sharpe, Elizabeth M. In the Shadow of the Dam. The Aftermath of the Mill River Flood of 1874. New York, NY: Free Press, 2004. Women of Florence History Trail, 1840-1900. Florence, Massachusetts. Florence, MA: The David Ruggles Center, undated. Sustainable Northampton Historic Preservation Element / Section 2 21 Section 2.3 HISTORY OF PRESERVATION PLANNING IN NORTHAMPTON The City of Northampton has a rich history honored in written accounts, building preservation, and the continued cultivation of historic preservation plans. Located in the Pioneer Valley, Northampton histories are nested within the histories of the Pocumtuc, Nipmuc, and Nonotuck people as well as European settlers and those after. Efforts within the City of Northampton are conducted by an active Historical Commission that is supported closely by the Department of Planning and Sustainability as well as a vibrant Historic Society (Historic Northampton). Historic preservation planning for Northampton has been done through local plans and policies, with additional guidance from regional and state plans and policies. There has been less emphasis on the historic, cultural landscapes in various forms including open space, recreational environments, and trails. Local Plans The Northampton Office of Planning and Development and the Northampton Historical Commission engaged in one historic preservation plan process in 1992, with prior preservation efforts led by the Historic District Commission beginning in 1973. At the time of the 1992 Historic Preservation Plan, few historical properties were recognized or protected through formal preservation policy. The 1992 Plan outlined several goals and objectives, including: • Facilitate the inventory and update of historic resources. • Encourage and coordinate opportunities for community education and an increased public awareness around local history • Strengthen the role of the Historical Commission in City Government • Expand the preservation of historic materials and oral histories. • Engage growth policies and planning to prevent damage to local heritage. As a result of the local historic preservation plan and advocacy by residents and organizations alike, the City initiated preservation activities and achieved many goals outlined in the 1992 plan through zoning ordinances and community action. The recognition of the Elm Street Historic District in 1994 and its expansion in 2013 to include the Round Hill neighborhood marks the increased protection of historic resources under local ordinance. Federal recognition of the Pomeroy Terrace Neighborhood as a Historic District in 2018 was the culmination of resident’s success supported by local city Sustainable Northampton Historic Preservation Element / Section 2 22 government to further protect architectural significance and the notability of previous residents.4 Since the adoption of the historic preservation plan, architectural standards and protection districts were created for both downtown and West Street, with the Central Business Architecture District Ordinance established in 1999 and the West Street Architecture District Ordinance established in 2011. A Demolition Delay Ordinance was adopted in April 2005 with the aim to protect and preserve significant buildings for an additional year so alternatives to demolition could be identified. Regulated structures under the Ordinance include all properties built in 1900 or earlier, and a selection of properties built between 1901 and 1939, identified by the Historical Commission following the Ordinance’s adoption. An additional policy implemented in 2005 was the adoption of the Community Preservation Act (CPA) which enables the City to add a surcharge to local property taxes and apply for matched funding from the Community Preservation Trust Fund to be used to support the creation or maintenance of the following: • Open Space: Parks, Playgrounds, Recreational Fields • Local Affordable Housing Developments • Historic Preservation of Buildings & Resources A Community Preservation Committee acts as the managers of local CPA funding and stewards these causes. To date, over 50 historic preservation projects have been funded through this program in the City of Northampton.5 Additional preservation actors include the Northampton Historic Commission that merged with the Historic District Commission, begun in 1973, as of 2013. The Northampton Historical Commission is charged with the “preservation, promotion and development of the historical assets of the city,” their projects include: • Completing the Downtown Florence Historical Survey • Compiling a registry of public monuments • Presenting Historic Preservation Awards since the 1970s to recognize historically appropriate rehabilitations and new projects • Partners with the Department of Public Works on the City’s four historic cemeteries An ongoing partnership between the City’s Planning Department and Northampton Historical Commission is focused on the ongoing inventory of historic resources 4 Northampton’s Pomeroy Terrace neighborhood earns historic designation (gazettenet.com) 5 CPA Projects Database | Community Preservation Coalition Sustainable Northampton Historic Preservation Element / Section 2 23 preservation of historic materials, community education and awareness campaigns, and continued preservation policy. Open Space, Recreation & Multi-Use Trail Plan (2018-2025) The Open Space, Recreation and Multi-Use Plan identifies significant scenic resources and unique environments that include notable viewsheds, or vistas, from roads, water bodies, protected open space, and historic districts. Archeological sites are not specifically identified to protect them. The National Trust named City of Northampton as one of the Dozen Destinations of Distinction for Historic Preservation.6 The City has worked with the Corps of Engineers to evaluate alternatives to restore a riverine migratory corridor to the historic Mill River. The City has been acquiring land along the Historic Corridor.7 This Plan also includes a list of Preservation Restrictions.8 One of the goals in the Open Space, Recreation and Multi-Use Plan is to “create and preserve high quality, built environments in the downtown and village centers.” A recommendation to help meet this goal is to encourage and create incentives to maintain the distinctions and historic precedents that define the downtown and other more densely developed locations or in targeted growth zones.9 Another goal is to preserve natural and cultural resources and the environment with recommendations to have the City lead in protecting architectural and cultural history as well as consistently apply the criteria for preservation of the environment and resources across all neighborhoods and areas. The historic resource’s goal is to protect and preserve the City’s heritage resources by: • Educating and informing decision makers and the community about heritage resources, and • Protect the heritage resources from degradation or destruction by public or private actions or inactions. This plan also includes goals and priorities for specific greenways, rivers and burial grounds that are protected and are of value to the history as well as future character of the City. Bridges and scenic roads are of historical significance in Northampton as well but have not been documented in as much detail in this plan. The seven-year action plan provided in this plan states (under #11 Honor History in the Landscapes) that there has been less emphasis on the living and outdoor landscapes, 6 Open Space, Recreation & Multi-Use Trail Plan, 2018, 93 7 Open Space, Recreation & Multi-Use Trail Plan, 2018, 143. 8 Ibid, 177 9 Ibid, 183. Sustainable Northampton Historic Preservation Element / Section 2 24 especially cemeteries, historically significant landscapes, and historical farms and other working landscapes. Goals are to: • Preserve historic cemeteries • Develop the historic mine site, the Galena Mine in the Mineral Hills • Add historic interpretation for Mill River and other historic sites • Develop heritage landscape histories to bring the history alive for users Sustainable Northampton Comprehensive Plan (2008 amended to 2021) Northampton’s most recent comprehensive plan, Sustainable Northampton focuses on various aspects with historic preservation layered throughout its chapters. One of the guiding principles is to “Recognize and foster the unique history, character and function of each residential, commercial, mixed use, and open space neighborhood.” The plan identifies goals to preserve historical resources as well as objectives, strategies, and actions to achieve such through the Heritage Resource chapter. The City identified the continued stewardship of heritage resources through their protection and preservation. Objectives in this chapter included: • Identify, document, and evaluate heritage resources • Educate and inform decision makers and the community about heritage resources • Protect the heritage resources from degradation by public or private actions or inactions • Adopt and act on preservation programs that employ field surveys and archival research, provide economic and technical assistance, are coordinated with community policies and ordinances, and operate with sound and explicit standards. This recent master plan echoes the continuation of the community’s education and participation called for in 1992. To encourage the preservation and protection of historical resources requires and increased awareness among residents, commercial interests and stakeholders. The community’s engagement and support of this updated supplementary historic preservation may serve as a foundation for knowledge of current resources and active preservation. The City of Northampton Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan 2020 Update This plan states that mitigation efforts undertaken by communities will help to minimize damages to buildings and infrastructure, including cultural and historic resources.10 The City has a number of historical buildings that could be damaged or destroyed if a large enough earthquake were to happen. A loss of these historic buildings could represent a 10 City of Northampton 2020 Natural Hazard Mitigation Plan Update, 1. Sustainable Northampton Historic Preservation Element / Section 2 25 loss of Northampton’s history and culture. There have been no studies done to determine how Northampton’s critical infrastructure would fair in an earthquake.11 Site-Specific Plans Historic Northampton has had reports done for each of their three houses: • Isaac Damon House12 • Nathaniel Parsons House13 • Shepherd Barn14 Both the Isaac Damon House report and the Nathaniel Parsons House report provides a thorough documentation of the structures’ origins and changes over time. The Shepherd Barn report provides information on the construction and carpentry of the barn focusing on evidence of its original purpose and use and how it has been modified to its current form. This report is intended to both aid in the interpretation of the barn and serve as a guide to its future re-use as part of the museum. MHC Town Report MHC Reconnaissance Survey Town Report (July 1982) provides an historic overview, a description of topography, and political boundaries. The report concludes with survey observations that evaluate the town’s existing historic properties inventory and highlight significant historic buildings, settlement patterns, and present threats to these resources. The Survey Observations stated that, “Northampton’s survey is well documented and almost every building of outstanding character is included. Virtually all of Northampton’s industrial buildings have been identified. There remains opportunity for National Register Districts, especially at Bay State, Leeds, and Florence.” Regional Plans Historic & Archeological Resources of the Connecticut River Valley: A Framework for Preservation Decisions, Massachusetts Historical Commission, February 1984. Several recommendations from this plan have been accomplished for the City of Northampton including: • Encourage local historical commissions to expand the range of buildings, structures, and sites they include in their inventory. As recommended, the City has included 11 Ibid, 90. 12 Report on Building Archeology at the Isaac Damon House, for Historic Northampton and the Institute for Museum Services, prepared by Gregory Clancy, Architectural Conservator, and John Leeke, Preservation Consultant, 1992. 13 Report on Building Archeology at the Nathaniel Parsons House, for Historic Northampton and the Institute for Museum Services, prepared by Gregory Clancy, Architectural Conservatory, and John Leeke, Preservation Consultant, 1992. 14 A Preliminary Report on the Shepherd Barn, Historic Northampton, 2020. By Jack A. Sobon, Architect. Sustainable Northampton Historic Preservation Element / Section 2 26 vernacular housing, industrial buildings, important structures such as bridges and dams, and locally known archaeological sites (both prehistoric and historic). • Encourage local historical commissions to view completion of their inventory as the beginning rather than the end of their preservation efforts. Assist them in using inventory information as the basis for ongoing preservation activities such as public education, selection, and nomination of properties to the National Register, preparation of local historic districts, and coordination with town planning boards and officials to protect important sites, structures and landscapes. • Continue to work with the cities and larger towns to find new ways to reuse existing historic buildings, especially obsolete industrial and civic structures. • Continue to integrate archaeological and historic preservation concerns into local as well as regional planning efforts. Recommendations from this plan that have not been fully accomplished but are important in terms of historic preservation of the City are: • Focusing preservation activities on the identification, evaluation, and protection of historical landscapes and streetscapes. Protection of historical context in broad as well as specific terms should be a priority. • Encourage the adoption of a statewide open space plan that would coordinate agricultural as well as public and private conservation policies with the protection of rural and low-density historic landscapes. • Continue to work with the Department of Environmental Management, the Metropolitan District Commission, and other public agencies to incorporate historic preservation priorities into all planning for state parks, forests and watershed management areas. State Plans The Massachusetts State Historic Preservation Plan 2018-2022, Massachusetts Historical Commission, July 26, 2018. Northampton was not specifically mentioned in this plan as the City seemed to have accomplished many of the recommendations set forth in the previous two State Plans. The Massachusetts State Historic Preservation Plan 2011-2015, Massachusetts Historical Commission, February 14, 2011. This plan states that the National Trust for Historic Preservation has now recognized Northampton as one of five communities in Massachusetts as distinctive destinations. This Sustainable Northampton Historic Preservation Element / Section 2 27 program recognizes both the preservation efforts of the community and the memorable experiences for the visitor. Per recommendations in this plan for the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission (PVPC) staff preservation planners to assist local municipalities, the PVPC has assisted on several projects that were initiated by the City of Northampton. These include: • Historic Inventory (Form B) update project • Pomeroy Terrance National Register nomination • Elm Street Historic District design manual • Northampton-New Haven Canal Historic Documentation; a cooperative effort with all canal communities The PVPC also serve as the review authority for local historic district appeals, of which there has been only one. This plan describes how the Department of Conservation and Recreation partnered with 108 communities and regional organizations to implement the Heritage Landscape Inventory Program, but Northampton was not one of the participating communities, therefore does not have a Heritage Landscape Inventory completed for the City. The Massachusetts State Historic Preservation Plan 2006-2010, Massachusetts Historical Commission, September 2006. This plan states that the most notable professional targeted survey project in the region since the 2000 State Plan has been the Smith College update of inventory information on the historic buildings of its Northampton campus. Additional mentions of Northampton in this plan are that registration activity and context developed through National Register nominations include areas of secondary development in Northampton and a nominated resources having to do with African American history, includes the Dorsey-Jones House, listed as the first designation under the Underground Railroad in Massachusetts context (MPS). Northampton has accomplished many of the preservation planning and protection recommendations set forth in this plan: • Recognizes the need for local historic preservation planning • Has an active local historic commission and is supported by MHC in preservation planning activities • Cooperate with regional planning agencies on preservation planning activities • Encourage local historic districts in downtowns, village centers, and neighborhoods • Adopt demolition delay bylaws, particularly in more urbanized communities This plan also includes a recommendation for the City of Northampton to become a Certified Local Government. Sustainable Northampton Historic Preservation Element / Section 2 28 Section 2.4 ANNOTATED LIST OF PRESERVATION PARTNERS AND STAKEHOLDERS Historic Northampton Historic Northampton is an active historical society fulfilling the role of advocacy and education by facilitating a museum with the self-proclaimed purpose of collecting and preserving Northampton’s material, social, and environmental history so they may engage the greater community. While they are a private, non-profit organization, they hope to encourage the growth of civic identities through the study of local history. The organization manages four properties on Bridge Street from the 18th and early 19th centuries, including the Nathaniel Parsons House (1719), the Isaac Damon House (1813), the Pomeroy- Shepherd House (1797), and the Shepherd Barn (1803-1806). Collections include extensive historical photographs with an online digital catalog. https://www.historicnorthampton.org/ Downtown Northampton Association (DNA) DNA is an organization focused on improving the cultural and economic strength of the downtown corridor through maintenance, marketing, and advocacy. Direct maintenance and day-to-day beautification occur in tandem with municipal efforts. The group also works with local businesses to design and maintain greenery during the warmer months and focuses on holiday decorations during the winter. The DNA team organizes Signature downtown events and advertises them through social media platforms and other means. Overall, this organization advocates for all things downtown as they are integral to its health as facilitate communication between municipal actors and downtown business. http://www.northamptondna.com/ Pioneer Valley History Network This network is the conglomerate of the Pioneer Valley region’s historical institutions (including Historic Northampton) that connect history-minded individuals, organizations, and museums through a free membership. Its mission guides them in promoting communication, collaboration, and fostering an appreciation for history across the valley. https://pioneervalleyhistorynetwork.org/ David Ruggles Center for History and Education (Northampton) Located in the village of Florence, the David Ruggles Center for History and Education highlights the history of abolition in the small village where individuals chose to live by shared values of racial, class, gender-based, and religious freedom. The organization offers educational walking tours, a permanent museum with rotating exhibits, historical archive and library services, and special events. Sustainable Northampton Historic Preservation Element / Section 2 29 Committee for Northampton, Inc. A non-profit umbrella organization of the David Ruggles Center for History and Education in Northampton. Committee for Northampton recently received Community Preservation funds for preserving 225 Nonotuck Street and the increased study of additional properties for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places under the Underground Railroad of Massachusetts. https://davidrugglescenter.org/ Forbes Library Public Library (Northampton) The Forbes Library is an essential institution for the continued growth and lifelong learning of the greater Northampton Community. Not only does the library offer itself as a place for enjoyment of multimedia and a meeting place, but it also provides extensive resources for local history and personal genealogical research for Hampshire County and houses the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Library and Museum. https://forbeslibrary.org/info/ Smith College As a major landowner in the Elm Street Local Historic District and an institution dating to 1871, Smith College is an integral part of historic Northampton and an archival presence. Smith College is well represented in the historical inventory of the city and is an important stakeholder and data source for architecture, landscape design, education, and social history in Northampton. *How active would you like Smith College to be? Do you have a standing contact specifically for historical concerns/events? https://www.smith.edu/about-smith Pioneer Valley Planning Commission - Historic Preservation As a regional planning organization throughout the Pioneer Valley, they have worked with communities in the region for over 30 years to preserve and appreciate local history under the guidance of state and federal regulations. Although the PVPC historic preservation team is not an active administrative member of this process, they fund historic ventures in Northampton and remain a stakeholder as historic advocates. https://www.pvpc.org/projects/historic-preservation Community Preservation Committee In 2005, Northampton voted by ballot referendum to adopt the Community Preservation Act (CPA) and subsequently established the city’s Community Preservation Committee. The committee utilizes the funds from a surcharge of 3% on the real estate tax levy to grant awards for the protection, creation, or provision of open space and recreation, historic preservation, and community housing. The committee is responsible for the management and allocation of such funds, therefore, making them a stakeholder in local historic preservation. Sustainable Northampton Historic Preservation Element / Section 2 30 Brian Adams Julia Chevan Janna White Martha Lyon Jen Smith Christopher Hellman Jeff Jones Linda Morley Dan Krassner Sarah LaValley https://northamptonma.gov/1048/Community-Preservation-Committee Central Business Architecture Committee The Central Business Architecture Committee is an appointed volunteer board composed of varying interests from real estate to architecture and the construction industry to preserve and enhance the historical and architectural features of Northampton’s downtown. The committee administers the Central Business Architecture Ordinance, established in 1999 under Northampton’s Code of Ordinances, c. 156. It is active through technical assistance during public hearing permit application and renovation or construction processes downtown requiring design review. Aelan Tierney Joseph Blumenthal Bridget Goggins Melissa Frydlo Emily Wright Robert Walker https://northamptonma.gov/1044/Central-Business-Architecture-Committee Northampton Historical Commission Established in 1973, the Northampton Historical Commission is the municipal board of appointed volunteers charged with identifying, evaluating, and protecting the city’s historic and archaeological resources per M.G.L. c.40 §8D. The Historical Commission and a separate Historic District Commission were merged in 2013 to “preserve, promote, and develop the city’s historical assets.” The responsibilities of this commission include the permitting of projects within the Elm Street Local Historic District (1994, expanded 2013) under M. G. L. c.40C, as well as historic building demolition review, since 2005, under Northampton’s Code of Ordinances, c. 161. The Historical Commission partners with the Public Works Department to preserve city-owned cemeteries. Martha Lyon, Chair Steven Moga Barbara Blumenthal, Vice Chair Dylan Gaffney Craig Della Penna Dr. Jonathan Daube Reverend Harvey Hill https://www.northamptonma.gov/1052/Historical-Commission Sustainable Northampton Historic Preservation Element / Section 2 31 Northampton Planning Board Northampton’s Planning Board is responsible for the adoption of comprehensive and study plans as well as all zoning and subdivision regulations. In addition to these planning activities, since 2011, the board has continued to administer design review and permitting of projects in the West Street Architecture District under Northampton’s Code of Ordinances, c. 156. Christa Grenat Janna White George Kohout David Whitehiil Samuel Taylor Chris Tait Melissa Fowler Corinne Coryat https://northamptonma.gov/1087/Planning-Board City Staff Wayne Feiden, FAICP – former Director, Planning & Sustainability Sarah LaValley AICP – Conservation/Preservation Planner Carolyn Misch AICP – Acting Director/Planning Board Contact