The Belchertown Center Historic District is a

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from ce ...

which encompasses the historic village center of

Belchertown, Massachusetts Belchertown (previously known as Cold Spring and Belcher's Town) is a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 15,350 at the 2020 censu ...

. Centered on Belchertown's common, the district includes 55 contributing properties along South Main Street, Maple Street, and a few adjacent streets. It was listed on the

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 artist ...

in 1982. The centerpiece of the district is the Belchertown common. The common features a bandstand, built in the 19th century, a memorial to the town's

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polic ...

fallen, a cannon and flagpole, and a small parking lot. It is lined with 24 wood frame and 3 brick houses. Most of these buildings date to the 18th and early 19th century, and exhibit Georgian and

Federal Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to: Politics General *Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies *Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...

styling. Buildings arrayed on South Main Street were built mostly from the middle of the 19th century to its end. Most of them have

Greek Revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but a ...

styling, but this portion of the district contains the only notable examples of

Queen Anne architecture The Queen Anne style of British architecture refers to either the English Baroque architecture of the time of Queen Anne (who reigned from 1702 to 1714) or the British Queen Anne Revival form that became popular during the last quarter of the ...

, as well as th
Clapp Memorial Library
designed by H.F. Kilburn. Along Maple Street most of the houses are also of the same period, although there are also some that date to early in the 20th century. Maple Street also features Belchertown's only stone house (home of th
Belchertown Historical Association
and its only

Carpenter Gothic Carpenter Gothic, also sometimes called Carpenter's Gothic or Rural Gothic, is a North American architectural style-designation for an application of Gothic Revival architectural detailing and picturesque massing applied to wooden structure ...

building, the 1886 Towne House. The district includes both Belchertown's Old Town Hall (c. 1865, Greek Revival), and its "new" one, Lawrence Memorial Hall (1923, Gothic revival). There are three churches in the district: the Congregational Church (the town's oldest church, c. 1789–92), a Methodist church building moved from

Springfield Springfield may refer to: * Springfield (toponym), the place name in general Places and locations Australia * Springfield, New South Wales (Central Coast) * Springfield, New South Wales (Snowy Monaro Regional Council) * Springfield, Queenslan ...

in 1872, and a Roman Catholic church (built as a second Congregational meeting house in 1836 after a schism).

References

{{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Historic districts in Hampshire County, Massachusetts National Register of Historic Places in Hampshire County, Massachusetts Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Belchertown, Massachusetts

See also

References