Survey
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
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.