Download FORM B – BUILDING Assessor`s number

FORM B – BUILDING
Assessor's number
2-25
Massachusetts Historical Commission
Massachusetts State Archives Building
220 Morrissey Boulevard
Boston, Massachusetts 02125
USGS Quad
Shutesbury
Town
Place (neighborhood or village)
film number
36
West Pelham
2 Amherst Road
Historic Name
Uses: Present
Dwelling
Original
Dwelling
Date of Construction
roll
1
Form Number
PEL.25
Pelham
Address
Photograph
(3" x 3" or 3" x 5", only black and white)
Staple onto the left side of the form. Indicate the
address of the property on the back of the photo.
Indicate the roll and film number of the negative
here on the form.
Area(s)
1913
Source
Pelham Tax Valuations
Style/Form
Colonial Revival Four-square
Architect/Builder
Sketch Map
Show the building’s location in relation to the
nearest cross streets and/or major natural features.
Circle and number the inventoried building.
Indicate north.
Recorded by Robert Lord Keyes [Historical] and
Bonnie Parsons [Architectural]
Organization Keyes: Pelham Historical Commission;
Parsons: Pioneer Valley Planning Commission
Exterior Material:
Foundation
not visible
Wall/Trim
shingles, clapboard
Roof asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures garage
Major Alteration (with dates)
Condition
Moved
good
No (X) Yes ( ) Date
Acreage
1.97
Setting
House faces south and is set fairly
close to the well- traveled road.
Date (month/day/year)
none
March 1, 2005
Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form.
BUILDING FORM
ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION
see continuation sheet
Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of
other buildings within the community.
This is a two-story, Colonial Revival house that is often referred to as a “four-square” for
its form, a simple square plan house with a hipped roof, wide eaves overhangs and
symmetrical fenestration. In this case, there is a pyramidal hipped roof and the house has
a full-width porch that is Colonial Revival in style. Colonial Revival as well is the use of
shingles on the second story and clapboards on the first story. The house is three bays
wide and two bays deep and there is a small side porch on Queen Anne turned posts.
Sash is 2/1, a configuration common at the time of the building’s construction ca. 1913.
This is a well-preserved example of a four-square, and among its bungalow neighbors
illustrates the range of architectural styles that were most prevalent during the early 20th
century. The bungalow and four-square shared a design simplicity and lack of ornament
in a conscious reaction against the excesses of the previous Queen Anne style. Their
straightforward designs made them popular for prefabricated catalogue houses.
A clapboard sided, front-gabled, single bay garage in the yard had a second bay added at
a later date, but dates ca. 1920 when cars were becoming plentiful.
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE  see continuation sheet
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.
2 Amherst Road was originally part of Lot 58-3 [58th lot in the third division] drawn by
James Thornton, Sr. [ca. 1684-1754] in 1739. Thornton was one of the founders of
Pelham. He was one of two agents for the proprietary company which purchased the land
from speculator Col. John Stoddard [1682-1748] that eventually became the town of
Pelham. Thornton’s son, Dr. Matthew Thornton [1714-1803] lived in Pelham for a time
and was signer of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 from New Hampshire.
The first Pelham record of a house on this property was the 1913 Tax Valuation which
lists 1 house on a ¼ acre home lot belonging to Eugene Elmer Ward [1885-1966]. (The
lot became 1 acre in 1914. 1 henhouse was added in 1915.) Ward was a machinist in the
Montague City Fish Rod Factory [at 22 Amherst Road] owned by Eugene P. Bartlett
[1853-1925]. In fact, Bartlett may have built 2 Amherst Road and then sold it to Ward.
Ward did buy the property from Bartlett [“with buildings”] according to Hampshire
County Deed 729-12. But, the deed is dated 1917—four years after the first Tax
Valuations listing Ward as owner. (Ward was living at Bartlett’s house at 20 Amherst
Road in 1900. Bartlett was Ward’s uncle.) Ward lived at 2 Amherst Road until 1919 with
his first wife, Gertrude E. Ward [b. ca. 1883] until 1919. Ward later served as a Pelham
Selectman for three years and as Pelham Town Clerk for 14 years.
Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form.
Fenimore H. Shepard of Fair Haven, Vt. owned 2 Amherst Road in 1920 and 1921. He
may have rented the house out. He sold the property to Eugene P. Bartlett. Bartlett
presumably rented 2 Amherst Road out to employees who worked in his fish rod factory.
Bartlett died in 1925 and his estate transferred the property to his grandson Leander
Eugene Aldrich [1902-1972] in 1926. Aldrich owned 2 Amherst Road for one year before
he sold it to Alfred Charles Davis [1899-1961] and Helena A. McDermott Herrick Davis
[Bridges] [b. 1901].
Davis owned the property until 1945. It was one acre plus the 1.40 acre Parmenter lot
which Davis purchased in 1927. Davis also added a garage in 1928. Davis’ family had
lived for several generations on Davis Road in Pelham in what is now Gates 10-11 of the
Quabbin Reservoir. Because of the Quabbin land takings, Davis had to vacate his family
home. Davis was a mechanic.
Alfred and Helena had two children: Norma Jean Davis Stedman [b. 1931] and Richard
Alfred Davis [b. 1933]. Richard became a teacher in the Amherst school system.
In 1945, Alfred and Helena sold 2 Amherst Road to Switchboard Operator Clarence G.
Bridges [b. ca. 1900] and his first wife Thelma R. Bridges [b. ca. 1906]. Alfred and
Helena moved next door to 4 Amherst Road. The lot remained 2.40 acres, including the
1.40 Parmenter lot, and including the garage and henhouse. Bridges added a shed in
1950.
Thelma transferred her title to Clarence in 1955 [Hampshire County Deed 1186-210]. At
some point Helena Davis married Clarence G. Bridges (while continuing to own 4
Amherst Road in 1971). In 1964 Clarence and Helena sold 2 Amherst Road to Kenneth
Harlan Orrell [b. 1926], a mechanic, and Blanche E. Doleva Orrell [b. 1925]. (Kenneth
lived at 8 Amherst Road as a child.) Hampshire County Deed 1446-715 [1964] shows
that the property includes a small amount of land in Amherst. The Orrells had four sons
born between 1955 and 1967.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
 see continuation sheet
Hampshire County Deeds 729-12 [1917]; 770-151 [1921]; 822-23 [1926]; 1186-210
[1955]; 1446-715 [1964]. Hampshire County Plan Book 77-83 [1971].
Pelham Tax Valuations, Annual Reports, and Street Lists, [Town Vault, Town of Pelham;
and History Room, Pelham Free Public library].
Federal Census: 1900, 1910-1930.
Parmenter, C[harles] O[scar], “History of Pelham,” [Amherst, MA: Carpenter and
Morehouse, 1898], pp. 24, 25, 30, 31.
Pelham Vital Records, [Town Clerk’s Office, Town of Pelham].
Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form.
Board of Assessors, Town of Pelham, Revaluation Card, 2 Amherst Road, 1982.
Allen, Harry W., “Life in West Pelham, Massachusetts from 1892 to 1918,” [Ms., 1976],
[Copy in History Room, Pelham Free Public Library].
Aldrich, Kenneth R., Paul Campbell, Jr., Pearly P. Keyes, Sr., and Emma Weaver,
Personal Recollections, to Robert Lord Keyes, 2003 and 2004.
Campbell, Alice, May 5, 2004 Letter to Robert Lord Keyes.
Keyes, Robert Lord, 40 South Valley Road, Pelham, MA 01002, Pelham, Massachusetts
History Project: Genealogical and Historical Research.
Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked, you
must attach a completed National Register Criteria Statement form.
Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form.
Massachusetts Historical Commission
Address
State Archives Facility
220 Morrissey Boulevard
Boston, Massachusetts 02125
Community
Pelham
Property
2 Amherst Road
Area(s) Form No.
PEL.25
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
Criteria Considerations:
B
C
A
D
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 contributes to the potential West Pelham Historic District. The district is
significant according to criteria A and C and it has local significance. West Pelham is
significant as the site of 18th century settlement at four mill sites, one of which exists
today, and for its association with events of Shays’s Rebellion after the Revolutionary
War.
West Pelham, known during the late 19th and early 20th century as “Pelham City”
represents a 19th century agricultural and light industrial village that superceded Pelham
Center as the town center due to the long term success of its industry attracting and
sustaining workers and to its development in the early 20th century as a suburban area for
population spillover from Amherst, long a college town and intellectual center of the
region. A late 19th century resort destination, West Pelham is also important as it retains
a building from this era, and from the resort Orient Springs.
The district retains buildings from its 19th century agricultural, resort and industrial past
as well as from its early 20th century suburban phase, which continues to the present.
There are fine examples of Federal and Greek Revival farmsteads. With a Queen Anne
store and single and double houses from the Colonial Revival and Craftsman styles applied to bungalow, cape and Four-square forms - the district’s stylistic range as a home
to workers and suburban commuters is exemplary.
Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form.