FORM A - AREA MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Assessor s Sheets USGS Quad Area Letter Form Numbers in Area Shrewsbury Town Northborough Place (neighborhood or village) Photograph Houses on the east side of River Street, camera facing northeast. Name of Area RIVER STREET NEIGHBORHOOD Present Use Residential Construction Dates or Period ca. 1880 ca. 1910 Overall Condition Good Major Intrusions and Alterations Siding, modern windows, dormers, porch enclosures. Acreage 5.45 acres Recorded by Organization Date (month/year) March 2009 Bruce Clouette, PAST, Inc., Storrs, CT Northborough Historical Commission Topographic or Assessor's Map Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form.
AREA FORM ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION see continuation sheet Describe architectural, structural and landscape features and evaluate in terms of other areas within the community The houses on River Street are modest frame dwellings, mostly 1 ½ stories in height, dating from about 1880 to 1910. There are 13 houses from this period, along with 3 houses of relatively recent construction. Although most of the houses have been sided and otherwise modernized, taken together they present a coherent assemblage of turn-of-the-century housing formerly occupied by the families of comb-makers, railway workers, laborers, and other blue-collar Northborough residents. Certain of the houses appear almost identical, but mostly they differ slightly in dimensions and orientation, with some having their gable end facing the street and others presenting their broad side to the street. Most of the houses were framed with 12-foot posts or studs, resulting in extra headroom on the second floor that almost makes them 2-story houses. One house, 25 River Street (NBO.182), was recorded in the first phase of the inventory. All have asphalt-shingled roofs and nearly all have small brick chimneys. Other details on the houses are as follow: 10 River Street. The 1 ½-story, ca. 1900 house has its gable end facing the street; it measures 20 feet by 25 feet in plan, with a 15-feet-by-11-feet 1-story extension and an attached garage at the rear. The gable-end façade has the entrance on the right and two windows on the left, with two windows for the upper story. The entry has a plain-board surround with a molded cap and the original panel-and-glass door. Windows are modern, with 6- over-1 muntin grids. A porch along the south side has been enclosed. The exterior is clapboarded. Stucco covers the foundation. (continued) HISTORICAL NARRATIVE see continuation sheet Explain historical development of the area. Discuss how this relates to the historical development of the community. Prior to around 1880, River Street only extended a short distance north of Main Street; the Phase I of the historic inventory recorded an early house and a former shop there. The 1870 map indicates that the bulk of River Street was open land owned by William Seaver, an elderly farmer. Later the Seaver property came into the possession of Mary E. Ashley, the widow of the Rev. Samuel S. Ashley, the minister of the Evangelical Congregational Church. Rev. Ashley became minister of the church in 1852 but left to do humanitarian work during the Civil War, and afterwards he worked among the freed men in the South. Returning to Northborough, Ashley served for many years as postmaster. Like her husband, Mary E. Ashley was a fervent supporter of missionaries and other Christian causes. By the time the 1887 view was published, there were four houses toward the northern end of River Street that are recognizable as houses that still exist today, and in the 1890s, four more of the present-day houses were built (Figures 1 and 2). A number were the property of Nathaniel Randlett, a house carpenter who had come to Northborough from New Hampshire as a young man. A newspaper article form 1885 referred to his building a cottage on River Street. Because of their essential similarity, there is good reason to believe that Randlett designed and built all of the houses shown as belonging to him on the 1898 map, and perhaps others on the street as well, intending them as rental properties. (continued) BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES see continuation sheet Beers, F. W. Atlas of Worcester County, Massachusetts. New York, NY: F. W. Beers & Co., 1870. Kent, Josiah C. Northborough History. Newton, MA: Garden City Press, 1921. Northborough Historical Society. Genealogy file on Nathaniel Randlett. Richards, L. J. New Topographical Atlas of Worcester County, Massachusetts. Philadelphia, PA: L. J. Richards & Co., 1898. U.S. Census Bureau. Census of Population, 1880, 1900, 1910. Manuscript schedules, microfilm, Massachusetts State Library, Boston. View of Northborough, Massachusetts, 1887. Original in the Library of Congress map collection; copy at the Northborough Historical Society, Northborough, MA. Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked, you must attach a completed National Register Criteria Statement form. Continuation Sheet 2
ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION (continued): 15 River Street. The 1 ½-story house measures 29 feet by 21 feet in plan and presents its broad side to the street. The 5-bay façade has the entrance in the center; an open porch on square columns extends across the front. The house has a brick foundation. Windows are modern, and the exterior is covered with vinyl siding. There are small 1-story wings added to the south and west elevations. A large garage at the rear is modern. The house dates from about 1900. 19 River Street. The 1 ½-story house has its gable end facing the street, where a shed-roofed porch across the front has been enclosed; the entrance is on the right. There are two second-story windows offset to the left. The exterior has been covered with aluminum siding and the windows are modern. The house measures 20 feet by 25 feet in plan, with a 26-feet-by-15 feet ell to the north. The house rests on a cobblestone foundation. There is a small frame garage of uncertain date at the rear. The house itself was built about 1900. 23 River Street. The 1 ½-story, ca. 1900 house has its gable end facing the street; it measures 22 feet wide by 28 feet deep, with a 9 feet-by-20-feet 1-story wing at the rear. The exterior is covered with aluminum siding. Stucco covers the stone foundation. The façade has two windows on the left, the entrance on the right, and two secondfloor windows. Windows have their original 2-over-2 sash. The entrance is sheltered by a flat roofed porch on turned posts, with modern wrought-iron railings. 24-26 River Street. The 1 ½ story house, built in the 1880s, has a five-bay façade with two entries in the center, under a shed-roofed porch on turned posts. It measures 31 feet by 21 feet in plan, with its broad side parallel to the street. There is a 21-feet-by-14 feet ell at the rear. The house has a brick foundation. Aluminum siding covers the exterior. Other alterations include small gabled wall dormers and three solar-heating panels on the front slope of the roof and three-part picture windows flanking the entries in place of two windows on either side. The 1898 map shows the house as the property of N[athaniel] Randlett. 25 River Street. The 1 ½-story house has its gable end facing the street, with two windows on the left and the entry on the right; there are two second-floor windows. The exterior is covered with aluminum siding. The windows are modern, as is the pedimented entry treatment. The house was originally 22 feet wide by 28 feet deep, but the width of the house has been extended 4 feet for most of the depth of the south side elevation. There is a 20-feet-by-20-feet 1-story wing at the rear. The house dates from about 1900. The 1898 map shows the house as the property of Mrs. S[erretta] F. Sargent. The house was inventoried in the Phase I. 28-30 River Street. The 1 ½-story house, 31 feet by 22 feet in plan, presents its broad side to the street, where the 3-bay façade has double entries in the center. The entries are covered by a flat-roofed porch with corner brackets and square columns on pedestals. The right window has been replaced with a modern bay window, and there is a large wood-shingled shed-roofed dormer on the front slope of the roof. Part of the exterior has vinyl siding and part retains its clapboards. At the rear is a 21-feet-by-14-feet ell. The house was built in the 1880s. The 1898 map shows the house as the property of N[athaniel] Randlett. 32 River Street. The 1 ½-story house rests on a brick foundation and measures 33 feet by 21 feet in plan, with a 23-feet-by-12-feet ell at the rear. The 3-bay broad-side façade has the entry in the center; the paneled door and sidelights appear to be modern. A shed-roofed dormer covers the middle third of the front slope of the roof. The Continuation Sheet 1
exterior is covered with vinyl siding, and the windows are modern. The house dates from the 1880s. The 1898 map shows the house as the property of N[athaniel] Randlett. The house s small garage appears to be modern. 34 River Street. The 1 ½-story house has its gable end facing the street, with two windows on the left, the entry on the right, and two second-floor windows. Although the house was built ca. 1890, the windows, and probably the entrance porch, probably date from the 1920s. The windows have four vertical lights in the upper part of the sash and a single pane below. The entrance porch has square posts resting on a solid rail, with small curved post brackets. The roof of the porch could be described as a gable-on-hip roof or, alternatively, as a gable roof with a pent roof across the front. The panel-and-glass door appears to be original. The house retains its clapboarded exterior. On the north side, the second floor has been built out with a large shed-roofed wall dormer, with modern paired windows interrupting the eave line. The house rests on a brick foundation and measures 21 feet by 28 feet in plan, with an 8-feet-by-20-feet ell to the south. The house was built ca. 1890. The 1898 map shows the house as the property of N[athaniel] Randlett. 36 River Street. The 2-story house, built ca. 1890, has a 3-bay gable-end façade, with the entry on the left, within an enclosed porch that extends across the front. The gable roof has a somewhat shallow slope. The house is L-shaped in plan, with the main part measuring 20 feet by 29 feet in plan and the ell to the north, 15 feet by 14 feet in plan. There is also a 1-story 12 feet-by-15-feet wing at the rear. The porch across the ell retains its original turned posts, curved post brackets with spindles in the cut-out spandrels, railings of square balusters, and steps with turned newels. The house rests on a cobblestone foundation. The exterior is aluminum siding, and the windows are modern. The 1898 map shows the house as the property of Mrs. E[mily] O. Tyler. 37 River Street. The 2-story, hip-roofed house dates from about 1910 and is nearly square in plan, measuring 24 feet wide by 26 feet deep. It rests on a cobblestone foundation. The 3-bay asymmetrical façade has the entrance on the left, within an enclosed porch that extends across the front. An 11-feet-by-20-feet 1-story extension on the south elevation may also represent a former porch, now enclosed. On the front slope of the roof is a small triangular dormer for the attic. The exterior has aluminum siding, and the windows and shutters are modern. A large garage at the rear appears to have been originally a barn. 38-40 River Street. The 1 ½-story house presents its broad side to the street, where there are a pair of entries in the center of the 3-bay facade. A shed-roofed porch, with turned posts resting on a solid rail, extends across the front. The two panel-and-glass doors appear to be original. The exterior of the house has been covered with siding, and the windows are modern. There are two small gabled wall dormers for the second story in front. The foundation is brick (concrete under the porch). The house, which was built ca. 1890, measures 32 feet by 20 feet in plan, with a 22-feet-by-13-feet rear ell. The 1898 map indicates the house as the property of J. Mosso. 42 River Street. The gable end of the 1 ½-story house, which dates from the 1880s, faces the street, where the entrance is on the right of the 3-bay façade. A shed-roofed porch on square posts extends across the front. There are two second-floor windows. The exterior is clapboarded. Alterations include a modern bay window and shedroofed wall dormer added on the north side, modern windows, and enclosure of the porch along the south side. The house is 16 feet wide and 25 feet deep, with a 1-story wing extending it another 20 feet to the rear. Although the application of vinyl and aluminum siding, the enclosure of porches, and replacement of original sash with modern windows has resulted in no single River Street house retaining the major part of its historic appearance, collectively the assemblage preserves a substantial amount of historic fabric, including porch trim, some 2-over-2 sash, some clapboarded exteriors, and a number of the glass-over-panels entry doors that were characteristic of the period. Continuation Sheet 2
Other than the former tenements built by the woolen mills, there are no other comparable concentrations of turn-of-thecentury workingclass houses in Northborough. DATA SHEET Inventory Number Street Address Description Date NBO.291 10 River Street House, 1 ½ stories, gable end facing street ca. 1900 NBO.292 15 River Street House, 1 ½ stories, broad side facing street ca. 1900 NBO.293 19 River Street House, 1 ½ stories, gable end facing street ca. 1900 NBO.294 23 River Street House, 1 ½ stories, gable end facing street ca. 1900 NBO.295 24-26 River Street House, 1 ½ stories, broad side facing street ca. 1890 NBO.182* 25 River Street House, 1 ½ stories, gable end facing street 1899 NBO.296 28-30 River Street House, 1 ½ stories, broad side facing street ca. 1885 NBO.297 32 River Street House, 1 ½ stories, broad side facing street ca. 1885 NBO.298 34 River Street House, 1 ½ stories, gable end facing street ca. 1885 NBO.299 36 River Street House, 1 ½ stories, gable end facing street ca. 1890 NBO.300 37 River Street House, 2 stories, hip roof, square plan ca. 1910 NBO.301 38-40 River Street House, 1 ½ stories, broad side facing street ca. 1890 NBO. 42 River Street House, 1 ½ stories, gable end facing street ca. 1885 *recorded in the Phase I Continuation Sheet 3
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE (continued): Another participant in the development of River Street was the family of comb maker Albert Tyler. His wife Emily owned one of the houses on the east side of the street and a house and lot, upon which two houses were later built, on the west side of the street. Their daughter, Seretta F. Sargent, also owned a house on the west side of the street. The 1910 federal census, the first to list street names in Northborough, provides a capsule look at River Street in the early 20 th century, summarized in the following table: HOUSEHOLDS OF RIVER STREET, 1910 FEDERAL CENSUS (The Census Taker Appears to Have Walked South to North) Head of Household Birthplace Occupation Owner or Renter Frank Bertrand Quebec Railroad track walker Renter Nathan S. Johnson Massachusetts Mechanic, box shop Renter Benjamin F. Cox Massachusetts House carpenter Renter Rose Reardon Newfoundland None Owner George Guertin Massachusetts Blacksmith, own shop Renter Charles A. Nelson Massachusetts Laborer Renter Seretta Sargent New York None Owner John Norton Ireland Laborer Renter Jeremiah Shea Ireland Hotel cook Renter Annie Bruso Massachusetts None Renter Henry Woodward Vermont Street railway inspector Renter Moses Mosso Massachusetts Mechanic, woodturning shop Owner Charles Bovier Quebec Comb maker Renter Patrick McGrath Ireland Comb maker Owner Sophia McCabe Canada Comb maker Renter Frederick Desrosiers Massachusetts Comb maker Renter Frank Desrosiers Massachusetts Comb maker Renter Continuation Sheet 4
As can be seen, the majority of houses were occupied by families headed by persons of immigrant heritage, mostly from Ireland or French Canada; some, such as Frank and Frederick Desrosiers, were the children of immigrants. Except for widows such as Rose Reardon and Serreta Sargent, all but two of the houses were rented rather than owned by their occupants. Predominantly, the heads of household were employed in unskilled or semiskilled occupations laborers, a cook, comb factory workers but there were also a few workers who owned their own shops, such as blacksmith George Guertin and woodworker Moses Mosso. In the parade of 1916, Moses Mosso, listed as a manufacturer of violin trimmings, entered a horse-drawn float in which woodworking machinery was powered by the rear wheels. The Northborough Historical Society has in its collections several examples of Mosso s work, including parts for musical instruments other than violins. The River Street houses recall the role of the immigrant working class in Northborough s history. From the middle of the 19 th century onward, Northborough s railroads, woolen mills, and comb factories attracted numerous immigrants, principally from Ireland and Quebec, who added ethnic diversity to the once overwhelmingly Yankee character of the town. While primarily factory workers, at least through the early part of the 20 th century, the immigrants and their children also started shops and other businesses that added to the economic vitality of the community. Home to both factory workers and small-scale entrepreneurs such as Mosso and Guertin, River Street recalls the contributions of ordinary people to the town s history. Although altered from their original appearance, the River Street houses continue to clearly indicate the period of their construction, and the simple form and small size of the houses suggests the neighborhood s workingclass origins. Continuation Sheet 5
House at 10 River Street, camera facing northeast. Continuation Sheet 6
House at 15 River Street, camera facing southwest. Continuation Sheet 7
House at 19 River Street, camera facing west. Continuation Sheet 8
House at 23 River Street, camera facing west. Continuation Sheet 9
House at 24-26 River Street, camera facing east. Continuation Sheet 10
House at 25 River Street, camera facing west. Continuation Sheet 11
House at 28-30 River Street, camera facing east. Continuation Sheet 12
House at 32 River Street, camera facing east. Continuation Sheet 13
23 27 21 24 House at 34 River Street, camera facing east. Continuation Sheet 14
House at 36 River Street, camera facing east. Continuation Sheet 15
House at 37 River Street, camera facing west. Continuation Sheet 16
House at 38-40 River Street, camera facing east. Continuation Sheet 17
House at 42 River Street, camera facing east. Continuation Sheet 18
Figure 1: River Street as shown on the 1887 bird s-eye view; present-day street numbers added for reference. Continuation Sheet 19
Figure 2: River Street as shown on the 1898 Richards map; present-day street numbers added for reference. Continuation Sheet 20