Annis Street
Name:
Address: 13 Annis Street
Date: c. 1880
History: Annis Street was one of the first streets in the western section of the Arlington District to experience development. This residence is representative of the 1 1/2-story gable-roofed worker’s cottage seen throughout the western and eastern section of the area. The primary impetus for development of the area was the expansion of the Arlington Mills, immediately to the west along Stevens Pond of the Spicket River. the mills employed thousands of Lawrence and Methuen workers, and owned little operative housing. 13 Annis Street is representative of the inexpensive dwellings built by speculators for sale to woolen mill workers. It is significant as a well-preserved example, in an area where there has been considerable demolition and alteration. It possesses integrety of location, setting, design, and workmanship, and meets the criteria of the National Register of Historic Places.
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Arnold Street
Name:
Address: 54 Arnold Street
Date: ca. 1860
History: 19th century millworker housing in the Oakland Ave.neighborhood.
Name:
Address: 58 Arnold Street
Date: ca. 1880
History: Built about 1880, this was one of the first houses constructed on Arnold Street. The first houses on Arnold Street were a group of about 6, built between 1872 and 1884. As early as 1884 this house was owned by William G. Fairbanks, a shoemaker. By 1901 the house was occupied by Henry Short, a baker. The property was occupied by a number of people between about 1910 into the 1950s, including Wilfred Nutton (milkman), John F. Harty (second hand), Thomas and William Lancaster (mill workers), Albert Thompson (tinsmith), John Desmond (chauffeur), and Leo W. Croteau (salesman).
Ashford
Name:
Address: 46 Ashford Street
Date: 1913
History: The Ashford Street School was constructed in 1913 to accommodate the growing school age population in the southeast corner of the town. As originally constructed, it contained six classrooms and a meeting hall. It was designed by James E. Allen of Lawrence who designed most of Methuen’s schools, including the Christopher Sargent (1916), Marsh Corner (1917), Arlington (1910), Ashford (1913) Oakland Avenue (1910), Pleasant Valley (1914), Howe (1914), and Grosvenors (1917) Schools. Most of Allen’s Schools (Sargent, Marsh Corner, Oakland Avenue, Arlington, Howe, Pleasant Valley, and Ashford Street) are brick structures with stone trim. They are similar in design, incorporating elements of the Colonial Revival and Craftsman styles. Grocvenor School is a single-story wood-frame structure.
Ashland Avenue
Name:
Address: 45-92 Ashland Avenue
Date: c. 1911
History: Most of Ashland Avenue was developed between 1906 and 1911. In 1906, the land had been subdivided and was owned by Alfred Newsholme. Newsholme is listed in the 1896 directory as a wool buyer, but clearly he was involved in a considerable amount of real estate speculation as well. In the early 20th century he owned tracts of land in various locations throughout town. By 1911 seven two-family houses (61-87) had been erected on the odd side of Ashland Street and five (74-92) had been built on the even side. By 1919, only 89-91 Ashland had been added. By 1927, two more houses had been built on the odd side (45-51) and one on the even side (66-68). By 1949, development was complete with the building of 53-55, 57 (a single) and 70-74. While the latter was built on what had previously been vacant land, it is confusing in that it encompasses four addresses. In addition, what had been 74-76 Ashland Avenue had disappeared from the maps.
Ayers Village Road
Name:
Address: 4 Ayers Village Road
Date: 1828
History: 58 Ayers Village Road is significant as a well preserved 18th century dwelling in the northeast corner of Methuen, near the Haverhill line. The building is associated with the 18th and `19th century agricultural history of Methuen, and conserves a portion of the original rural landscape. It possesses integrity of location, setting, design, and workmanship, and meets the criteria of the National Register of Historic Places.
Name:
Address: 58 Ayers Village Road
Date: c. 1750
History: 58 Ayers Village Road is significant as a well preserved 18th century dwelling in the northeast corner of Methuen, near the Haverhill line. The building is associated with the 18th and `19th century agricultural history of Methuen, and conserves a portion of the original rural landscape. It possesses integrity of location, setting, design, and workmanship, and meets the criteria of the National Register of Historic Places.
Baremeadow Street
Name:
Address:47 Baremeadow Street
Date: c. 1890
History: The history of this barn on Baremeadow Road is not clear but it appears that there was a house on the site that was built about the same time as the barn (ca. 1890). The house remained until after 1955. It was apparently removed or destroyed between 1955 and about 1970. The earliest known owner of the property is John Emenegger, a farmer, who lived here as early as 1901 and may have been the original owner. From the 1930s to the 1950s it was occupied by Frank Gibaldo. The barn remains in use for storage. It is an excellent example of a late 19th century barn and sits on one of the only remaining agricultural meadows in central Methuen.
Berkeley Street
Name: Serlo Hall outbuilding
Address:175 Berkeley Street
Date: c. 1900
History: Symmetrical in design, 175 Berkeley appears to have been built c.1900 for John P. Sweeney, a lawyer. An unnumbered house on Berkeley Street (the only house in the area) appears on the 1906 atlas owned by J.P. Sweeney, who is listed in the city directory as living on Berkeley Street beginning in 1901. By 1904, the house was numbered 115 Berkeley, but the address had changed to 175 by 1929. The house remained in the Sweeney family at least until 1938 when it was the residence of Anna M. Sweeney. In 1948, it was the residence of William J.H. Buscom, who was retired at the time. At present the house is a residence for retired persons who maintain private rooms and receive meals in a communal dining room.
Birch Avenue
Name:
Address: 4 Birch Avenue
Date: c. 1910
History: 4 Birch Avenue is significant as a well conserved building from Methuen’s last major period of residential development. Such comfortable dwellings were usually crafted by local carpenters and purchased by Methuen’s middle class. It possesses integrity of location, setting, design, and workmanship, and meets the criteria of the National Register of Historic Places.
Broadway
Name: Broadway Bridge
Address: Broadway
Date: c. 1830/1886-90
History: Most of the early wooden bridges over the Spicket River were replaced in the 1830s by stone arch bridges. This important turnpike crossing probably dates to that period. Between 1886 and 1890, Broadway was widened and macadamized. The bridge was widened at that time.
Name: All Saints Church
Address: 90 Broadway
Date: 1904
History: All Saints Episcopal Church was one of a several major buildings constructed in Methuen through the generosity of Edward F. Searles. Its corner stone was laid in 1904. The church was designed by the well-known architect Henry Vaughn whose many other works in Methuen (including the Searles High School done in the same year) were also commissioned by Searles. In an article describing the dedication, the Methuen Transcript stated that Vaughn was “probably the best Gothic architect in this country.” According to the article, all interior furnishings were designed by Vaughn and the fine carved wood work was furnished by Irving and Casson, a well-known Boston/Cambridge firm. Two hundred and fifty individual “cathedral chairs,” made in England replaced conventional pews and handsome wrought iron pendants chandeliers provided light.
The organ, “one of the finest…of its kind in the country” was built by Jesse Woodbury and Son of Boston.
When it was begun in 1904, All Saints had 164 communicants, many of them former members of the Saint Thomas Church of Methuen which had closed its doors in 1901. All Saints remained strong until after World War II when the mill industry declined. In 1950 All Saints merged with Saint John’s of Lawrence and was renamed Saint Andrew’s, and in 1960 there were 500 parishioners. A new parish hall was constructed and dedicated in 1954, in 1968 a memorial parlor was added, and in 1982 a memorial carillon was dedicated. In the 1980s, efforts were directed to the preservation and restoration of the church, evidence of the vitality of the organization.
Name: Nevins Home
Address:100 -110 Broadway
Date:1906
Historic Building Survey Form Form 2
History: The Nevins Home was built on the site of the home of Charles Ingalls, one of Methuen’s early hat manufacturers. Ingalls was born in Methuen in 1808, married Mary Kimball in 1832, and had several children including a son James born in 1839. Charles began in the hat business with Matthew Messer, and later worked with George Wilson, and Deacon Jonathan Merrill. About 1834, he took over Merrill’s business and in 1864 took his son James into partnership. Ingalls’ hat factory in shown on the 1846 map and a new, larger factory (built in 1877) can be seen on the 1884 map. The buildings were located west of Broadway on the south side of the Spicket, behind All Saints’ Church (82 Broadway). Charles died in 1882 and James continued in the business for many years. Daniel W. Tenney, in a paper on early manufacturing given at the Methuen Historical Society, mentions Charles Ingalls, Mr. Wilson, and Ingalls’ neighbor Asa Simonds.
In 1905 the Ingalls property on Broadway was acquired by the executors for the estate of Julie F. H. Nevins who died in 1904. Mrs. Nevins left $100,000, plus an endowment, for construction of the Henry C. Nevins Home for Aged and Incurables, a memorial to her late husband. Ground breaking began in June 1905. and dedication of the new facility took place in July of the following year. The architect was Harris M. Stephenson of Boston and the contract for construction went to R. L. Fosberg and Son of Boston. Construction was supervised by the building committee consisting of Dr. George E. Woodbury and Lewis E. Barnes, superintendent of The Methuen Company. The Nevins Home remained in operation from 1906 until 1982. A modern nursing care facility was later constructed behind the original structure. Unable to develop an appropriate re-use plan, the Nevins Board of Directors contemplated demolition of the old building. Recent preservation efforts, undertaken jointly by the Nevins Home and the Town of Methuen, Tenney Preservation and the Massachusetts Historical Commission have resulted in the selection of a non-profit community development company to work in partnership with them to secure a HUD grant for supportive living. The proposal is still pending in the spring of 1992.
Name: Charles Ingalls’ Worker’s House #1
Address:163 Broadway
Date: c 1840
History: Charles Ingalls, one of Methuen’s early hat manufacturers began paying real estate taxes to the town in 1835 and by 1846 was taxed for four and a half houses. On the 1846 map, he is shown owning three buildings on the west side of Broadway, including his own residence, and one on the east side, approximately on the site of 163 and 165-167 Broadway. His hat factory was located west of Broadway on the south side of the Spicket, behind All Saints Church (82 Broadway).
By 1872, there were two houses on the Ingalls’ property on the east side of Broadway, presumably 163 and 165-167 Broadway. After the death of Charles in 1882, the property passed to his son James. In 1890, Broadway between Union and Brown Streets was widened and macadamized, and two houses belonging to James Ingalls were moved out of the road. This would account for the fact that the foundations for the two houses appear to be late 19th-century. Based on exterior visual examination, it appears that 163 is the earlier house.
Originally used as a rental for worker housing, in 1902, 163 Broadway was sold to Alice Winn of Goshen, New Hampshire. The Winn family remained there for many years.
Name: Ingalls Worker’s Hse #2;
Address: 165-167 Broadway
Date: c1870
History: Charles Ingalls, one of Methuen’s early hat manufacturers began paying real estate taxes to the town in 1835 and by 1846 was taxed for four and a half houses. On the 1846 map, he is shown owning three buildings on the west side of Broadway, including his own residence, and one on the east side, approximately on the site of 163 and 165-167 Broadway. His hat factory was located west of Broadway on the south side of the Spicket, behind All Saint’s Church (82 Broadway).
By 1872, there were two houses on the Ingalls’ property on the east side of Broadway, presumably 163 and 165-167 Broadway. After the death of Charles in 1882, the property passed to his son James. In 1890, Broadway between Union and Brown Streets was widened and macadamized, and two houses belonging to James Ingalls were moved out of the road. This would account for the fact that the foundations for the two houses appear to be late 19th-century. Based on exterior visual examination, it appears that 163 is the earlier house. Originally used as a rental for worker housing, in 1901, this house was sold to T. A. Rowell.
Name: James Ingalls Block
Address: 169-175 Broadway
Date: 1899
History: According to the assessor’s records, hat manufacturer James Ingalls, whose father Charles developed the adjacent properties (163, 165-167 Broadway), built this block in 1899. In 1903 the building was valued at $2000 and sold to David F. Doyle of Lawrence. It was one of several buildings in the area sold to out of town, non-resident owners after the turn-of-the-century.
Name: Parsons/Coleman House
Address: 183-185 Broadway
Date: c 1854
History: In 1854 T. A. Parsons of Lawrence, was paying taxes on one house in Methuen. In 1861 Parson’s property was identified as a house on the turnpike lot, however Parsons was not listed in the 1860 Directory and his occupation is unknown. In the 1860 Directory, Andrew Coleman, hatter, was listed as living on Park Street and in 1864, the Parson’s property was taxed to Andrew Coleman. In 1872 and 1884, 183-185 Broadway was shown as being owned by A. Coleman, and in 1896 by C. W. Coleman. The 1885 Directory listed Charles Coleman as a hatter living on Broadway near Union. Charles Coleman built the house at 191 Broadway in 1904.
Although T. A. Parsons occupation was unknown, the Colemans were hatters like many of their neighbors, including Charles Ingalls whose hat factory was nearby on the south side of the Spicket behind All Saints Church (82 Broadway).
Name: Apartment Building
Address: 183-185 (187)Broadway rear
Date: 1970
History: In 1968 a permit was issued for construction of an 18-unit apartment building which cost $100,000 to build. The project was completed in 1970.
Name: Charles W. Coleman House
Address: 191 Broadway
Date: 1904
History: According to the assessor’s records, the house at 191 Broadway was built in by Charles W. Coleman in 1904. The new house, built on a one-acre lot, was then valued at $2500. Mr. Coleman had lived for many years at 183-185 Broadway before building the new house. He remained there, owning both houses at least until 1915.
Name: Serlo Organ Hall
Address: 192 Broadway
Date: 1899
Historic Building Survey Form Form 2 Form 3
History: Edward F. Searles acquired the old Methuen Woolen Mill near the Broadway bridge in late 1889, and established the Methuen Organ Company there in 1892. Pipe organs were a major interest for Searles, an interest which culminated in construction of the adjacent Serlo Organ Hall (192 Broadway) between 1899 and 1909. The hall, dedicated on December 9, 1909, was built to house the great Boston Music Hall organ. The Serlo outbuilding was used to store the great organ during construction of the hall. Henry Vaughan helped Searles to renovate the mill, and designed the Serlo Hall. Considering his close association with Searles, it is very likely that he designed the outbuilding as well.
Searles established the Methuen Organ Company to develop new construction techniques, to improve the standards of organ building, and to build the best organs in the United States. He worked in close cooperation with friend and colleague, organ builder James E. Treat, who for a few years controlled the company. Two other companies, the Tubular Bell Works, manufacturers of harmonic bells, and the D. M. Bruce Company, suppliers of metal pipes for organs, were also located in the old mill building under Searles aegis. Searles had two sets of harmonic bells at his estate, Pine Lodge on East Street. The organ factory was abandoned in 1942 and destroyed by fire the following year.
The Serlo Hall was rescued by Alfred C. Gaunt, who formed a non-profit corporation, the Methuen Memorial Music Hall, Inc. in 1946.
Name: Serlo Hall outbuilding
Address: 192 Broadway
Date: c. 1890
History: Edward F. Searles acquired the old Methuen Woolen Mill near the Broadway bridge in late 1889, and established the Methuen Organ Company there in 1892. Pipe organs were a major interest for Searles, an interest which culminated in construction of the adjacent Serlo Organ Hall (192 Broadway) between 1899 and 1909. The hall, dedicated on December 9, 1909, was built to house the great Boston Music Hall organ. The Serlo outbuilding was used to store the great organ during construction of the hall. Henry Vaughan helped Searles to renovate the mill, and designed the Serlo Hall. Considering his close association with Searles, it is very likely that he designed the outbuilding as well.
Name: Walgreen’s
HAddress: 201-203 Broadway
Date: 1986
History: For most of the 19th-century this was area was known as the Bodwell/ Simonds property, all of which was acquired by Edward F. Searles in 1907. Three old houses were gone from site by 1927. Two were demolished and one was moved to what is now 213 Broadway.
The 1927/1949 Sanborn map shows a large building marked Essex Casket Company on the Walgreen’s site. Between 1984 and 1986 the building valuation jumped from $3,000 to $15,600. Presumably a new structure, now housing the Walgreen’s Store, was built at that time.
Name: general office
Address: 209-211 Broadway (attached to 213 Broadway)
Date: c. 1910
History: The 1911 Sanborn map shows a two-family house numbered 209-207 Broadway and a single family numbered 205 Broadway, both of which were gone on the 1927/1949 Sanborn map. By that time, the two family had been replaced by a single-family house marked dwelling/undertaker. That house, previously # 201 Broadway, is now 213 Broadway (#246). The single-family house was replaced by a larger dwelling numbered 209-211 Broadway, which is now attached to 213 Broadway. Its original use and location are unknown. Its simple form suggests that it may have originated as a barn.
The property was later purchased by Edward E. Searles, who owned the nearby Tenney Hat factory site and other adjacent pieces of property. Although Searles moved many houses, whether or not he moved this one is unknown.
Name: Asa Simonds House
Address: 213 Broadway
Date: 1881
History: The 1911 Sanborn map shows a two-family house numbered 209-207 Broadway and a single family numbered 205 Broadway, both of which were gone on 1927/1949 Sanborn map. By that time, the two family was replaced by a single-family house marked dwelling/undertaker. That house, previously # 201 Broadway, is now 213 Broadway. (The single-family house was replaced by a larger dwelling numbered 209-211. Its original use and location is unknown.)
The house now called 213 Broadway was moved from the adjacent (S; now Walgreens), Asa Simonds estate, where there were two older houses plus the present 213. The older houses had belonged to the Simonds and Bodwell families. Simonds, listed in the 1860 Directory as a hat manufactory, married Elizabeth H. Bodwell in 1837. Daniel W. Tenney, in a paper on early manufacturing given at the Methuen Historical Society, mentions Asa Simonds and his neighbor Charles Ingalls.
In 1881, Asa Simonds built 213 Broadway, which was designed by Lawrence architect George Adams (who also designed the James Pierce House at 15 Pleasant Street). Helen Elizabeth Simonds, a bookkeeper and music teacher, inherited all houses with her father’s estate. The property was later purchased by Edward E. Searles, who owned the nearby Tenney Hat factory site and other large chunks of property in the area. The old houses were eventually torn down and the 1881 house moved to the present site at 213 Broadway. Although, Searles moved many houses, whether or not he moved this one in unknown.
Name: house
Address: 215-217 Broadway
Date: c 1890
History: In 1893, Helen E. Simonds, daughter of Asa Simonds, sold 2 1/4 acres of undeveloped land belonging to her father’s estate to builder Frank Buckminster. Buckminster built a new house at 219 Broadway which he sold with 2 acres of land in 1895 to Peter Hey of Lawrence. At the same time, he sold the house at 215-217 Broadway with 7000 square feet of land to Jesse B. Shirley, a mill operator. When and whether or not 215-217 was built by Buckminster is unknown. Its exterior appearance suggests an earlier construction date in the 1870s or 1880s; it may be one of the many buildings that were moved in central Methuen at the turn-of-the-century.
Frank Buckminster, listed in the 1896 Directory as a carpenter and builder, was also a dealer in lumber, with yards off Union Street near the Railroad (55 Union Street). According to the Methuen Transcript he began his business in 1893-1894, and by 1896 had built over forty houses.
Name: house
Address: 219 Broadway
Date: 1895
History: In 1893, Helen E. Simonds, daughter of Asa Simonds, sold 2 1/4 acres of undeveloped land belonging to her father’s estate to builder Frank Buckminster. Buckminster built a new house, 219 Broadway which he sold with 2 acres of land in 1895 to Peter Hey of Lawrence. (At the same time, he sold the house at 215-217 Broadway with 7000 square feet of land to Jesse B. Shirley.)
Frank Buckminster, listed in the 1896 Directory as a carpenter and builder, was also a dealer in lumber, with yards off Union Street near the Railroad (55 Union Street). According to the Methuen Transcript he began his business in 1893-1894 and by 1896 had built over forty houses.
Name: Selden Worsted/ Leone’s Furniture
Address: 225 Broadway
Date: 1919
History: In 1906, the Tenney Hat Factory was torn down. The Methuen Transcript took the occasion to mourn the loss of old buildings and industry, and transition of Methuen from a manufacturing to a residential community. The Tenney Factory was started by Charles H. Tenney who came to Methuen in 1869 and started a small hat manufacturing business. Tenney built a larger factory in 1872, and in 1883 sold the business to his brother J. Milton Tenney who ran the firm until he retired just after the turn-of-the-century. In good times the business employed as many as 150 operatives. After J. Milton Tenney retired, the property was acquired by Edward F. Searles. Searles had trouble finding a tenant for the property and it was demolished in 1906. The site however, did not become residential. In 1919/1920 a weaving mill was built and occupied by the Selden Worsted Mill. Selden Worsted, founded in 1903 was originally located in Lawrence. In 1920 it moved to the new mill in Methuen, designed by Charles T. Main and built by L. E. Locke and Sons of Lawrence. Selden Worsted remained in business there until 1964. Since then, the building has been occupied by Leone’s Furniture Company.
Name: Searles Bridge
Address: Broadway
Date: c. 1912
History: The bridge at the Organ Factory was one of several public works projects donated to the city by Edward F. Searles. The towers, were designed by Searles’ architect Henry Vaughan. Searles’ biographer, Stephen Barbin gives a date of 1912 for the bridge and towers.
Name: St. Monica’s Rectory
Address: 231 Broadway
Date: c 1910
Historic Building Survey Form Form 2
History: In 1919, community benefactor Edward F. Searles promised to build a new stone church and rectory for Saint Monica’s, but died in 1920 before the project could be planned. However, land adjacent to the church (see form) was deeded to Saint Monica’s by Arthur Walker, trustee for the estate of Edward F. Searles and ground breaking for a rectory took place in 1922. The rectory provided a home for the priests of Saint Monica’s who had previously resided in a large house at 4 Morrison Court.
Name: Serlo Organ Hall/ Methuen Memorial Music Hall & Outbuilding
Address: 238 Broadway
Date: 1897
History: Edward F Searles acquired the old Methuen Woolen Mill near the Broadway Bridge in late 1889, and established the Methuen Organ Company there in 1892. Pipe organs were a major interest for Searles, and an interest which culminated in construction of the adjacent Serlo Organ Hall (192) Broadway) between 1899 and 1909. the Hall, dedicated on December 9, 1909, was built to house the great Boston Music Hall organ. The Serlo outbuilding was used to store the great organ during construction of the hall. Henry Vaughan helped Searles to renovate the mill, and designed the Serlo Hall. Considering his close association with Searles, it is very likely that he designed the outbuilding as well.
Searles established the Methuen Organ Company to develop new construction techniques to improve the standards of organ building, and to build the best organs in the United States. He worked in close cooperation with friend and colleague, organ builder James E. Treat, who for a few years controlled the company. Two other companies, the Tubular Bell Works, manufacturers of harmonic bells, and the D.M. Bruce Company, suppliers of metal pipes for organs, were also located in the old mill under Searles aegis. Searles had two sets of harmonic bells at his estate, Pine Lodge on East Street. The organ factory was abandoned in 1942 and destroyed by fire the following year.
The Serlo Hall was rescued by Alfred C. Gaunt, who formed a non-profit corporation, the Methuen Memorial Music Hall, Inc in 1946.
Name: Shopping Mall
Address: 246 Broadway
Date: c. 1970
History: This mall is built on the site of a 19th-century house which in the 1880s and 1890s belonged to Samuel Pedlar who ran a black smith and carriage shop. As late as 1911 Peter F. Graham maintained a carriage factory there, but was also engaged in automobile repair. In 1949, the aerial survey photos show that the site was vacant, but in 1951 there are permits for an ice cream store and in 1967 a store/storage building. According to the computerize assessor’s records, the present building was constructed in 1983. It may incorporate part of the 1967 building.
Name: Benjamin Osgood House
Address: 248 Broadway
Date: c. 1835 Razed 2007
Historic Building Survey Form Form 2
History: Benjamin Osgood, for whom Osgood Street was named, was born in Methuen in 1764, married Polly Wilson in 1796, and died in 1837. His son, Ben, was born in 1796. Ben was first married in 1819 to Hannah Merrill and second to Clarissa Collier of Boston in 1831. Benjamin, a blacksmith, also known as Major Osgood, made purchases of land in Methuen as early as 1802/1806 and at one time owned, among other sites, a significant portion of land and water rights along the Spicket River from Osgood Street to the bridge south of the Organ Hall (192 Broadway). Various deeds up to 1835 describe the mill pond, access to the mill pond, grist, corn, and saw mills, and ownership of water rights.
The first clear record of the house at 248 Broadway is found in the deed of Benjamin to Ben (279/301) in 1835, two years before the death of Benjamin, in which he transfers to his son Ben, a dwelling house, wheelwright shop, blacksmith shop and 1/3 rights to the grist mill and saw mill. The property is not identified as Benjamin’s homestead. It may have been the son’s home, perhaps built at the time of his first marriage in 1819. A few years later, in 1839, Ben Osgood sold 2 acres with the dwelling house, barns and sheds to Jewett Jones, a teamster (313/244). At that time, he reserved the right of access to the mill pond, and made the restriction that no building could be erected nearer to the turnpike than the present house. Jewett’s daughter Elizabeth, who married Cyrus Snell in 1881, eventually inherited the house and probably made the Stick Style additions. In the early 1900s, this was one of the many properties bought up by Edward F. Searles. Thomas Redmond acquired the property from the Searles estate, Arthur Walker trustee, in 1930.
Name: Dr. Richard H. Lawlor House
Address: 251 Broadway
Date: 1909
History: The property of Amos Rollins, shoemaker and long-time Methuen resident, was bought by Edward F. Searles in 1896. It included two houses and a shop on Broadway, all of which were eventually demolished. Dr. Richard H. Lawlor bought the property in 1908 and erected a large new house valued at $8000. In November 1909, Dr. Lawlor married Miss Kathleen Murphy and moved into the new house. On the 1927 Sanborn Insurance map, the house is identified as the Broadway Hospital.
Name: Service Station
Address: 254 Broadway
Date: 1938 Razed: March 2002
History: This property began to be used for industrial purposes in the mid 19th-century. The factory which dominated the site for more than 60 years was built about 1860. It was first known as the E. M. Clark & Co. Shoe Factory and later Clark, Kent & Co. In 1884 it was taken over by the Knitted Fabrics Co. which came from Laconia, N.H., and for a short time at the turn-of-the-century it was the Methuen Hat Works. Sometime after 1911 it became the International Worsted Mills. The mill site, and adjacent house at 252 Broadway, built c. 1885 by Charles F. Swain, superintendent of the Knitted Fabrics Co., was bought in 1935 by J. Arthur Wessell. A laundry was located behind the Swain house. Wessell had previously operated a laundry at 48 Osgood Street. He continued in the laundry business at the Broadway address, and later occupied the building at 4 Gleason Street. By 1938 the old factory and the house had been torn down and Wessell’s filling station was under construction. It was one of several auto related facilities constructed in the area in the mid 20th-century.
Name: Friendly’s Restaurant
Address: 255 Broadway
Date: 1967 Razed: July 2007
History: According to computerized assessors’ records, Friendly’s was constructed in 1967, and remodeled in 1970. The lot was originally occupied by the Johnson House of c. 1811, moved to 8 Ditson Place in the mid 19th-century. Another building owned by K. C. Gleason had appeared by 1872; in 1884 it was owned by his widow. The heirs of Mary Gleason owned the lot in 1896. By that time it included two main buildings and one outbuilding. The Gleason family owned land across the street that was developed as Gleason Street in 1890.
Name: Frederick Swain House
Address: 258-260 Broadway
Date: c. 1890
History: Gleason Street was laid out c. 1890 by Charles F. Swain to provide access to the Gleason lot which he purchased in 1890. Swain subdivided the property, and built five houses on the north side of Gleason Street between 1890 and 1892. All of the houses present today are shown on the 1896 county atlas, while the 1884 atlas shows a vacant lot. Swain became involved in this area when he purchased the nearby house at 248-50 Broadway in 1886, and the adjacent factory building at 4 Gleason Street soon thereafter. 5 Gleason Street was built for his son, Frederick M. Swain. The others, which are shown on a single lot labeled C. F. Swain in 1896, appear to have been erected as rental properties, probably accommodating factory workers. Frederick Swain erected a new house at 258-60 Broadway in 1901, directly in front of 5 Gleason Street. The factory was identified as the E. M. Clark & Co. Shoe Factory in 1872, as Clark Kent & Co. in 1884, and as the Knitted Fabrics Co. in 1896. Frederick Swain was listed as the foreman of this company in the 1896 town directory.
Name: Lewis E. Barnes House
Address: 259-261 Broadway
Date: 1906
History: The house at 259-261 Broadway was built in 1906 for Lewis E. Barnes, superintendent of The Methuen Company and his wife Carrie Richardson Barnes who he married in 1890. Barnes, who started in the mills as a clerk, replaced John H. Morse as superintendent in 1890 and later became superintendent for the Pemberton Mills in Lawrence. The Barnes’ lived for many years in the Methuen Company agent’s house at 30 River Street, shown in The Town of Methuen Pictorial Souvenir (1903). In 1906, the Methuen Transcript described their new house on Broadway, built by contractor L. N. Holden of Lawrence, as having 12 rooms with all the modern conveniences, done in stucco with a red tile roof. Early photos of the house can be found in the Richard P. Iddings photo album at the Methuen Historical Museum. In 1911, the house was sold to Franz and Elizabeth Schneider. Schneider was a jeweler, who regularly ran large adds on the front page of the Methuen Transcript. His store was in Lawrence, but like many Lawrence businessmen, he made his home in Methuen.
Name: John T. Douglas House
Address: 262-264 Broadway
Date: 1909
History: Undertaker John T. Douglas, who had been in business since 1860, moved from Osgood Street to the John Jones property at 262-264 Broadway in 1890. In 1909, he replaced the old house, which dated from the mid-nineteenth century, with a large new stucco, two-family house valued at $6000. Two old buildings behind the house were retained, although their original character has been totally obscured. Building #1 at the rear was the mortuary-built c. 1890. Building #2, originally a barn or shop, was built sometime between 1872 and 1884. Douglas had two sons, C. Walter and Frank who joined him in business and thereafter the firm was known as J. T. Douglas and Sons.
Name: Moses Merrill/Dr. George Woodbury House
Address: 265 Broadway
Date: c. 1806
History: The original owner of this 1806 Turnpike house is not known. In the 1830s and 1840s it was owned by Moses Merrill, who in 1842 is taxed for a house, barn, store, and 60 acres of land. In a reminiscence written in 1905, William Barnes also states that this was the home of Moses Merrill. According to the Vital Records, Moses Merrill, a merchant, died of consumption in 1849 at the age of 49 years. In 1865, assessor’s records indicate that the widow of Moses Merrill sold the house at 265 Broadway to Dr. George E. Woodbury.
Dr. Woodbury was born in Bedford, New Hampshire in 1838 and graduated from Dartmouth in 1859. He took up residence in Methuen in 1865 and remained in practice from 1866 until his death in 1909. His activities were often reported in the Methuen Transcript as he delivered babies, tended the sick, and cared for accident victims at the mills.
Name: Gage/Sanborn House
Address: 266 Broadway
Date: c. 1845
History: According to the reminiscences of William Barnes, which were reported in the Methuen Transcript in 1905, the house at 266 Broadway belonged to Frank Gage in 1845. The house is one of several acquired by Varnum Corliss in 1863, and was sold by Corliss in 1889 to John C. Sanborn, a furnace manufacturer. Sanborn had a manufacturing shop on Sanborn Court, which ran from Osgood Street behind his house. He advertised in the Methuen Transcript which regularly reported placement of Sanborn Furnaces in new construction including the Philips Chapel at the Congregational Church. As late as 1936, a son, Varnum C. Sanborn was proprietor of the Sanborn Furnace Company.
Name: Gable End
Address: 268 Broadway
Date: c. 1842
History: According to the reminiscences of William Barnes, in 1845 Alva Bennett owned and lived in the house at 268 Broadway and had a tin shop in the building next door where the Post Office now stands at 272 Broadway. Another reminiscence, “Methuen in 1850” by Mary Marston, says that Miss E. P. Richardson had a fancy millinery shop in this house which was opposite Dr. Woodbury’s house (265 Broadway).
Assessor’s records show that Abiah Richardson owned half a house on Broadway beginning in 1842. Based on Barnes’ record for accuracy, it is presumed the other half of the house was owned by Alva Bennett. By 1851, Abiah Richardson owned one and a half houses and in the 1860 Directory, his widow, Mrs. E. P. Richardson was listed as a milliner, with a house on Main (now Broadway). In 1879 the heirs of Abiah Richardson sold to Nancy Sawyer, wife of George W. Sawyer, bookkeeper and paymaster at the Methuen Company. Mrs. G. W. Sawyer still owned the house in 1896. In 1906 the house was owned by Carrie Barnes who managed the Red Tavern.
Name: James S. Dodge Store/ Turnpike Building
Address: 271 Broadway
Date: 1879
Historic Building Survey Form Form 2
History: 271 Broadway was built in 1879 for James S. Dodge by local builder M. G. Copp. Earlier buildings on this site, including the so-called Hoyte House, were torn down and parts removed at this time. James S. Dodge and Son, Grocers, were located at 271 Broadway until 1901, when the building was purchased by Edward F. Searles. In 1904 Searles moved the J. G. Frederick house from the south side of Park Street and added it to the Dodge building, which for a time was known as the Turnpike Hotel. Subsequent occupants/owners included the Methuen National Bank and the Methuen Hotel and Tavern. The building originally housed an Odd Fellows Hall, which according to the newspaper, was frescoed by the firm of Austin and Blake of Haverhill and decorated in a very fine manner. This room was in use until the Odd Fellows built their own building at 5-7 Hampshire Street in 1899.
James S. Dodge was born in 1826 in New Boston, N. H. He and his family lived for a time in Andover and came to Methuen in the 1860s. In 1866 he purchased Samuel Webster’s grocery business, then lodged in the Methuen Company Store building at 42-46 Hampshire Street. Dodge’s business prospered and in 1879 he erected the store at 271 Broadway, where he and his son Selwin, catered to a large trade. In 1891 they installed electric lighting and in 1893 they employed 7 clerks and kept 4 teams. An advertisement in the 1896 directory declared them to be dealers in fine groceries, teas, coffees, spices, hardware, cutlery, farming and garden tools, seeds, lawn mowers, King Arthur flour, a variety of choice dairy products, and Moxie Nerve Food. James was a prominent member of the community, as was his son Selwin who served as a member of the Board of Selectmen and a member and officer of the Republican Town Committee. James died August 3,1906.
Name: Post Office
Address: 272 Broadway
Date: 1963
History: A house said to have been built in the 18th-century originally stood on this corner. It was purchased by Varnum Corliss, moved back from the corner, and replaced by a commercial building, one of several in the area owned by Corliss. The Corliss buildings have since been demolished. On the site now is a U. S. Post Office. Permits indicate that is was constructed in 1963 at a cost of $70,000.
Name: Exchange Hotel
Address: 275 Broadway
Date: 1851/1906
Historic Building Survey Form Form 2
History: The first Exchange Hotel, at one time also known as Low’s Hotel, was built on this site in 1807 to serve travelers on the 1806 Essex Turnpike (Broadway). The major Broadway/Hampshire intersection was originally called Exchange Square, demonstrating the importance of this building. Fire destroyed the original building in 1857 along with the hotel stables, two other livery stables, five houses and most of the Currier building across the street (300 Broadway) which was burned to the first floor. The 1860 Directory lists Alvah Kimball as the landlord of the Methuen Hotel. This hotel was acquired by Silas Q. Hersey in 1873, who operated it until his death in 1891. The building, which had for many years been the home of the Methuen Club, was acquired by Edward F. Searles in 1897, and remodeled in 1906 for use by the Y.M.C.A and again in 1915 as the Masonic Temple. A plaque on the building describes the dedication to Edward’s father Jesse G. Searles.
According to Barbin, remodeling of the Exchange Hotel was done according to plans by Searles’ architect Henry Vaughan. Vaughan altered the roof line making it flat, (probably changing the old gable to the present hip). He added the tower at the north end and made a gymnasium on the second floor. The exterior was stuccoed and embellished with classical details. Changes in 1915 were mostly internal.
Name: Merrimack Valley National Bank of Haverhill
Address: 276 Broadway
Date: 1963
History: A 19th-century commercial building was demolished to make way for the Merrimack Valley National Bank building constructed on this site. It was built in 1963, in the same year as the Post Office, at a cost of $125,000. A drive-up window and night deposit vault were added in 1974 and in 1980 the location of the drive up window was changed. Most recently, the building used by the Home Federal Savings Bank. It is now vacant in 1992.
Name: G. B. Emmons House
Address: 283 Broadway
Date: c. 1890
History: This house represents the “standard” Shingle Style version of merchants’ and businessmen’s houses built by Methuen and Lawrence carpenters at the turn of the century. This one is of particular importance because of its location in the town center. G. B. Emmons, the first owner, was president of Emmons Loom Harness Company in Lawrence. It possesses integrity of location, design, setting, materials and workmanship and meets the criteria of the National Register of Historic Places.
Name:
Address: 285-287 Broadway
Date: c. 1830
History: Integral to the character and architectural development off the neighborhood.
Name: Old Town Hall
Address: 290 Broadway
Date: c. 1853
History: Centralization of economic activity around the Methuen Cotton Mills (47 Osgood Street), built in the 1820s at the Spicket River falls, and the rise in smaller local businesses that manufactured hats and shoes, caused the town center to shift to the area around Osgood Street, Hampshire Street, and Broadway. Town meetings were held in the First Church, Congregational, which moved its meeting house to 30 Pleasant Street in 1832, and by the 1850s the town had grown sufficiently to require construction of a Town Hall. Prominently situated at the corner of Broadway and Osgood Street, the Town Hall was built in 1853, on the site of Rufus Howe’s blacksmith shop. The Methuen National Bank had its offices in the first floor of the town hall from 1853 until 1911 when the bank relocated to space across the street in the former Dodge Store (271 Broadway). Before construction of the new Central Fire Station in 1899 (24 Lowell Street), the hook and ladder and hose wagon were stored in the basement of the town hall. The building functioned as the town hall until 1959 when the present municipal building was constructed on the site of the Nevins Estate on Hampshire Street.
Significant repairs were made to the front wall of the building in 1882, and in 1883 fifteen gas chandeliers were installed, greatly improving the lighting in the hall. Significant alterations were made in 1930 when the meeting hall was cutup into office space and Colonial Revival exterior detail was added. The architect for these alterations was John H. Feugill; Louis C. Cyr was the contractor.
Name: Methuen Museum
Address: 299 Broadway
Date: 1917 Razed 1999
History: According to the assessor’s records, the house at 299 Broadway that fronted directly on Broadway, was valued at $500 in 1917. That year it was sold to Harriet F. Nevins, who transferred the house and land to the Nevins Memorial Library the following year. This was the same house, valued at $500, which belonged to Robert Moffat in 1901. The present building, which does not appear on the 1911 or 1919 Sanborn Insurance map, but does appear on the 1927 Sanborn map connected to the original house by an angled hall, was added after 1919. The original house which fronted directly on Broadway has since been removed. The present house became the Methuen Historical Society in 1982. A photo of a one-story cottage that closely resembles the present house, states that the house at the corner of Broadway and High Street was moved next to the house at 299 Broadway, that the old house was taken down, and that it is now the museum. In 1872, the house at High and Broadway was owned by T. Emerson. This appears to be one of the many houses in central Methuen that have been moved.
Name: Currier Block
Address: 300 Broadway
Date: c. 1845
History: Prominently sited beside the Town Hall and opposite the Exchange Hotel, the small block at 300 Broadway has had many changes. William Barnes in his reminiscences written in 1905 mentions the Waldo Block, c. 1845, and says that it once had a two-story piazza. The same block was later known as the Currier Building and a description of the fire which devastated the Exchange Square area in 1849 says that that building was burned to the first floor and later rebuilt. In 1879, the Methuen Transcript reported the Currier Building was being remodeled with rooms for a social club. The 1882 Bird’s Eye View of Methuen shows a three story, four bay building with a porch. The Sanborn Insurance atlas from 1885 shows a three story, four bay building, housing a drug store, barber shop, meat shop, etc., with a Masonic hall on the third floor. The footprint and building description remained the same on the Sanborn map until after 1927. Between 1927 and 1949, the two bays nearest the Town Hall were removed. More recent changes include the removal of the third story.
George A. Waldo and Almira Bodwell were married in Methuen in 1823 and lived at 233 Lawrence Street. In a reminiscence in the Methuen Transcript written in 1883, Rev. Henry Jewell said that Waldo came from Vermont, was engaged in the shoe business in the early 1830s, and did much to build up the village. Daniel Currier was born in Methuen in 1808. He first engaged in the currying and tanning business and later in shoe manufacturing. He bought the Waldo Block after the fire, and after extensive repairs did business there until the Civil War when his business failed. His house once stood at the corner of Lawrence and Park Streets and is now part of 16 Ditson Place. Currier died in 1889.
Name:Nevins Memorial Library
Address:305 Broadway
Date:c. 1883
Historic Building Survey Form Form 2 Form 3
History: The Nevins Library is significant as a well-preserved institutional building, the only public/private library in Methuen. It was built as a result of the philanthropy of the family of mill owner David Nevins and was designed by a recognized architect, Samuel J. F. Thayer.
This building was donated to Methuen by the Nevins family, who are associated with the development of the Methuen Cotton Mills, the infamous Pemberton mill of Lawrence, and numerous ventures, including Nevins Park, a residential section near the Library grounds. The Library on a landscaped tract with many imported trees and botanical specimens, The Nevins family graves are at the rear of the library, marked by a boulder and plaque. An 1896 statue by C. Moretti titled, “Angel of Life,” is situated near the grave site.
The Nevins Library possesses integrity of location, design, setting, materials, and workmanship and meets the criteria of the National Register of Historic Places
Name:
Address: 306 Broadway (at High Street)
Date: c. 1830
History: This building is significant as one of the best-preserved Greek Revival houses in or near central Methuen, and is representative of housing constructed during the first period of industrial development, 1825-1860. It is situated along the 1806 Essex Turnpike, now Broadway, and among its 19th century owners were several generations of the the Silver family, most of whom were shoemakers.
306 Broadway possesse integrity of location, design, setting, materials, and workmanship and meets the criteria of the National Register of Historic Places
Name: Nevins Farm and Equine Center
Address: 400 Broadway
Date: c. 1917
Historic Building Survey Form
History: Nevins Farm and Equine Centre was the first MSPCA animal shelter to be established outside of Boston. The land, which had been a working farm, was given to the MSPCA in 1917 by the Nevins family. A small animal shelter was established immediately, followed in the 1920s and 30s by all of the other buildings with the exception of the crematory, which was constructed in 1971. Principally a shelter for farm animals, Nevins Farm cares for such animals as rabbits, goats, dogs, cats, chickens, cows, sheep and horses.
Brown Street
Name:
Address: 1 Brown Street
Date: c. 1880
History: Representative housing type in the Arlington District, a historic millworkers’ neighborhood.
Name:
Address: 19 Brown Street
Date: c. 1880
History: Representative housing type in the Arlington District, a historic millworkers’ neighborhood. One of three similar adjacent dwellings, integral to the visual character of the Neighborhood.
Name: Urias Hardy House
Address: 50 Brown Street
Date: c. 1900
History: The Urias Hardy House is significant as an example of the single-family dwellings constructed in Methuen’s newly developing areas at the turn of the century for individuals such as Hardy, an overseer at the nearby Arlington Mills. In contrast to the worker’s houses of the Arlington District directly to the south, the Hardy House was built during a period when Methuen became established as a “bedroom” town for nearby Lawrence, and is associated with the last period of single-family house building prior to World War II.
The Hardy House possesses integrity of location, design, setting, materials, and workmanship and meets the criteria of the National Register of Historic Places
Name:
Address: 71 Brown Street
Date: c. 1880
History: Representative housing type in the Arlington District, a historic millworkers’ neighborhood. One of three similar adjacent dwellings, integral to the visual character of the Neighborhood.