Amherst Central Business District
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Amherst Central Business District
The Amherst Central Business District is a historic district encompassing the heart of downtown Amherst, Massachusetts. Centered on the northern section of the long town common, the area has been the civic and commercial heart of the town since the 18th century. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991, and slightly enlarged in 2011. Description and history Amherst was originally part of Hadley, settled in 1661, and was itself known to have colonial settlements by 1728. It was incorporated in 1768. Its earliest focal point of settlement was in what is now its commercial business district, at the junction of Main and Pleasant Streets. No buildings surviving from this early date; the oldest house in the area is the Strong House, built in 1774 by Simeon Strong. Only a few buildings predate 1838, when a major fire devastated the downtown area. As a consequence of that and later fires, the character of the commercial buildings in the distri ...
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Amherst, Massachusetts
Amherst () is a New England town, town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Connecticut River valley. As of the 2020 census, the population was 39,263, making it the highest populated municipality in Hampshire County (although the county seat is Northampton, Massachusetts, Northampton). The town is home to Amherst College, Hampshire College, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst, three of the Five College Consortium, Five Colleges. The name of the town is pronounced without the ''h'' ("AM-erst") by natives and long-time residents, giving rise to the local saying, "only the 'h' is silent", in reference both to the pronunciation and to the town's politically active populace. Amherst has three census-designated places: Amherst Center, Massachusetts, Amherst Center, North Amherst, Massachusetts, North Amherst, and South Amherst, Massachusetts, South Amherst. Amherst is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield metropolitan area, Massachusetts, Metr ...
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Historic District (United States)
Historic districts in the United States are designated historic districts recognizing a group of buildings, Property, properties, or sites by one of several entities on different levels as historically or architecturally significant. Buildings, structures, objects and sites within a historic district are normally divided into two categories, Contributing property, contributing and non-contributing. Districts vary greatly in size: some have hundreds of structures, while others have just a few. The U.S. federal government designates historic districts through the United States Department of the Interior, United States Department of Interior under the auspices of the National Park Service. Federally designated historic districts are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, but listing usually imposes no restrictions on what property owners may do with a designated property. U.S. state, State-level historic districts may follow similar criteria (no restrictions) or may req ...
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National Register Of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic value". A property listed in the National Register, or located within a National Register Historic District, may qualify for tax incentives derived from the total value of expenses incurred in preserving the property. The passage of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) in 1966 established the National Register and the process for adding properties to it. Of the more than one and a half million properties on the National Register, 95,000 are listed individually. The remainder are contributing resources within historic districts. For most of its history, the National Register has been administered by the National Park Service (NPS), an agency within the U.S. Department of the Interior. Its goals are to help property owners and inte ...
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Hadley, Massachusetts
Hadley (, ) is a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 5,325 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The area around the Hampshire and Mountain Farms Malls along Route 9 is a major shopping destination for the surrounding communities. History Early Hadley was first settled in 1659 and was officially incorporated in 1661. The former Norwottuck was renamed for Hadleigh, Suffolk. Its settlers were primarily a discontented group of families from the Puritan colonies of Hartford and Wethersfield, Connecticut, who petitioned to start a new colony up north after some controversy over doctrine in the local church. The settlement was led by John Russell. The first settler inside of Hadley was Nathaniel Dickinson, who surveyed the streets of what is now Hadley, Hatfield, and Amherst. At the time, Hadley encompassed a wide radius of land on both sides of the Connecticut River (but mostly on ...
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Strong House (Amherst, Massachusetts)
The Strong House is a historic house at 67 Amity Street in Amherst, Massachusetts. Built about 1744, it is one of Amherst's oldest surviving houses, and a fine example of mid-18th century Connecticut River Valley architecture. It was given to the Amherst Historical Society in 1916. It currently houses the Amherst History Museum. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984, and included in the Amherst Central Business District in 1991. Description and history The Strong House is located just west of the commercial center of Amherst, set well back from the north side of Amity Street at Prospect Street. It is a -story wood-frame structure, with a gambrel roof and clapboarded exterior. Its main facade is five bays wide, with a center entrance sheltered by a gabled portico. The first-floor windows are capped by projecting cornices, and the steep roof face is pierced by two gabled dormers. Although it was first built about 1744, much of its present a ...
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Amherst College
Amherst College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zephaniah Swift Moore, Amherst is the third oldest institution of higher education in Massachusetts. The institution was named after the town, which in turn had been named after Jeffery, Lord Amherst, Commander-in-Chief of British forces of North America during the French and Indian War. Originally established as a men's college, Amherst became coeducational in 1975. Amherst is an exclusively undergraduate four-year institution; 1,971 students were enrolled in fall 2021. Admissions is highly selective, and it frequently ranks at or near the top in most rankings of liberal arts schools. Students choose courses from 41 major programs in an open curriculum and are not required to study a core curriculum or fulfill any distribution requirements; students may also design their own interdisciplinary major. Amherst competes ...
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UMass Amherst
The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, it is the flagship and the largest campus in the University of Massachusetts system, as well as the first established. It is also a member of the Five College Consortium, along with four other colleges in the Pioneer Valley: Amherst College, Smith College, Mount Holyoke College, and Hampshire College. As of Fall 2022, UMass Amherst has an annual enrollment of more than 32,000 students, along with approximately 1,900 faculty members. It is the largest university in Massachusetts by campus size and second largest university by enrollment in Massachusetts, after Boston University. The university offers academic degrees in 109 undergraduate, 77 master's and 48 doctoral programs. Programs are coordinated in nine schools and colleges. The Universit ...
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Dickinson Historic District
The Dickinson Historic District is a historic district in Amherst, Massachusetts. Its centerpiece is the Emily Dickinson Home, a National Historic Landmark. The district boundaries encompass Main and Lessey Streets, east of Amherst center, from their junction eastward to Gray Street and the Amherst railroad station, which marks the eastern end of the district. In addition to a number of properties on Main and Lessey Streets, the district also includes Sweetser Park and contributing properties on Tyler Place as well as Triangle, Gray and Kellogg Streets. The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977. It was designated because of its architecture, and its connection with the locally influential Dickinson family, who (in addition to renowned poet Emily Dickinson) were a locally influential family with roots dating back to early colonial times. The Emily Dickinson House, built in 1813, is the oldest house within the district, with prominence beyon ...
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East Village Historic District (Amherst, Massachusetts)
The East Village Historic District is a historic district encompassing the center of the East Village of Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. It includes properties on Main Street, North East Street, and South East Street. The village was one of Amherst's principal civic and commercial centers until the arrival of the railroad in Amherst Center in 1853, and remained a primarily residential area thereafter. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. Description and history Amherst was settled in the early 18th century and incorporated out of Hadley in 1759. Its first meeting house was built near what is now Amherst Center, but a second parish was established at East Village in 1783. East Village benefited economically from industry on the Fort River, just to the east of the village center, and flourished in the first half of the 19th century, with a number of cottage industries operating in it or nearby. Amherst Center benefited from th ...
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Cushman Village Historic District
The Cushman Village Historic District is a historic district encompassing a portion of the Cushman Village area of Amherst, Massachusetts, which was a significant mill village during the 19th century. It is centered on the triangle formed by Bridge, Henry, and Pine Streets in northeastern Amherst, and arose because of the presence of falls on the Mill River, whose water power was harnessed for mills as early as the mid-18th century. Two houses survive from the colonial period. The village, although it was defined for many years by the (mainly wood-frame) mills, no longer has any industrial buildings, as they were demolished or destroyed by fire. Most of the houses in the district were built before 1860, the peak of the village's industrial activity. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992. Description and history Cushman Village is located in northeastern Amherst, in an area where the plains of the Connecticut River to the west give way ...
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North Amherst Center Historic District
The North Amherst Center Historic District encompasses the center of North Amherst, part of the town of Amherst, Massachusetts. It is a well-preserved example of a traditional farming village, centered at the five-way junction of Meadow, Pine, and North Pleasant Streets, and Sunderland and Montague Roads. The area developed as a village center in the early 19th century, and has been relatively little-changed since the late 19th century. The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1991. Description and history The crossroads at the center of North Amherst took shape in the mid-18th century, when the area was still part of Hadley. The area had been surveyed in 1739, with land divisions for farming resulting in its creation. A grist mill was located on the Mill River a short way north of the center. By the early 19th century there was a small cluster of buildings around the junction, and by 1833 there were a church, school, and tavern, as well as p ...
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South Amherst Common Historic District
The South Amherst Common Historic District encompasses the village common and surrounding buildings of South Amherst, Massachusetts. This area developed as a rural residential village hub in the 18th and 19th centuries. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995. Description and history The town of Amherst was settled as part of Hadley in the early 18th century, and was separately incorporated in 1759. The South Amherst Common, also known as Fiddlers Green, was formed out of a road junction created in 1760 by laying out the southern portion of what is now South East Street, the northern portion and Middle Street having been laid out in 1703. The first house known to be built facing what is now the common was built about 1742 by Nathaniel Coleman, and still stands at 1055 South East Street, at the south end of the common; a second 18th century house, the Jonathan Dickinson House, dates from around 1750 and faces the common from the southwest at 445 Sha ...
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