Pleasant Street

FORM B - BUILDING In Area no. Form no.
MASSACHUSETTSHISTORICAL COMMISSION 43
Office of the Secretary, State House, Boston
/ 1. Town Marlborough
J Address 3L~J Pleasant
Name Ithamar Brigham

Street
Homestead
Present use Residence

2.
Present owner James Kent
3. Description; 2t Story Center Chimney

Hipped roof ~ .'
Date 1783
Source Pub. Local Histories
Style Colonial
4. Map. Draw sketch of building location Architect Itha.mar Brigham (builder)
in relation to nearest cross streets and
other buildings. Indicate north. Exterior wall fabric Clapboard
Outbuildings (describe)_N_o_n_e _
\ other features Upstair windows of
P facade have been enlarged

l 0
P ~ Altered Date
s --------- ------
o A lJ Moved
--------- Date
----_._-
5. Lot size:
o ~@ One acre or less _X_ Over one acre~_
S Appr oximate frontage-=l..=;.O~O._F_e_e'_t _

T Approximate distance of building from street
Mil-Pte -
. WOOD 50 Feet
o NOT WRITE IN THIS SPACE c.e~ 6. Recorded by Ernest Ginnetti
USGSQuadrant \ Marlborough HistorJcal
He Photo no. ------\;- ",-
-, t Organization Commission
Date 12/29/76
'\
\, (over)
SM-2-75-R061465: (20M-2~76) \,
\
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\- •
.r
:,
7. Original owner (if known) I thamar Bri~ham
---------"-------------",,.,.,,..----- i _
Original use Farm

------------------------------
Subsequent uses (if any) and dates i:Zesidence
--------------------------
8. Themes (check as many as applicable)
Aboriginal Conservation Recreation

Agricultural Education Religion
Arcbi tectural Exploration/ Science/
The Arts settlement invention
Commerce Industry __ Social!
Communication Military X humanitarian
Community development Political Transportation
9. Historical significance (include explanation of themes checked above) )

Ith&~ar Brigham was born on November 7, 1758, and. married Catherine
Barnes November 26, 1783. He was a 2nd Lieutenant in the Company of
Captain William Brigham ,his uncle, which marched to C&nbridge on April
19, 1775. and. was Selectman in the years 1801,6,9,11-13. He died March
12, 1836.
His son Jona.s was born in this house in 1790 and became an officer
in the Army during the War of 1812. He died in New York in 1822.
10. Bibliography and/or references (such as local histories, deeds, assessor's records,
ear ly maps, etc.)
History of Marlborough Mass. Charles Hudson, Boston, 1862.
Historical Reminiscences of Marlborough, Ella Bigelow, Marl. 1910.
Marlborough, Engineering Dept.
• •
INVENTORY FORl\-l CONTINUATION SHEET Community Property
Marlborough Ithamar Brigham

House
Massachusetts Historical Commission

80 Boylston Street Area(s) Form No.
Boston, Massachusetts 02116 AO 43
Additional information by Anne Forbes, consultant to Marlborough Historical Commission,

5/10/95:
ASSESSOR'S # 55-231; less than one acre. PHOTO #95-4: 5.
ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION.
A rare example in Marlborough of an early Federal center-chimney, hip-roofed house, 343 Pleasant
street is typical of this building type in its square proportions and four-room plan. Although some
trim has been lost to synthetic siding, and several window openings have been enlarged to
accommodate lare diamond-pane sash, some early detail remains. The roof cornice, with a stylish
dentil course, is still intact, as is the surround of the center entry, with its fluted Doric pilasters,
high frieze with architrave, and projecting, molded and dentilated lintel.
Among the later elements of the house are the 2-over-2-sash windows of the first story, 20th-
century shutters, and a one-story ell or den on the north side.
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE, cont.

The Ithamar Brigham who built this house was the son of Capt. Ithamar and Ruth (Ward)
Brigham, The date of 1783 given for its construction may be speculative, and based on the fact that
that was the year he married Catherine Barnes, who lived on the adjoining farm (see Form #11:
19 Ash Street.) It may actually have been constructed several years later. Ithamar Brigham owned
the property until his death in 1836, at which time it was evidently inherited by their sixth son, Abel
(b. 1797).
Maplewood Cemetery occupies what was formerly the southern part of the Brigham farm. (See
Form #801). It was established in 1865, on land purchased by the town from Abel Brigham which
apparently included a small former family or neighborhood burial ground that already existed on
the Brigham property. Abel Brigham died sometime before 1875, when the house is shown as
belonging to Otis Cole. He owned it at least as late as 1889.
BIBLIOGRAPHY, cont.
Maps and atlases: 1803, 1830, 1835, 1856/7, 1875, 1889.
Marlboro vital records
Marlboro directories and tax valuations.
Bigelow, James. "Photographs and Descriptions of Some Old Houses in Marlborough." 1927.
[] Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked, a completed
National Register Criteria Statement form is attached.
~
..
fNVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Community Property
Marlborough Ithamar Brigham

House

Boston, Massachusetts 02116 AO 43
""
Form no,'
53
1. Town Marl borough
Address 61. Pleasant Street
Name John Clisbee Homestead
•• " y •~ .
.... '.
Altered
L /IV c. 0 L IV . ,. .-.'. ".-: (': .... ;' ...:
, _,Moved Date\h?'--
o
, 5. Lot 'slze-
----------
D s o less
a r a
One acre or
Approximate frontage 60 Feet-
n ; ,'.-. -"" - - '
Approximate distance. of bui14ing

" .:.
' .. :
.' '~ ...
.'...':'1i~?r;~~~t:h;;
. .-.,,~.,.
........',}t~~!f;~~~~~~t)$,
.
5M-2-75-R061465t;(2~~~~;6)
. . . ;-S.,: '.,:t: r}~:~·~:~1.:::1:p<!f\:~.~!.~::(~::';
.::~ -:~:-~
XI'
,;J.. -?':;~
r
":"S~
_....-._---.,.-------------,-------:.
7. Originalowner (if known)-"""-"'John Clisbee
Originaluse Farm
------------------------------
Subsequentuses (ifany) and dates Residence, Restaurant added on to rear.
8. Themes (checkas many as applicable)
, . Aboriginal Conservation Recreation

,Agricultural -x- Education Religion
Architectural X Exploration/ Science/
',' The Arts settlement invention
,Cornrnerce Industry Social!
Communication Military humanitarian
Community development Political Transportation )
9. Historicalsignificance(includeexplanationof themes checked above) )
I could find very little information on John Clisbee other than he

married into aiprominent family. He married Lydia Loring about 1820,
and she was born April 2, 1800, the daughter of John Loring and Mary
Beaman. Ella Bigelow quotes their daughter Mary Clisbee talking about
her father in 1910, "Father ,was into many things. He was always stud-
ying something. First there'was the building of a new house; then it
~as the raising or the planting of something new. It was all his land
then and the trees were so thick that everybody called it Mulberry
street, and you'll find it so down on the old maps of Marlborough. He
was greatly interested in the silk worm and he planted mulberry trees
way up ever so far on what is now called Lincoln Street.tt This is a
pleasant description of Marlboroughts past, and the house reflects the
prosperity of John Clisbee, and the era before the Civil War.
: .. .:..
'
10. BU;itographyand/or references(suchas localhistories.deeds. assessor'srecords"

~aily maps, etc.) ,
':'ii~>.lI:is~ory,()f
Marlborough Mass. Chl\rles Hudson, Boston, 1.862.
";'~~;~~~OricalReminiscen~es;ofMarlborOUgh" Ella' Bigelow, Marl. '1910.
': ::::.',", ·;~r,::;i'ii?::;, ', .• •
Marlborough Eng~neer~ng Dept •
•
FORM B - BUILDING Assessor's number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number

80 Boylston Street
I 69-23 I I Marlborough I I C; L I 53
Boston, Massachusetts 02116
Town Marlborough
Place (neighborhood or village) _
West Vmage
.•.•...
Address 64 Pleasant Street
Historic Name John Clisbee House
<', Uses: Present Dwelling
Original DweJ1jng; organ-blljJding shop
Date of Construction __ ...l..•..

8..•. 's
2.•.•
0..•. _
Source Maps; style; toeal histories
Style/Form Greek Revival
Architect/Builder __ .•..
u.•.•
n_k.n.•..
...ow
.•...•..
n _
Exterior Material:
iketch Map Foundation dressed granite

Draw a map of the area indicating properties within
it. Number each property for which individual Wallrrrim synthetic siding
inventory forms have been completed. Label streets,
including route numbers, if any. Attach a separate Roof asphalt shingle
sheet if space is not sufficient here. Indicate north.
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures _
2-car garaae
o
Major Alterations (with dates) Entries re-
placed; roost windows replaced in front sec-
tion and first story, rear

Condition _ ....a..•.
ir
f••• _
N
Moved [X] no [ ] yes Date N_/A _
Acreage Jess than one acre
Recorded by Anne Forbes Setting Occupies comer lot on west side of

Pleasant Street at Lincoln. West Church to N.;
)rganization for Marlboro Hist Carom J 9th-early 2Qth·C houses to S Parking area in
Date 2/25194 front; two gas statjons across Pleasant
BUILDING FORM
ARCHI1ECTURAL DESCRIPTION [] see continuation sheet

Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings
within the community.
Although its integrity has been diminished by the loss of its doors and most of its windows, the
Clisbee House is stilJ a remarkable building, and one of the most architecturally significant structures
in the center of Marlborough. It is one of the community's most elaborate, and possibly the earliest,
high-style Greek Revival "temple-front" houses, with a projecting, pedimented upper facade
supported on four fluted Doric columns. A short two-story rear ell abuts the rear of the main house;
behind it is a 2 1I2-story, hip-roofed wing on a fieldstone foundation.
The house is embellished with some of the most elaborate and original of any of the Greek Revival J
detailing in Marlborough, possibly executed by John Clisbee himself. The capitals of the columns
have a band of foliate decoration at the capitals, and another leaf motif adorns the plinths. The
main cornice has the heavy, wide proportions of the high Greek Revival, with an egg-and-dart
architrave and an echinus-like crown molding embellished with flat saw-cut decoration. The comer
pilasters exhibit a wide Greek "key" motif, and also have elaborately-carved capitals. The portico
ceiling is coffered, and a rare example of a round-dowel balustrade remains at the upper balcony.
The focal point of the building, however, is the raised scroll- and foliate decoration that flanks a
tripartite multi-light, pointed-arched window in the pediment.
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE pq see continuation sheet

Explain 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.
In the second quarter of the nineteenth century, along with Lambert Bigelow and his siblings, the
builder of this house, John Clisbee, owned much of the land near what is today the intersection of
Pleasant and Lincoln Streets. Bigelow property was to the south, east, and northeast; the Clisbee
farm stretched for many acres to the west toward Winter Street and northwest up Sligo Hill. John
Clisbee married Lydia Loring in 1824; for a few years they lived with her parents at Williams Pond.
By 1830 they had bought or built this house and established a progressive farm on the land behind
it. Like many of Marlborough's farmers ofthe temperance era, the Clisbees' crops included 'winter"
apples (for market, not for cider). John Clisbee was also known around town for his experiments
with silk-raising, a short-lived phenomenon in Massachusetts in the 1830's, when the profitability
of sheep-raising was declining. The mulberry trees he planted along the western sections of today's
Lincoln Street are noted in the town histories as giving the street its first name, Mulberry Street.
John Clisbee and his son George were skilled craftsmen, and for many years built and repaired
organs here in the rear part of the house. Among the instruments John Clisbee renovated (in 1824)
was the original organ of the West Church, which had been constructed by Aaron Howe. (Cont.)
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES [ ] see continuation sheet

Bigelow, Ella. Historical Reminiscences of the Early Times in Marlborough. 1910.
Hudson, Charles. History of the Town of Marlborough. 1862.
Maps and Atlases: Hudson: 1830; Wood: 1835; Walling: 1853, 1871; Beers: 1875; Walker: 1889;
Sanborns.
Marlborough Directories.
Marlborough Historical Society: Moineau Photo Collection.
[X] Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked, a completed
National Register Criteria Statement [orm is attached.
INVE:l'i'TORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Community Property
Marlborough John Clisbee House

Boston, Massachusetts 02116 C;L 53

(According to one source, the house itself had been owned for a time by Aaron Howe; deed
research will be necessary to confirm this.)
Upon his father's death, the house was inherited by John and Lydia's son, George Clisbee, who
continued in the organ-building business until at least 1875. His mother lived on in the house with
him. Mother and son died within nine days of each other in about 1880, and George's sister, Mary
Clisbee Howe (widow of William Howe), then returned to live here. She took in at least a few
boarders, most of whom worked in the nearby shoe factories.
When Mary Howe died in 1909, the property was acquired by John J. Shaughnessy. Born in Stow
and educated at Harvard Law School, in 1887 he first entered the law office of W.N. Davenport (see
Form#171). He later practiced with Gale & McDonald (see Forms 164 and 183). He became a
highly successful trial lawyer, and was elected Mayor of Marlborough for its 250th year, 1910. He
was an influential member of the Marlborough Board of Trade, a member of the Board of Health
for eleven years, and a Trustee of the Marlborough Hospital for over twenty years.
Massachusetts Historical Commission Community Property Address
80 Boylston Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02116 Marlborough 64 Pleasant Street
Area(s) Form No(s).
C;L _5_3
__
National Register of Historic Places Criteria Statement Form
Check all that apply:
[x] Individually eligible [ ] Eligible only in a historic district

[x] Contributing to a potential historic district [] Potential historic district
Criteria: [x] A [] B [x] C [] D
Criteria Considerations: [] A [] B [] C [] D [] E [] F [:I G
Statement of Significance by _F_o_r_b_e_s_I_S_c_h_u_le_r _

The criteria that are checked in the above sections must be justified here.
The John Clisbee House meets Criteria A and C of the National Register. It is one of the earliest
houses on Pleasant Street and a fine example of high-style Greek Revival architecture with
elaborate embellishments in spite of the synthetic siding and loss of doors and windows. The
property is important as an example of a prominent early farm in an area of the West Village which
was predominately owned by Bigelows and Clisbee. It is also significant for its association with
John and George Clisbee as representatives of two generations of a family of local organbuilders.
The property retains integrity of location, design setting, workmanship, feeling, and association.
Massachusetts Historical Commission ,--6_9_-1_9

__ 1 I Marlborough I C 74
80 Boylston Street
Town Marlborough
West Village
Address 86 Plea~ant Street
Historic Name \Vest MeetinghollSe:

West Church
Uses: Present commercial/offices
Original
Congregation alII Tnitarian
Church
Date of Construction 1806: rebuilt 1866-67
Source Hudson
Style/Form Italianate/farmerlv federal

-'
Architect/Builder Tobn Ames with )
Wilham Gates
Exterior Material:
Sketch Map Foundation ~ranjte and concrete

it. Number each property for which individual \Vall/Trim synthetic sidin~
inventory [oirns have been completed. Label streets
including route numbers, if any. Attach a separate Roof a<::pba]t shingle
none
Major Alterations (with dates) steeple gone;
window" doors replaced and elevator shaft
added OJ) v_'est ca 1980's See pp 7-~

N
Condition __ -.....fa'"-'i
r _
Moved [ ] no [X] yes Date fa 1860's

(turned 90%--see r. 4.)
Acreage less than one acre
Recorded by Anne Forbe<:.: Setting At corner of lincoln, jn mixed 19th
Organization for \'Jarlbora His! Carom early 20th C and modern residentiallind!!s-
Date 3!J Oi94 tlia] and commercial area Parkin~ Nand S

BUILDING FORM
ARCHITECTIJRAL DESCRIPTION pq see continuation sheet

Describe architectura features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings
The West Church, in spite of its original construction date during the federal period, appears to be
largely the product of a major rebuilding in the late 1860's. Like its companion, the "East", or
"Union" Church, (see Form #194), even though extensively altered, it still has the aspect of a typical
wood-frame, Italianate, end-gable church of that era. It is a two-story building with a projecting,
gable-roofed pavilion in the center of the facade. Behind the pavilion rises the large square base
of what was formerly a tall, four-stage steeple. The facade is a pedimented, three-bay arrangement.
Although all the tall round-headed, multi-light sash windows of the sanctuary level have been
replaced with modern casements, a pair of 4-over-4-sash round-headed windows survives at the first
story on the facade on either side of the pavilion, and in the face of the tower. 8-over-8-sash
windows also remain in either sidewall of the pavilion and along the sides of the building at the first
story, All the windows retain their molded surrounds; those in the sanctuary are also pilastered.
In spite of the installation of vinyl siding, much of the other architectural trim remains here, as well.
The roof has a deep, boxed overhang with large paired brackets, and a molding course still rings the
building between the stories. The wide, paneled corner pilasters are covered with vinyl, but their
wooden capitals and bases are exposed. The main entry of the church is via a new 6-panel double-
leaf door, which occupies the old wide, molded and keystoned segmental-arched opening under a
deeply-projecting canopy supported by heavy scroll brackets. Flanking the ent.ry is a pair ofrecessed-
and molded-paneled pilasters, with incised decoration in the capitals. (Cont.)
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE [X] see continuation sheet

In contrast to the overt theological controversies that led in many communities to the establishment
of a second parish, tradition has it that the building of this church and the division of Marlborough
into two parishes was the result of a bitter disagreement over where to locate a badly-needed
replacement for the aging church of 1688. As Edward Hayward points out, however, in spite of the
lack of clear documentation, a certain degree of theological disagreement may have been involved.
Whether or not the leanings of the members were Unitarian from the start, the congregation here
gradually grew to espouse Unitarianism, while the church of Marlborough's first parish remained the
"orthodox" Congregational institution of the community. (See Form #194, "Union Congregational
Church".) (Cont.)
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES [X] see continuation sheet

Contract Agreement for the Building of the West Meeting House, 5/8/1805.
Hudson, Charles. HistoN of the Town of Marlborough. 1862.
Hurd, D. Hamilton. History of Middlesex County, Mass. 1890.
Maps and Atlases: Hudson, 1830: Wood, 1835; Walling, 1853, 1857, 1871; Beers, 1875; Bailey &
Hazen,1878: \Valker, 1889: Sanborns.
Centennial '90: Marlborough the City. 1990.
Ginnetti, Ernest. Former MHC Inventory form. 1978. (Cont.)
[ X] Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked, a completed
National Register Criteria Statement 10/717 is auached.
INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Community Property
Marlborough West Meetinghouse

Boston, Massachusetts 02116 C 74
ARCHITECfURAL DESCRIPTION, cont.

The rebuilding of the church took place in 1866-67, at which time the 1806 building was taken down
to the frame, the roof raised eight feet, and the steeple carried eight feet forward and raised fifty feet
higher. The building was rotated to face east instead of south, and repositioned 75 feet from the old
site. The cost of the rebuilding was $9,000.
Col. John Ames, (b. in Marlborough 1767), the builder and probably the principal architect, was
apparently a well-established builder of churches. He constructed a church in Buckland in 1793, one
in Northborough in 1808, and a church in Ashfield in 1813, the year of his death.. According to the
building contract, the Marlborough church was originally constructed on a plan of 48 x 50 feet, with
the front pavilion 30 feet wide by 13 feet deep. True to the trends of early-nineteenth-century federal
churches, a mixture of the Tuscan and Doric orders was used for the exterior adornment, with the
"tower and octagon" in "such order as William Gates" (evidently the head of the building committee,
and thus likely to have been heavily involved with the design) "shall judge most proper."
A pair of long carriage sheds flanked the rear end of the church until at least the end of the
nineteenth century.

In 1801 the town voted 93-40 to replace the old meetinghouse that had stood since 1688 on the town
common between today's Prospect and Rawlins Streets. At first it was voted to locate the new
building on the site of the old one; a day later the vote was reconsidered and a committee chosen to
look into the matter further and decide on a location. Surveys were made that showed the geographic
center of town had shifted east from the original meetinghouse location, and that, because of changes
in territorial boundaries, it was now located at Spring Hill. Several proposals were made, all rejected
by the voters, until late in a meeting on June 4, 1804 a vote was passed to locate the new meeting
house not in the old "west village", but on Spring Hill, in the later village that had grown up a third
of a mile to the east.
Eighty inhabitants of the west village immediately resolved to separate into a new religious society,
precinct or town, and to build their own meetinghouse. Their petitions to form a new town were later
rejected by both the Marlborough voters and the legislature, but their efforts to form a new society,
with its own church, met with success. They privately raised over $5,000, and hired John Ames of
Buckland (formerly of Marlborough,) to build their meetinghouse on land belonging to Silas Gates.
The building committee consisted of both Silas and William Gates, Samuel Gibbon, Abraham How,
and William Barnard. As was common in building committees of that era, William Gates may have
actually assisted with the designing of the building.
In spite of efforts by the members of the west society to get the proposed size of the Spring Hill
meeting house reduced, (they would not use it, but as taxpayers, they had to pay for it), that building
cost ca. $24,000, as opposed to the West Church's $8,000. The price of the town church plunged the
townspeople into economic hardship for some time, and so angered those in the west village that what
had been a rivalry between residents of the two villages deepened into an animosity that lasted for
many years. Ironically, both houses were opened for public worship on the same day, April 27, 1806.
Marlborough West Meetinghouse


In 1808 the west society became officially incorporated as the Second Parish in Marlborough. 72
members signed the original Covenant, which was decidedly Unitarian in its emphasis on "one infinite
father", with no mention of the Trinity. The first pastor was the Rev. Asa Packard, who in 1806 had
resigned, after thirty years, as minister of the town, rather than continue at the new Spring Hill
meeting house. It was during the Rev. Packard's pastorate that the society received a gift of Brigham
family land for what became the Brigham Cemetery. (See Form #806.) The donor was Ephraim
Brigham, whose parents were interred there, their bodies having been barred from the town
cemeteries because they died of smallpox.
From the first, when an effort was made to "secure land for a new road between the houses of Samuel
Gibbon and Jonah Rice" (i.e. all of Pleasant Street from Main to Elm.) as well as for the church itself,
it was recognized that the building of the West Church would be a catalyst for the development of the
area around it. This certainly proved to be the case, and by 1830 ten houses stood along this section
of Pleasant Street, with a new schoolhouse just to the west of the church. The new building stood
facing south, surrounded by a spacious common. In 1853, during the tenure of the Rev. Horatio
Alger, (1844-1859--see Form #141, "Horatio Alger, Sr. House,"), the ladies of the parish formed a
village improvement association to beautify the church common and the nearby streets. Largely a
parish institution, it was overseen by the Rev. Alger until he left Marlborough in 1859. Officially
named the Shenstone Tree Society, it lasted for twenty years. During that time its members built
sidewalks and planted shrubs and shade trees, and, beginning under the Rev. Alger and continued
under Obadiah Albee and Mrs. C.F. Morse, produced a monthly literary paper, the Shenstone Laurel.
In 1866-67, during the pastorate of the Rev. Eugene de Norm andie, the church was thoroughly
renovated and rebuilt. (See above). Shortly afterward the parsonage was built, financed by the
contributions of several members. (See Form #149 , 41 Pleasant Street.) A rear addition was built
to the church in 1880, largely to provide a meeting space for the Ladies' General Charitable Society.
Although the official membership declined somewhat through the middle of the nineteenth century,
(to 50 in 1869,) the number of parishioners remained strong, and the church was generously supported
by the industrialists and other wealthy residents of the west village. In 1869 there were 200 children
in the Sunday School, which for many years was under the charge of shoe-manufacturer S.H. Howe
as superintendent. In that same year, 529 volunteers were involved in the church library, which,
thanks to generous contributions from parishioners, contained 3000 volumes by 1890.
In 1972 the Second Parish merged with the Unitarian Society of Hudson, (originally started in 1847
by Charles Brigham,) to become the Unitarian Church of Marlborough and Hudson. With its services
removed to Hudson, the society sold the West Church to the City of Marlborough. It has since come
into private hands, and today functions as an office building.
BIBLIOGRAPHY, cont.
Kendrick, Fannie. History of Buckland, Mass., 1937.
Hayward, Edward. History of the Second Parish Church (Unitarian). Marlborough, Massachusetts.
1906.
The Church Record, Being a Concise Sketch of the Origin and History of the West Church in
Marlborough. Boston: John Wilson, 1850.
80 Boylston Street
Area(s) Form No(s).
C 74
[ J Individually eligible [ ] Eligible only in a historic district

Criteria: [x] A [] B [x] C [1 D

Criteria Considerations: [] A [] B [] C [] D [] E [] F [] G
Statement of Significance by _F_o_r_b_e_s~/_S_c_h_u_le_r _

The West Meetinghouse meets Criteria A and C of the National Register. The property is
important for its association with the development of religious societies in Marlborough and for
its impact on the development of the area around it. The building has been substantially altered
with siding and window replacement, but still retains its form of a wood-frame, gable-front
Italianate church. The property retains integrity of location, design setting, workmanship, feeling,
and association.
Massachusetts Historical Commission I 68-481 I I Marlborough I C 75

80 Boylston Street
Town Marlborough
West VilJage
Historic Name Dr John Baker House
Uses: Present DweWng
Original Dwelling
Date of Construction ca 1812-]4
Source Maps' style' Bigelow

; J
Style/Form Federal/Greek Revival
Architect/Builder unknown
Exterior Material:
Sketch Map Foundation granite

it. Number each property for which individual Wallffrim asbestos siding
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures small
early-20tb-centuJY store at edge of street
Major Alterations (with dates) l-story addn
at rear; one facade window removed; pedi-
mented hood, replacement sidelights at entry
Condition fair
N
Moved [X) no [ ] yes Date __ N_/A _
Recorded by Anne Forbes Setting In remnant of 19th-C residential area
Organization for Marlboro Hid Camm Modem store to S ; fanner factory diagonaJJy
Date 3/31194 across street

BUILDING FORM
ARCHITECfURAL DESCRIPTION [ ] see continuation sheet

The Dr. John Baker House is one of Marlborough's better examples of a prevalent house-type of the
federal period--the five-bay, 2 -1/2-story, side-gabled house that was one room deep, with a pair of
rear chimneys. It is similar to the Rice/Holyoke House, (NHC-143), built across the street at about
the same time, but has a boxed, overhanging cornice that may have been added around the middle
of the nineteenth century. The 2-over-2-sash windows, too, post-date 1850. Much of the other detail
of the house has been covered or replaced.
J
The building once had a long rear wing or ell. Between 1875 and 1878 it also acquired a sizeable
carriage house, (demolished). By 1885 a facade-width porch had also been added; it was torn down
sometime in this century and replaced by the present pedimented entry canopy.
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE [] see continuation sheet

building, and the rolets) the owners/occupants played within the community.
This house and 126 Pleasant (see Form #143) are the two earliest houses on this section of Pleasant
Street, which was extended south from Elm soon after the West Church was built in 1805-06. Both (
were built at about the same time, shortly after the war of 1812. >
This house was built for the village physician, Dr. John Baker, and his wife, Martha, who moved to
Marlborough from Hancock, New Hampshire in 1812. Having established residence here so early,
the Bakers were one of the founding families of this part of the West Village Their descendants
built houses nearby, and tended to intermarry with others from the same part of town. The Bakers'
daughter, Lavinia, (also Levinah or Lucinda) and her husband, William Pitt Brigham, for instance,
built a house at #28 Pleasant Street (MHC#152). In the third generation, Lavinia and William's
daughter, Harriet, married shoe-manufacturer S.H. Howe, whose family homestead had stood just
to the north, and lived across the street from ber parents. Another Brigham daughter, Henrietta,
married Freeman Holyoke, brother of John Holyoke, who lived across the street from this house at
126 Pleasant Street.
Dr. Baker died in 1848 at the age of 65. The property was apparently inherited jointly by his wife
and his son, Sullivan D. Baker. He married Rebecca Blake that same year, and the building was
undoubtedly used for a time as a double-house. Sullivan Baker was associated with the shoe trade,
and the 1853 map shows a shoeshop to the rear of the house. He and his wife later moved to Mt.
Pleasant Street, and by 1869 the property belonged to G.A. Newton, who lived here until sometime
in the 1880's. By 1889 this house belonged, as did many houses in the area at one time or another,
to the Bakers' grand-son-in-law, S.H. Howe. At the turn of the century a boarding house was run
here, with Charles Taylor as proprietor.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES [] see continuation sheet

Bigelow, Ella. Historical Reminiscences of Marlborough. 1910.
Maps and Atlases: Hudson, 1830; Wood, 1835; WaIling: 1853, 1857, 1871; Beers: 1875; Bailey &
Hazen: 1878; Walker: 1889; Sanborns.
80 Boylston Street
Area(s) Form No(s).
C _7_5
__
[ ] Individually eligible [ ] Eligible Q!!1y in a historic district

Criteria Considerations: [] A [] B [J C [] D [] E [] F [] G
Statement of Significance by _F_o_I_b_e_s_I_S_c_h_u_le_f _

I1w criteria that are checked in the above sections must be justified here.
The Dr. John Baker House meets Criteria A and C of the National Register. One of the earliest
houses on this part of Pleasant Street, the property is associated with one of the founding families
of the West Village section of Marlborough. It is noted for its association with the early nineteenth
century village physician, Dr. John Baker. The house displays the Federal Style five-bay, two and
one-half story form. The property retains integrity oflocation, design setting, workmanship, feeling,
and association.
,
80 Boylston Street
I 68-174 I I Marlborough I I C I 79
Town Marlborough
West Village
Address Pleasant Street

'\
\ ..----- .' Historic Name
Uses: Present
Fire Station #2 (pleasant
Street Fire Station)
vacant
. _--'
.- .~.-~..
Original fire station
Date of Construction 1895
Source Bigelow; Annual Reports
Style/Form Queen Anne
Architect/Builder Charles E Barnes;

Thomas Hurley, builder
Exterior Material:
.iketch Map Foundation granite

it. Number each property for which individual Wallrrrim brick
including route numbers, if any. Attach a separate Roof slate
1-=
V\
none
Major Alterations (with dates)_S_O_J_Jt_b _
chjrnne¥ rebuilt above roof; some
ujndows replaced
N
Condition good
Moved pq no [ ] yes Date ,

N/A
Recorded by Anne Forbes Setting Corner of Chestnut in mixed residen-
Jrganization for Marlboro Hjst Comm tial, commercial, and industrial area Opposite
Date 205194 Frye shoe factaI)'

BUILDING FORM
ARCHITEcruRAL DESCRIPTION [X] see continuation sheet

Describe architectura features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings
This building, one of gems of late-nineteenth-century architecture in Marlborough, is the city's only
municipal structure in the Queen Anne style. Its core is a square, two-story, hip-roofed structure.
A flat-roofed, one-story wing abuts the north side; behind it a short two-story gabled wing supports
a tall square hose tower. Across the rear of the building is a 1 1I2-story shed-roofed, gable-ended
section, its rear roof slope broken by a large hip-roofed dormer. A smaller hip-roofed donner
appears on the front roof slope, and a diagonally-positioned louvered cupola pierces the main roof
ridge. As in most Queen Anne buildings, much attention is paid to a variety of surface treatments.
The brick work at the first story is striated by a recessed header course after every fifth row; the
second story is of common bond construction. A diaper-patterned panel-brick frieze rings the .J
building just under the cornice; an exterior chimney on the south side displays the same brick
patterning. Brick pilasters articulate the sides of the bell tower and the posts that support its
pyramidal roof The main red-brick body of the building is accented by the use of yellow brick in
splayed and stepped lintels over the window and door openings. Other materials also playa part
in the richness of surfaces here. The second story windows have granite sills, and a huge lintel of
rusticated granite forms a balcony at an upper arched door in the north end of tbe rear wing. Slate
sheaths not only the roof, but the faces of the north gables and the sides of the dormers. The
cornices are wood, with prominent horizontal brackets. A new turned wooden balustrade edges the
roof of the northeast wing, and spandrel-arched wood pilasters and a square-balustered railing adorn
the belfry. (Cont.)
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE [X] see continuation sheet .J

Prior to the existence of this building, except for a small hose house across Chestnut Street, there
had been no actual firehouse located close to the factories of the West Village. The completion of
Fire Station #2 made these factories, which included the four large plants of S.H. Howe, one of the
manufacturers who was most influential in getting the station constructed, a lot more secure.
The station was built at a cost of $17,000, and was one of the first major projects of the municipal
government after Marlborough became a city in 1890. After its completion, fire apparatus was
reassigned among the Fire Department buildings. Union Ladder #1, with its Hook and Ladder
Truck was moved here from Liberty Street, as was Hose #2.
In accordance with the growing trend at the time toward combined facilities, the Pleasant Street
station contained three jail cells in the cellar. When the Central Fire (and Police) Station was
constructed in 1909, the cells here were converted to other uses, and the station itself went through
a period as only an auxilliary facility. (Cont.)

Hudson, Charles. Histol)' of the TOWIlof Marlborough. 1862. (Fire Dept. Background.)
Centennial, '90: Marlborough the City. 1990.
Maps and Atlases: Sanborns.
Marlborough Fire Station #2


Most of the windows here are l-over-l-sash replacements; those at the second story of the facade
are arranged in two groups of three. The facade doors have been replaced. Three original doors
appear on the north side, however: a glass-and-panel door with a single large light and a high
transom is recessed under the tower, another paneled, transomed door is located in the north rear
gable end, and above it in the gable is a round-headed paneled door with a large glass light
embellished with a wooden fanlight detail.
In the 1970's the building underwent a substantial renovation. Among the many changes were the
replacement of the original wooden floor of the first story, and the installation of a glass and metal
door in the facade of the northeast wing.. The city has recently undertaken a major restoration of
the buuilding. The work includes stabilization of parts of the structure, while retaining its original
character. The main replacement that has taken place is the installation of two new wooden garage
doors of a design similar to the former ones.
The architect for the building, Charles E. Barnes, was a local resident who, among other
distinguished projects, designed the Warren Block (NR-MHC#129) and the Saxonville Firehouse
(ca. 1901--also listed on the National Register), in Framingham. It was one of the first major
buuilding assignments for the young Thomas P. Hurley, who went on to construct many of
Marlborough's major buildings.

(See Form #80 [Central Fire Station] for a general background on the establishment of the
Marlborough Fire Department.) Here in the West Village, Engine Company #2, the
Okommakamasit, was actually the first of the town's fire companies, established in 1849 under the
leadership of Stephen R. Phelps. His committee included at least two other prominent citizens of
the West Village, J.S. Witherbee and Lambert Bigelow. The #2 company's equipment was first
stored in a bam on the property directly across Chestnut Street from this one. Lewis Frye was the
first Foreman of the company, and W.W. Witherbee was the first assistant foreman.
Upon new directives to Massachusetts towns from the state legislature, Marlborough petitioned the
state for permission to incorporate a fire department, with a Board of Engineers to oversee it. The
permission was granted, and in 1855 the town established a salary of $3.00 per year for each fireman.
Over the next four decades the department grew considerably, underwent a series of improvements
in buildings and equipment, and became increasingly professionalized. One milestone was the
completion of the town water works system in 1884, which, with its Sligo Hill reservoir and 37 miles
of underground pipe carrying water to 227 hydrants, greatly eased the availability of water for
firefighting. Then, in 1885, the department was completely reorganized, with new engine and hose
companies formed. In 1891, an apparatus became horse drawn, and in 1917 the first motorized fire
truck was acquired. It was originally stored in the Central station, and later moved here to Pleasant
Street. The last horses were retired in 1924.
With the continual upgrading of equipment, over the years many pieces of old fire-fighting apparatus
entered the hands of private collectors. In 1989, one historic piece was returned to the city, when
the Ancient and Honorable Fire Brigade of Marlborough purchased and restored the city's first
pumper.
INVENTORY FORJ\1 CONTINUATION SHEET Community Property
Marlborough Fire Station #2

. -. .... .... .~.

80 Boylston Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02116 Marlborough Pleasant Street
Area(s) Form No(s).
C 79

[ ] Contributing to a potential historic district [] Potential historic district
Criteria Considerations: [] A [] B 1:] C [] D [] E [] F [] G

Fire Station # 2 meets Criteria A and C of the National Register. The property is important for
its illustration of the history of fire fighting in Marlborough, particularly in relation to nearby shoe
factories the owners of which were instrumental in convincing the City of the importance of fire
protection. The Station is one of the first major municipal projects undertaken after Marlborough
became a city, and its only municipal structure in the Queen Anne Style. It is one of
Marlborough's most important civic structures, both architecturally and developmentally. The
property retains integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and
association.
Marlborough Mitchell School

t
\
~ '''''''~-''''.''''
..:'...~~~::~~~~iifFL~~;,~;;.:;~;;;~:;:~'_·
\
J
........... ~....~....:.~.
80 Boylston Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02116 Marlborough Pleasant Street
Area(s) Form No(s).
87
[ ] Individually eligible [ ] Eligible only in a historic district

Criteria Considerations: [] A [] B [] C [] D [] E [] F [] G
Statement of Significance by _~F_o_rb_e_s~/~S~c~h_u_le_r _

The Mitchell Elementary School meets Criteria A and C of the National Register as part of a
potential district on Pleasant Street at Elm. The construction of four elementary schools to
replace wood-frame schools between 1916 and 1931 is reflective of the continued prosperity of
Marlborough. In spite of a decline in population the community chose to enhance the school
buildings. The large brick Colonial Revival structures were of typical design in the first quarter
of the twentieth century. The property retains integrity of location, design, setting, materials,
workmanship, feeling, and association.
Marlborough Mitchell School

3/31/94:
ASSESSOR'S # 55-150; 1.68 acres. PHOTO #9-16; 2/94.
ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION, cont.

The Mitchell School, (formerly the Pleasant Street School), is a large, handsome flat-roofed, H-plan
Colonial Revival brick and concrete school building, typical of the] 920'5. It is a three-story building,
with two virtually identical facades, one facing west over a paved area toward Pleasant Street, the
other facing east at the edge of Preston Street. Each facade is eleven bays wide, with a bank of large
sash windows flanking a central entrance bay with a tall round-arched window above the door.
Imitation-stone concrete provides much of the architectural trim, in the roof cornice, water table
above the ground story, and in the flat quoining at the center bay and the building corners. Each
main entry has a cast concrete surround of molded architrave with volutes and decorative frieze;
some of the detail is partially effaced. The south facade of the building between the ends of the east
and west wings is similarly arranged. Over its center entry is a small concrete cartouche, and a
plaque above a replacement door there, reading "To good citizenship, love of God the maker, and
of man the brother."
There is also considerable brick detail in this building. Flared vertical bricks form the window lintels
at the ground story, the sills are of header bricks, and the space between the windows of the second
and third stories is filled with large multi-colored header-brick panels. Large decorative brick panels
of soldiers and stringers fill the windowless wall space at the ends of the east and west blocks.
Alterations: large brick addition built abutting north side, 1970-71. All window sash replaced.

This building opened as the Pleasant Street School in 1925. One of four new elementary schools
built between 1916 and 1931 at Marlborough center to replace old, overcrowded wood-frame
structures, it was a replacement for the old, mid-nineteenth-century school of the same name, which
had stood closer to the northeast corner of Pleasant and Elm Streets. The Dame was later changed
to honor John ("Honest Joe") Mitchell, one of Marlborough's most prominent politicians of the early
twentieth-century. Born jn Marlborough in 1869, he was chairman of the Democratic City
committee, chief of police for several years, and, beginning in 1912, ran a real estate and insurance
business with offices at 248 Main Street. He was later elected both a state representative and
senator, and served a term as U.S. Representative from Marlborough.
In 1982, the school building was sold to the Boys Club, now the Boys and Girls Club, which has
operated here since that time.
BIBLIOGRAPHY, cont.
Centennial '90: Marlborough the City.
Conklin. Middlesex County and its People. 1927.
Maps and atlases: Sanborn maps.
[XJ Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked, a completed
FORM B - BUILDING In Area no. Form no.
'MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSIO~ 117

Office oi the Secretary r; S.~a.t.~.H,()-'.~~.~,_J39$ton.
Mar] boroug·b
cor. Pleasant & Chestnut Sts
Shoe Factory
Peter McCann
ite c. 1875
Source I'ilarIboroug.,h Pictorial 1879
vle Factory
-l . Map. Dr a \V sketch of bu ilding location Architect Rehab. by Peter Panagore

in relation to nearest cross streets and
other buildings. Indicate north. Exterior wall Iabr ic clapboard
Outbuildings (describe)
--------
Other features Building completely
restored and renovated. Original

I L. I L-
i/oJetl
structure retained.
Altered rehab. Date 1976

! ;=';/,'r;;- Moved
--------- Date
------
1,·'''-7:1'I(.,Y)
5. Lot size:
One acre or less _x__ Over one acre
Approximate frontage 100'
Approximate distance of building from street
50'
6. Recorded by .J. Cibbons
\ tJ L. Date
(over)
; ' ... - ..
HiST CO:..~.• .
•
"
37H-7-77
7. Originalowner (ifknown)
Originaluse Shoe ;anufacturi~?
Subsequentuses (if any)and dates Corbin Plaza - shoppinr. center 19'76
8. Themes (checkas many as applicable)
Aboriginal Conservation Recreation

Agricultural Education Religion
Architectural x Exploration/ Science/
The Arts settlement invention
Commerce x Industry x Social!
Communication Military humanitarian
Community development x Political Transportation
9. Historicalsignificance
(includeexplanation ofthemes checked above)
B.F. Corbin & Sons Shoe Factory is one of several factories
wh i ch ra.n concurrently under the Corbin name. At one point,
Henry L. Paianine was president of the firm. The other factories
in the Corbin chain were known as the Diamond "A" and the
Diamond "P" factories.
The Corbin Shoe complex specialized in the manufacturing of
athletic shoes of many types, including baseball, football,
golf shoes and hockey gear. Corbin also manufactured dress
shoes for a time. The production end of the business shut down
in September of 1971, and shifted to the distribution of
domestic and imported shoes to retailers.
The building has recently. been rehabilitated and restored by

the Marlborough Redevelopment Authority. Renovation from a
shoe factory to a shopping plaza began in 1976. The building
was set close to the street originally. Th~ part of the factory
was removed, and a parking lot occupies the space. What was
formerly the boiler room is now Marlboro Seafoods (1/) of the
boiler room remains vacant). The original window sashes have
been retained, and elevators installed. The )rd and 4th floors
are vacant at present. The second floor is partially rented.
10. Btb.li
ography and/or references(suchas localhistories,deeds, assessor'srecords,
earlymaps, etc.)
Marlborough Redevelopment Authority
Marlborough Enterprise - Tercentennial Edition ( Public Library)
On site inspection .
• •
Marlborough (Howe) Corbin & Sons

shoe factory

8/31/94:
ARCHITECfURAL DESCRIPTIONt cont.

Very little of what was formerly a huge H-plan building stretching from the edge of Pleasant Street
to Franklin Street survives in this structure, which demolitions and modem renovations have rendered
almost unrecognizable. Only the west section of the factory, now radically redesigned and covered
with vinyl siding, along with the square brick engine room with tall, tapered stack, remain.
ASSESSOR'S # 68-462.
HISTORICAL NARRATIVEt cont.

At least part of this building, the remaining section of one of several shoe factories built or operated
by S.H. Howe in the latter part of the nineteenth century, incorporates the oldest part of that facility,
the 1861-2 factory building of Frank A. Howe. One of the many shoe-manufacturers who began
business in the West Village in the 1850ts, F.A. Howe started in 1858 in the house of John Allen on
Elm Street. After moving briefly to another location farther west on Elm, he constructed a large
factory here at this location, where he operated for several years. (Although Edward Alley, writing
in Hurd's History of Middlesex County, says F.A. Howe was here until 1875t the map of 1871 already
shows that at that time the factory here belonged to the next owner, James Tucker.)
S. Herbert Howe (1835-1911), who eventually became the largest of the shoe-manufacturers in the
West Village, began making shoes in 1855 in his father's cooper shop at the southeast comer of
Pleasant and Elm Streets. Over the years, while operating alone and with various partners, his
company grew to become one of the largest in Marlborough, with facilities at several locations in the
West Village. The .largest of the buildings, the "home shop", was located at the northwest corner of
Pleasant and Elm Streets. In 1878 Mr. Howe purchased this property, with the shoe factory of James
Tucker & Co. on it, for the manufacture of a finer grade of goods than he had formerly produced.
He doubled the size of the building by adding two large wings extending to Pleasant Streett and is
also said to have moved his father's old cooper's shop down beside it.
In 1887-88 S.H. Howe took his son, Louis P. Howe, into the management of the business, and
incorporated it as the S.H. Howe Shoe Company. The new company eventually expanded to include
four factories in the West Village. This one was renamed the "Diamond F", and the home factory
became the "Diamond M." In 1889 the S.H. Howe company also acquired the factory of CiL. and
L.T. Frye at the comer of Lincoln and Howland, which became their "Diamond 0", and in 1894
bought out the Coolidge Shoe Company at 55 Howland Street (see Form #118), which was renamed
the "Diamond A."
Louis P. Howe carried the company into the twentieth century. Although at the turn of the century
S.H. Howe was stilI making 2.5 million pairs of shoes per year, it never fully recovered from reverses
experienced from the shoeworkers' strike of 1898-99, and in 1911, (the year of S.H. Howe's death,)
it was acquired by B.A. Corbin & Son. (Cont.)
Marlborough (Howe) Corbin & Sons

shoe factory
Corbin was a large concern that by the late 1930's had become America's oldest continually-
operating shoe company. It was founded by Benjamin A. Corbin in 1837 in Webster, and grew to
include a factory in Hudson, the Corbin Holmes Plant, as well. During World War I the Corbin
company made more shoes for the armies of the United States and her allies than any other U.S.
manufacturer. It operated here until its demise in 1971.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES, cont.

Maps and atlases: Walling, 1871; Beers, 1875; Walker, 1889; Sanborn Maps.
Marlborough directories .:
Hurd, D. Hamilton. History of Middlesex County. 1890.
Conklin. Middlesex County and its People. 1927.
Moineau, Hector. "History of the Shoe Industry in Marlborough." N.D.
Three Hundred Years of Shoe and Leathennaking. Boston: Gilt Publications, 1930.
Massachusetts Historical Commission I 55-141 I I Marlborough I 1__ 1 122
80 Boylston Street
Town Marlborough
Address ?,5 pleasant Street
. Historic Name I ewis/ I P Howe House
. Uses: Present DwelJino

'"
Original Dwe])jng
Date of Construction ca 1860's
Source Maps; style
Style/Form formerly Second Empire, with

Colonial Revival updates
iO Archi teet/Builder __ ..•...
nk.••.
Jl .•..•. n•.•...
o.....,\
•.•..
:vnu..- _
Exterior Material:

it. Number each property for which individual Wal1!Trim wood clapboard
sheet If space is not sufficient here. Indicate north.
small gHest house at rear
Major Alterations (with dates) 20th Co glassed~
in vestibule, wood railings and concrete steps
at front: some ",,;ndmvs replaced with 12/1 '5
N Condition aood
D
Moved [X] no [ ] yes Date __ N_/_A _
Acreage 54,729 sq feet
Recorded by Anne Forbes Setting On laroe open lot with curved front
'"
Organization for Marlboro Hjst Carom drive ; mature trees , jncludino0? large beeches
Date 511/94
, In area of large late-] 9th, early-20th-C houses
BUILDING FOfu\1
ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION [X] see continuation sheet

Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other building;
Although its window sash was later changed, and maps show that its hipped roof was originally a
mansard, #235 Pleasant Street is otherwise a good example of a high-style Second Empire villa, one
of few surviving intact in Marlborough. It is large square two-story building with a two-part, two-
story rear wing. One tall massive chimney rises from the rear of the main block. Two one-story ~
polygonal bay windows abut the south side of the main house; one is located on the north. All have /
balconies, which may have been added sometime after the house was built. The facade is three bays !
wide, with a center wall gable over a quoined pavilion. The main center entry has a large double- .J
leaf door 'Withlong glass lights, a molded surround and a transom above. It is sheltered by what was
originally an open, flat-roofed porch supported on chamfered square posts, now glassed-in, with a
grill-work roof balustrade. The architectural trim of the porch, including a heavy, molded cornice
with small brackets forming wide arches, and adorned with circles and dentils, is typical of the
period. Similarly, the main roof cornice is embellished with modillions and a full course of molded
balls or circles. The cornerboards are narrow, and their proportions are repeated in a horizontal
board that separates the stories. A molded sill board tops the foundation. (Cont.)
HSTORICAL NARRATIVE [X] see continuation sheet

Explain history of the building. Explain its associations with local (or state) history. Include uses of the "\
building, and the rolets) the owners/occupants played within the community. /
This house was built between 1857 and 1870 as the home of shoe-manufacturer Lewis (Louis) A:
Howe. He was the older brother of S. Herbert Howe, and together they began manufacturing shoes
in their father's cooper's shop at the northeast corner of Elm and Pleasant Streets in 1855. While
S.H. Howe went on to establish one of the two largest late-nineteenth-century shoe companies in
the West Village, Lewis Howe sold out his interest in their partnership as early as ca. 1858, and
moved away from Marlborough in 1870. In 1861-2, probably at about the time this house was built,
he formed a partnership with Algernon S. Brigham, Brigham & Howe Co., to manufacture shoes,
apparently in the Frank Howe factory at the comer of Pleasant and Chestnut Streets. (See Form
#117.) They remained there until 1865, when they moved the business to a shop on Lincoln Street,
where from 1868 he appears to have operated alone as L.A. Howe & Co., employing 130 people and
turning out 525,000 pairs of women's and children's shoes per year. In 1870 the firm dissolved, and
Mr. Howe moved to Warren, Maine.
This house is equally significant, however, as the residence of another member of the Howe family,
and one of Marlborough's major later shoe manufacturers, Louis Porter Howe. Born in 1858, be was
the son of S. Herbert Howe, who over the middle and latter part of the nineteenth century built up
one of Marlborough's largest shoe companies, housed in buildings at several locations in the West
Village. In 1888, with two factories operating (the first at the corner of Elm & Pleasant Streets, and
the other at Pleasant and Chestnut Streets, incorporating the building where Brigham & Howe had
formerly made shoes), S.H. Howe formed a stock company, S.H. Howe Shoe Company. (Cont).

Conklin. Middlesex County and Its People. 1927.
Hurd, D. Hamilton. History of Middlesex County. 1890.
Maps and Atlases: 1871, 1875, 1878, Pictorial Marlborough 1879, 1889; Sanborns from 1912.
Marlborough L.A./L.P. Howe House

Boston, Massachusetts 02116 t ;;..~

The windows, many of which have been replaced, have molded surrounds. Those at the first story
have heavy decorative entablatures, with paneled friezes and deep, bracketed canopies. The second-
story window under the facade gable is paired, with a flat surround and a keyestoned fanlight. Both
sides of the rear wing have porches. Like that at the main entry, they have chamfered, square posts
and grill-work balustrades.
Map evidence shows that this building once had a large cupolaed, mansard-roofed attached carriage
house. It appears to have been removed by 1889. In about 1910 the present guest house was built
as a garage.

He was president and principal stockholder, and his son Louis, who had studied engineering at M.I.T
and had worked for several years as superintendent for his father, was vice-president. L.P. Howe
later became president of the company. He had many other business interests, as well, among them
the presidency of a.H. Stevens Manufacturing Co., which was owned and run by his brother-in-law
(see Form #151, 32 Pleasant Street). He was managing director of the Marlborough Electric
Company, a director and president of the Marlborough Building Association, a director of the New
England Shoe and Leather Association, and of both the People's National Bank and the First
National Bank of Marlborough. He was a trustee of the Marlborough Hospital, the Marlborough
Public Library, and of the Marlborough Savings Bank, where he also served on the Board of
Investment. He was a leader of the Republican party in Massachusetts, serving on the Republican
State Committee in 1893 and 1894; in those same years he was elected as a Representative from
Marlborough to the General Court.
Louis Porter Howe married India H. Arnold in the 1880's. Since maps still show the property under
L.A. Howe's ownership in 1875, his wife's in 1879, and S.H. Howe's in 1889, it is likely that S.H.
Howe acquired it from his brother or his widow, and gave it as a wedding present to the young
couple. It is likely that the renovations to the building were done at that time.
IfP~~ is indeed a "marriage house", that would correspond to the building of #32 Pleasant Street,
wnich was also apparently a wedding gift, from S.H. Howe to his daughter, Charlotte, and O.H.
Stevens. The "C. Stevens" shown as the owner of the small house located to the rear of this one on
the map of 1889 is probably Charlotte Howe Stevens.
80 Boylston Street
Area(s) Form No(s).
122
[x] Individually eligible [ ] Eligible only ill a historic district

[x ] Contributing to a potential historic district [] Potential historic district
Criteria Considerations: [] A [] B [] C [] 0 [] E ["I F [] G
Statement of Significance by Forbes I Schuler
The Lewis Howe/Louis]'. Howe House meets Criteria A and C of the National Register. The
property articulates the affluence of Marlborough's leading shoe manufacturing owners,
specifically Lewis A. Howe who formed a partnership, Brigham and Howe Company at about
the time that he had this residence constructed. Of equal importance was the proprietorship of
Lewis Howe's nephew, Louis P. Howe, who lived here at a later date and who was
instrumental in the acquisiton of several factories to form one of Marlborough's largest shoe
companies, S.H. Howe Shoe Company, The property retains integrity of location, design,
setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association.
Massachusetts Historical Commission I 55-143 II Marlborough II I 123

80 Boylston Street
Town Marlborolloho
Historic N arne Fryea ,awrence House
Uses: Present Dwelling
Original Dwelling
Date of Construction __ c_3_18_S_0 _
Source Maps; style
Style/Form Greco-Italianate
Architect/Builder !Io_k_-n~o~\\~'n~ _
Exterior Material:
Foundation granite
s within
It. um er eae 2 property or which indivi ual WallfTrim wood cI 3pboa rd
2-car shingled garage
Major Alterations (with dates ) _
new door, with 5-part picfme winclmv beside
it; exterior chimney on south

N Condition f_:'l_ir _
Moved [X] no ] yes Date N/A
Recorded by Anne Forbes Setting Opposite Spring Sf in mixed modern!
Jrganization for Marlboro Hjs! Comm mid-la fe-19th-century neighborhood Italianate
Date 4130/94 hOllse to south

BUILDING FORM
ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION [J see continuation sheet

Although it recently underwent some door and window changes, #241 Pleasant Street is still a
good representative of a mid-nineteenth-century 2 1/2-stOlY,side-hall-entry, gable-end house. It
has a two-story rear wing, and a late-nineteenth-century facade porch all turned posts, with a
turned balustrade and pierced, saweut brackets. The windows are 2-over-2-sasb, with flat surrounds.
The trim includes a molded, boxed cornice, sill board, and narrow cornerboards.
)
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE [ ] see continuation sheet

Explain 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.
This house, one of the earliest remaining in the vicinity, belonged to a member of the Frye family,
"J. Frye" in 1853. (Too early to have been shoe-manufacturer John Addison Frye, who was born
in 1839, deed research will be necessary to determine which member of the family this is. It may
have been the "J. Frye" who was killed in the Civil War.)
)
Some years later (by 1869) it was the home of another Civil-War soldier, Austin B. Lawrence, who
was a shoemaker, probably in the nearby "home factory" of S.H. Howe. By 1879 the house
belonged to Eugene P. Lawrence, a clerk in one of the factories or businesses on Lincoln Street.
The house had apparently passed out of the Lawrence family by the end of the 1890's.

Hurd, D. Hamilton. History of Mjddlesex County, Mass. 1890..
Maps and Atlases: 1853, 1857, 1871, 1875, 1878, 1889. Sanboms from 1912.
[] Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked. a completed
National Register Criteria Statement [otm is attached.
Massach~setts Historical Commission I 68-466 I I Marlborough I C 143

80 Boylston Street
Town Marlborough
West Village
Address 126 pleasant Street
Historic Name RieefHolyoke House
Uses: Present DweJJjng
Original DweJ1ing
Date of Construction ca 1815-16
Source Maps' style: Bigelow
StyJe!Form Federal/Greek Reyival
Architect/Builder u.•..
n_kn ••..
o..•.
WD
••••••. _
Exterior Material:

it. Number each property for which individual WalIffrim synthetic siding
including route numbers, if any. Attach a separate Roof asphalt shjngle
Done
Major Alterations (with dates) glassed-in
porch, SF corner
Condition fajr
Moved [X] no [ ] yes Date __ N_I_A _
Acreage Jess than one acre
"1.ecorded by Anne ForbeS Setting On 19th-C residential block of mixed
Organization for Marlboro Hid Camm residential/commercial area Modern apart-
Date 3/31194 ments diagonally across street

BUILDING FORM
ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION [ ] see continuation sheet

This house, in spite of its synthetic siding, is one of the most well-preserved of Marlborough's
farmhouses of the period just after the War of 1812. Built in about 1815-16, it is a typical vernacular
farmhouse of the federal period. It is two-stories, five- by 2-bays, one-room deep, with a rear two-
story wing. An assortment of ells and an attached two-horse barn, all apparently in place by 1871,
were added over the years, making this one of Marlborough's few "extended farmhouses." The main
part of the building retains its 6-over-9-sash windows and a transitional Greek Revival center entry
with elaborate fretwork detail in the frieze and pilasters. Full sidelights of etched glass flank the 6-
panel door. 6-over-6-sash appear in the rear wing. ,
j
The architectural trim that remains is typical of the second decade of the nineteenth century-the
roof does not overhang the gable ends, and the eaves are finished with a shallow, molded, boxed
cornice, with dentils, and small returns. The house plan is somewhat old-fashioned for the time,
however, in that it originally had a central chimney.
By the latter part of the nineteenth century the house had acquired a porch along the south side
(demolished. )
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE [] see continuation sheet

Explain history of the building. Explain its associations with local (or stale) history. Include uses of the
building, and the role(s) the owners/occupants played within the community. t
)
"
This house and the Dr. John Baker House (see Form #75) across the street are the two earliest
houses on this section of Pleasant Street, which was extended south from Elm shortly after the West
Meeting house was built in 1806. (See Form #74). It was built for Abel Rice (b. 1791). The son
of Jabez Rice, he married Betsey Hunt of Northborough in 1814, and, according to Ella Bigelow,
he built this house shortly after the 1815 hurricane from timber felled in that great storm. He was
a shoe-maker, and had a shoe shop here on the property, probably in part of the house.
In 1841 the property, with considerable land stretching to the rear, was purchased by John Holyoke
(b. 1810.). He had married Susan Brigham, daughter of Moses Brigham, in 1838. After her death,
he married Mrs. Nancy Maria Darling, and lived here until nearly the end of the century. She
survived him, and died here in 1908 at the age of 84. John Holyoke was a butcher, and had a
slaughterhouse, apparently in the rear part of the building.
(Shortly after the Holyokes purchased the house, it was utilized by Josiah Howe. According to
Edward Alley, writing in Hurd's HistoI)' of Middlesex County, he started manufacturing shoes in part
of the house in 1845. He later moved his shop to Mechanic Street. In ill health, he susequently
went to Cuba, where he died.)
After Mrs. Holyoke's death, the property was purchased by Joseph Hodgkins, who owned it until
1929, when it was bought by William Osgood, owner until 1944.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES [] see continuation sheet

Bigelow, Ella. Historical Reminiscences of Marlborough. 1910.
Hudson, Charles. HistoI)' of the Town of Marlborough. 1862.
Maps and Atlases: Wood, 1830; Hudson, 1835; Walling: 1853, 1857; Beers: 1871, 1875; Bailey
& Hazen: 1878; Walker: 1889; Sanboms.
Owner's research.
80 Boylston Street
Areais) Form No(s).
C 143

Criteria: [x] A [] B [x] C ll D
Criteria Considerations: [J A [J B [] C [] D [] E [] F [1 G
Statement of Significance by ~F~o_r_b_e_s~/-,"S_c-,"h_u_le_r _

The Rice/Holyoke House meets Criteria A and C of the National Register. One of the earliest
houses on this part of Pleasant Street, the property is associated with one of the early tradesman
of the West Village section of Marlborough, shoemaker Abel Rice, and with farmer and butcher
John Holyoke, whose family owned the house for nearly seventy years. TIle house displays the
Federal Style five-bay, two and one-half story form, and retains integrity of location, design setting,
workmanship, feeling, and association.
FORM B . BUILDING Assessor's Dumber USGS Quad Area(s) FODn Number
Massachusetts Historical Commission I 69-31 I I Marlborough I C; L I 146
80 Boylston Street
Town Marlborough
,. Place (neighborhood or village) _
West Vmage
Historic Name E Irving Sawyer Honse
Uses: Present Dwe11ing
Original Dwelling
Date of Construction 1897-1900
Source Maps; style
Style/Form Queen Anne
Architect!Builder __ ..•.•
u.•.•.
n.••..
kn wn
•.••
o •....••.
•.•. _
Exterior Material:
Sketch Map Foundation

it. Number each property for which individual WalllTrim synthetic siding
including route numbers, if any. Attach a separate Roof slate
garage
Major Alterations (with dates ), _
windows, doorS, and porch posts and
N balustrades replaced' ca 1990
Condition __ ...•
::IJ•·r
f•.•. ••. _
Moved [X] no [ ] yes Date N/A
Acreage Jess tban one acre
Recorded by Anne Forbes Setting On west side of pleasant opposite
Organization tor Marlboro His! Comm 1890's apt house Victorian houses to S;
Date 2125194 1920's Col Revival bome to N

BUILDING FORM
ARCHITECfURAL DESCRIPTION r 1 se~ continuation sheet

The largest, and one of the most complex of the houses on the first block of Pleasant Street, the E.I.
Sawyer House is a 2 112-story,pyramid-roofed Queen Anne building with an expansive, pedimented
veranda that wraps around three sides of the building. This is basically a rectangular house with
many projections. A tall round tower with a high conical roof abuts the southeast facade corner, and
a wide shallow polygonal bay fills the facade to its east. The sides of the house are punctuated with
more polygonal bays, two on the north and one on the south, all with large pedimented gables that )
pierce the main roof. The roof is also accented by a wide hip-roofed dormer over the facade, and "
another on the rear south slope. Two tall corbeled and paneled chimneys of orange-yellow brick rise
from the south and rear of the roof, which, like that next door at #46, is slate, with copper cresting.
The copper detailing here is unusually intact: a decorative ball tops the tower roof, and a tall
slender finial decorates the facade dormer.
In spite of the replacement of most of its siding, doors, and most of its windows, the house retains
much of its original detail, including elaborate molded cornices with modillions and dentils, and saw-
cut brackets at the corners of the main roof line. A triple lonzenge-paned window remains in the
facade dormer; a small milk-glass leaded window in the center of the second-story facade bay may
be a replacement.
,
e
I'
building. and the role(s) the owners/occupants played within the community.
Like several other late-nineteenth-century houses near the bottom of Pleasant Street, this building
is important for its connection with an executive of one of Marlborough's major shoe factories. It
was the residence of E. Irving Sawyer (b. 1855), who came to Marlborough from Berlin in about
1877, the year he married Lizzie A. Johnson. He first worked as bookeeper for J. Boyd & Co., and
in 1879 became a bookeeper for S.H. Howe. Upon the incorporation of S.H. Howe Shoe Company
in 1887, Mr. Sawyer was made clerk of the company, and was subsequently a director, then
superintendent of the Howe "home shop", the "Diamond M.". He was also clerk of the company of
another neighbor here on Pleasant Street-vthe O.H. Stevens Box company. (See Form #151, 32
Pleasant Street.) Mr. Sawyer held several important posts in the town, and later, the city. He was
elected to the first board of Aldermen when Marlborough became a city in 1890, became a director
of the First National Bank in 1904, a trustee of tbe Marlborough Savings Bank in 1905, and served
as a director and clerk of the Marlborough Building Association. He died in about 1909. (cont.)

Cutter.
Centennial, '90: Marlborough the City. 1990.
Maps and Atlases: Sanborns from 1901.
Marlborough E.!. Sawyer House

Boston, Massachusetts 02116 C;L 146

The Sawyer House stands on the site of the "old long house of the Bigelow family. That was a
II
large two-story saltbox, said to have been built by John Boyd, that dated to the early part of the
nineteenth century, and was torn down just prior to the building of this one. The property was
purchased by William Howe, who enlarged the building and kept his ow.nstore there for a few years t
followed by Thomas Howe, who in 1819 married Patty Bigelow. Later, when Pleasant Street was
still just a lane between Main Street and the West Meetinghouse, that building housed both the
home of Thomas Howe's brother-in-law, Lambert Bigelow (1801-1863) and the general store (the
main store in the West Village,) that he ran with his brother, Levi.
Lambert Bigelow later built a large high-style Greek Revival house, with many outbuildings and
eventually a large attached store, on the east side of the lane (demolished.) That second house
stood facing the West Meetinghouse on what had been a "village green". In 1853t the Shenstone
Society was formed to plant trees on the green and along the streets of the west village. It is said
that the results prompted the Rev. Levi Brigham to exclaim "Oh, this is pleasant!", leading to the
eventual name of the street.
80 Boylston Street
Area(s) Form No(s).
C;L _1_46 _

Criteria: [x] A [] B [xl C [] D
Criteria Considerations: [] A ["I B [] C [] D [1 E [] F [] G

The E. Irving Sawyer House meets Criteria A and C of the National Register. It is part of a
streetscape of elaborate dwellings associated with Marlborough's turn of the century businessmen
and industrialists. Besides holding several town offices, Sawyer was a director and superintendent
of the largest factory of the S.H. Howe Shoe Company. In spite of the synthetic siding, the
property is an example of a large Queen Anne Style dwelling. The property retains integrity of
location, setting, feeling, and association.
..J.
Massachusetts Historical Commission I 69-103 I Marlborough I I C; L 1===14=7=======

80 Boylston Street
Town f\AarlhoroJlgh

,~
West Village
47 Pleasant Street
William DadmllD Honse
Present Dwelling
Original Dwelljng
ate of Construction ca 1860
Maps; style
Second Fmpire
Architect/Builder unknown
Exterior Material:
Sketch Map Foundation brick

it. Number each property for which individual synthetic siding
including route numbers, if any. Attach a separate Roof <walloped "late
Outbuildings/Second a 1)' Structures none
Major Alterations (with dates} _
front steps. some rail and balustrade on front
porch replaced
Condition fair
Moved [X] no ) yes Date N!A
Recorded bv .I
Allne Forbt~S Setting In compact nei~bhorbood of
Organization for t·1;:lrlboro Hist Comm stylish Victorian wood-frame bOIl,es Altered
Date 7/1'\/94 Col Revival wood-frame apartments to north

BUILDING FORM
ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION [X] see continuation sheet

In spite of its synthetic siding, #47 Pleasant Street is still an intact representative of a typical, stylish
Second Empire house of the period around the time of the Civil War. In keeping with its deep
narrow lot, it is a large, tall, narrow house with a long two-story rear wing. TIle massing is highly
sculptural, with many projections from the main house block, including a shallow, full-height side bay
with a two-story bay window on the north side, a flat-roofed rear ell with open porch at the southeast
comer, and two one-story rear entry bays on the north side (both may be later additions. A corner
porch wraps from the facade to the main entry door, which is located in the front wall of a rectangular
bay on the south side. The door is a wide, heavy glass-and-panel type, with a single large light and
paneling below. ,..J
Most of the windows contain one-over-one-sash, some of which may be modern replacements. Those
on the south side are largely devoid of architectural trim (which may have been removed.) Those on
the facade and north side, however, are adorned with some of the most elaborate examples of Second
Empire detailing in Marlborough. A large double two-over-two-sash window is the focal point of the
first floor facade. Above it is a complex entablature consisting of field paneling under a shallow
balcony that has a turned balustrade, its lower edge trimmed with scalloped bracing, drops, and heavy
decorative brackets. TIle balcony spans a second-story double window which is topped with a heavy
molded and bracketed cornice with gabled center and bullseye decoration. Both windows retain their
original hinged, louvered blinds. The trim of the windows of the north side of the house repeats the
bullseye motif. (Cont.)

building, and the role(s) the ownersloccupants played within the community.
This house is significant as the home of one of Marlborough's early shoe manufacturers, 'William
Dadrnun, who was in the business for thirty-five years. The son of Martin Dadrnun, he grew up on
his father's large farm in southeast Marlborough, where he and his siblings were known for their love
of hard work. In 1840 he bought the machinery formerly used by L. & L. Bigelow (see Area Form
L: "Lower Pleasant Streett'), and began manufacturing shoes opposite the West Church. He
subsequently manufactured on Lincoln Street until 1861. By 1853 he had moved to this property,
where an earlier house stood, possibly the one that was the horne of Stephen R. Phelps before be
moved to 65-69 West Main Street.v-see Form #138). In 1861, Mr. Dadmun formed a partnership
with another Pleasant Street neighbor, Ezra Cutting, (see Form #153) and the company became
Dadmun & Cutting. In 1863 they built a large shoe factory that stood for decades at the southeast
corner of Howland and Lincoln Street (demolished). There, 70 employees were soon making 270,000
pairs of women's and children's shoes per year. (COIlt)

Hudson, Charles. Riston' of the Town of Marlboroul!h. 1862.
Maps and Atlases: Walling: 1853: Beers: 1875: Bailey & Hazen: 1878; Walker: 1889; Sanborns.
Marlborough Directories,
Hurd, D. Hamilton. Historv of Middlesex Countv. 1890.
National Register Criteria Statement form is auached.
Marlborough William Dadmun House

Boston, Massachusetts 02116 C~L 147
ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION
The one-story bay window there is sheltered by a graceful "pagoda"-type hood that echoes the
concave flare of the house's mansard roof. A molded dentil detail appears at the hood of the bay,
between the stories of the bay, and along the tum of the main roof. TIle roof, which is still clad
in its original scalloped slates, is punctuated by round-topped dormer windows, their heavy hoods
supported on small unfluted columns at the corners.
Both front and rear porches, like that next door at #41, have chamfered square posts. Here a
heavy, turned balustrade, typical of the era, is retained. Other architectural detailing, also typical
of the Second Empire, includes wide cornerboards and a wide frieze board (now devoid of any
ornament it may have had) under the molded, boxed cornice of the roof.
The building once had a large attached carriage house, which was removed around the turn of the
century.
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE, cant.

Ezra Cutting retired from the business in 1873, and Mr. Dadmun took in his son, William E., to
form William Dadmun & Co. In 1875, however, they sold out to Charles L. and Lewis T. Frye,
who operated the factory until 1889, when it was bought by the company of another resident of
lower Pleasant Street, S.H. Howe, and became his "Diamond O" shop. (See Area Form C: "West
Village.")
William Dadmun was also active in working for the improvement of the West Village, and in 1869
served as treasurer of the Shenstone Society, the local organization that had been formed in 1853
for the beautification of the West Village.
Early in this century, after the death of Mr. Dadmun and his wife, Fannie, the house was acquired
by lawyer Edgar' Weeks, who lived here for many years. He was partner with William Davenport
in the law firm of Davenport & Weeks, with offices in the old People's National Bank Building at
187 Main Street. He was also a special justice in the Marlborough Police Court.
80 Boylston Street
Area(s) Form No(s).
C;L _1_47 _

Criteria: [x] A [] B [x] C [J D

Criteria Considerations: ll A [] B [] C [] D [] E l] F [] G
Statement of Significance by _F_o_f_b_es_'

_1_S_ch_u_l_e_l" _
The William Dadmun House meets Criteria A and C of the National Register. It is associated with
one of Marlborough's important industrialists, William Dadmun, whose career as a major shoe-
manufacturer spanned 35 years of the second and third quarters of the nineteenth century. 'Thus
the property is representative of the prosperous development of Marlborough in the decades of
greatest expansion in its most important industry. In spite of the synthetic siding, the building is
a fine example of the Second Empire Style. The property retains integrity of location, design,
setting, workmanship, feeling, and association.

Pleasant Street

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FORM B - BUILDING In Area no. Form no.

J Address 3L~J Pleasant

Name Ithamar Brigham

Present use Residence

Present owner James Kent

3. Description; 2t Story Center Chimney

Source Pub. Local Histories

P facade have been enlarged

S Appr oximate frontage-=l..=;.O~O._F_e_e'_t _

Original use Farm

Aboriginal Conservation Recreation

9. Historical significance (include explanation of themes checked above) )

Historical Reminiscences of Marlborough, Ella Bigelow, Marl. 1910.

Marlborough, Engineering Dept.

Marlborough Ithamar Brigham

Massachusetts Historical Commission

Additional information by Anne Forbes, consultant to Marlborough Historical Commission,

ASSESSOR'S # 55-231; less than one acre. PHOTO #95-4: 5.

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE, cont.

fNVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Community Property

Marlborough Ithamar Brigham

Massachusetts Historical Commission

1. Town Marl borough

Address 61. Pleasant Street

Name John Clisbee Homestead

Approximate distance. of bui14ing

8. Themes (checkas many as applicable)

, . Aboriginal Conservation Recreation

9. Historicalsignificance(includeexplanationof themes checked above) )

I could find very little information on John Clisbee other than he

10. BU;itographyand/or references(suchas localhistories.deeds. assessor'srecords"

Massachusetts Historical Commission

Boston, Massachusetts 02116

Place (neighborhood or village) _

Historic Name John Clisbee House

<', Uses: Present Dwelling

Original DweJ1jng; organ-blljJding shop

Date of Construction __ ...l..•..

Source Maps; style; toeal histories

Style/Form Greek Revival

iketch Map Foundation dressed granite

Major Alterations (with dates) Entries re-

placed; roost windows replaced in front sec-

tion and first story, rear

Acreage Jess than one acre

Recorded by Anne Forbes Setting Occupies comer lot on west side of

ARCHI1ECTURAL DESCRIPTION [] see continuation sheet

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE pq see continuation sheet

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES [ ] see continuation sheet

Marlborough John Clisbee House

Massachusetts Historical Commission

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE, cont.

Area(s) Form No(s).

National Register of Historic Places Criteria Statement Form

Check all that apply:

[x] Individually eligible [ ] Eligible only in a historic district

Criteria: [x] A [] B [x] C [] D

Criteria Considerations: [] A [] B [] C [] D [] E [] F [:I G

Statement of Significance by _F_o_r_b_e_s_I_S_c_h_u_le_r _

Massachusetts Historical Commission ,--6_9_-1_9

Place (neighborhood or village) _

Address 86 Plea~ant Street

Historic Name \Vest MeetinghollSe: