The Canton Corner 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 c ...
encompassing the historic town center of
Canton, Massachusetts
Canton is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 24,370 at the 2020 census. Canton is part of Greater Boston, about 15 miles (24 kilometers) southwest of downtown Boston.
Hist ...
. Centered on the junction of Pleasant and Washington Streets, it includes more than 25 properties and , whose architectural history spans 250 years of occupation and include the town's major civic buildings. 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 ...
on September 9, 2009.
Description and history
The town of Canton, located south of
Boston, Massachusetts, was first settled in the 17th century by English colonial settlers involved in the
Ponkapoag
Ponkapoag , also Punkapaug, Punkapoag, or Punkapog, is the name of a Native American "praying town" settled in the late 17th century western Blue Hills area of eastern Massachusetts by persons who had accepted Christianity. It was established in ...
native "
praying town
Praying towns were a settlements established by British colonization of the Americas, English colonial governments in New England from 1646 to 1675 in an effort to convert local Native Americans in the United States, Native Americans to Christiani ...
", but its center of development moved to the southwest in the 18th century due to the higher quality of farmland there. Washington Street, the main east-west road through the district, was laid out in 1700 and Pleasant Street in 1723, running south from Washington Street across a dam that impounded Pequid Brook, the southern extent of the district, to form Reservoir Pond. The town's first
colonial meetinghouse was built at Canton Corner in 1707, and its town hall was built there in 1824.
The district extends from east to west along Washington Street, from Dedham Street to the Canton Corner Cemetery, and south along Pleasant Street to Pequid Brook. The district includes housing spanning more than 250 years of architectural styles, from Georgian (e.g. the c. 1725 David Tilden House at 93 Pleasant Street) to the Craftsman/Bungalow style (e.g. the 1905 Bessie Estey House at 1452 Washington Street). Its oldest public building is the 1824 First Congregational Parish Church, built in 1824; it is a late Federal period building with both Greek and Gothic Revival features. A particularly fine example of Italianate architecture is the John Williams House at 18 Dedham Street.
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Gallery
File:Pleasant Street, Canton MA 01.jpg, House on Pleasant Street
File:Pleasant Street, Canton MA 02.jpg, House on Pleasant Street
File:Reservoir Pond, Canton, MA.jpg, Reservoir Pond
See also
*
References
{{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts
Historic districts in Norfolk County, Massachusetts
Canton, Massachusetts
National Register of Historic Places in Norfolk County, Massachusetts
Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts