The Bigelow Tavern Historic District is a historic district in
West Boylston, Massachusetts
West Boylston is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States and a northern suburb of Worcester, Massachusetts, Worcester. The population was 7,877 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. West Boylston includes the village of ...
. It consists of a cluster of three buildings: Bigelow Tavern, the White/Gibbs Store, and Temple's Distillery. The buildings have a history of common ownership, and the area was locally important from the late 18th century into the late 19th century.
The district was added to 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 artistic v ...
in 1992.
Description and history
The Bigelow Tavern and its associated properties are located in the village center of West Boylston, north of the town common on either side of Worcester Street (Massachusetts Routes
12 and
140 140 may refer to:
* 140 (number), an integer
* AD 140, a year of the Julian calendar
* 140 BC, a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar
* ''140'' (video game), a 2013 platform game
* Tin King stop
Tin King () is an at-grade MTR Light Rail stop ...
). On the east side of the road stands the tavern, a -story wood-frame structure, three bays wide, with a side gable roof, central chimney, and clapboard siding. The building is oriented facing south, toward the cemetery, and has a single-story ell extending to the east, joining it to a -story shed. Across the street from the tavern stands a former distillery associated with the tavern; it appears as a three-bay -story Cape facing east. Although it has been converted to residential use, it retains a number of interior feature that appear to be distinctive to its original use as a distillery. North of the distillery stands the tavern store, a -story wood-frame structure, with a five-bay front facade and central entry. Its interior is arranged with a large room in the front, and smaller rooms in the rear flanking a central staircase.
[
The town of West Boylston was settled in the 18th century, and was incorporated in 1808 out of parts of neighboring towns. Its town common was laid out in 1795, when its first church was built, and it is around those that its village center grew. The Bigelow properties were built between about 1790 and 1810, and effectively functioned as the town's first commercial center. Ezra Bigelow was the first operator of the tavern, and members of his family and its descendants would operate it until 1833. The distillery, also an early operation, probably fell victim to the growing ]temperance movement
The temperance movement is a social movement promoting temperance or complete abstinence from consumption of alcoholic beverages. Participants in the movement typically criticize alcohol intoxication or promote teetotalism, and its leaders emph ...
. All of the businesses depended to some degree on the sale of alcohol, and were likely harmed by a decision to relocate the church further south after it burned down in 1832.[
]
See also
*
References
{{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts
Historic districts in Worcester County, Massachusetts
National Register of Historic Places in Worcester County, Massachusetts
Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts