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Canton Corner recognized as
national historic district
By Jeffrey Pickette
Citizen Staff
Like all
neighborhoods in Canton, the homes situated within the Canton
Corner area of town are accented with satellite dishes and
basketball hoops. There are traffic lights, streetlights and
even signs directing trucks and large vehicles to Interstate 95.
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| The David Tilden House, also known as "The Little Red House" was
built in 1725.
Jeffrey Pickette Photo |
Even so, there
is still a decidedly historic feel to Canton Corner. Many of the
homes date back to the late 1700s and early 1800s. The steeple
of the First Parish Church at 1508 Washington Street, built in
1876, still overlooks the town. The Canton Corner Cemetery
features gravesites spanning hundreds of years.
On September
9, the National Register of Historic Places, which is part of
the National Park Service under the Department of the Interior,
officially recognized Canton Corner as a historic district.
Kathi Keith, a
member of the Canton Historical Commission, considers this
designation a “point of pride for the community.”
Wally Gibbs,
chairman of the Historical Commission, said that the honor “adds
to the character of the neighborhood and the town of Canton.”
“You see
[Canton Corner] just as it was,” Gibbs added. “There are an
awful lot of original houses still there.”
The Canton
Corner Historic District spans approximately 170 acres and is
the first recognized historic district in the town. The area
includes Washington Street from its intersection with Pecunit
Street to just beyond its intersection with Dedham Street and a
small portion of Pleasant Street from its intersection with
Washington Street to just beyond Pequitside Farm.
“This area of
town is the oldest remaining establishment of the town going
back to the early 18th Century,” Keith explained.
“It’s very important to the town’s history. If you go down and
look at the different styles of architecture there, you can see
a wide variety that is representative of different [historical]
periods.”
Examples of
architectural styles found within the district include
Italianate, Queen Anne, Colonial Revival, Georgian Revival,
Craftsman, English (Tudor) Revival and Classical Revival.
Designating
this district as historical is strictly an honorary distinction;
there are no new restrictions placed on property owners,
according to both Gibbs and Keith.
“A national
historic district just recognizes the significance of the area,”
Gibbs emphasized.
Currently the
Commission is looking to erect three signs marking the
boundaries of the historic district.
A portion of
the nomination forms were sent to the
Citizen by
the National Register of Historic Places in Washington, D.C.
According to the nomination forms, which were prepared by
Kathleen Kelly Broomer, an architectural historian and
preservation consultant hired by the Canton Historical
Commission, there are 47 “contributing” buildings within the
district and 67 total “contributing buildings, sites, structures
and objects” within Canton Corner altogether. Twenty-five total
“buildings, sites, structures and objects” were classified as
“non-contributing.”
Canton Corner
was eligible for nomination because it was considered to have
“property associated with events that have made a significant
contribution to the broad patterns of our history” and “property
[that] embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type,
period, or method of construction.”
The lengthy
nomination document had to explain the significance of each
individual property as well as give an overview of the
development of the town itself and how Canton Corner relates to
the overall development of the town, according to Keith.
The nomination
document stresses that the Canton Corner Historic District
“illustrates 250 years of growth and development in the town of
Canton.”
Many of the
properties predate the official incorporation in 1797, when
Canton was still a part of Dorchester, and later a part of
Stoughton. Canton Corner was attractive to settlers during the
Colonial Period — defined as 1675 to 1775 by the nomination
document — because it “had good farm land and milling potential
due to its proximity to several brooks that could provide water
power.”
Both
Washington and Pleasant Streets date back to the early 1700s as
well. Canton Corner “served as the town’s institutional focus
until 1879.”
Two of the
more noteworthy properties are found at Pequitside Farm. The
two-story David Tilden House is located at 93 Pleasant Street
and was built in 1725. Affectionately known as the “Little Red
House,” it is the oldest house in the district. The Edward J.
Lynch, Jr. house, built in 1809, is a two-story white house with
black shutters located at 79 Pleasant Street.
The Police
Station, which has been at its present Washington Street
location since 2004, occupies the shingle-sided building of the
former Eliot School, originally built in 1894. The Canton
Historical Society building at 1400 Washington Street dates back
to 1911.
The Canton
Corner Cemetery dates back hundreds of years. In 1707, one acre
was set aside within the district as a burial ground. The first
burial occurred in 1716. Today the cemetery features hundreds
upon hundreds of graves as well as Veterans Memorial Park, which
includes the town’s war memorials and memorial benches.
In the 1700s
and early 1800s, Canton Corner Cemetery was also the location of
the town’s first three meetinghouses. A schoolhouse stood next
to the second meetinghouse from 1735 to 1749.
The process to
have this district recognized was a lengthy one for the Canton
Historical Commission. Individual properties had to be surveyed,
funds needed to be raised to pay a professional to prepare the
nomination documents and the Massachusetts Historical Commission
had to approve the nomination before it was sent to Washington,
D.C. for final approval.
“If you look
at a number of the homes that were built in the late 19th
Century and into the 20th Century, there were very
prominent homes on Washington Street and Pleasant Street,” Keith
said. “They were an important component of what made this
community prosperous. As you drive down Washington Street and
Pleasant Street, it is very evident that this is a historic
area,” she continued. “This is a great recognition of its
importance and its significance in the town.”
November 12, 2009
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