Case's Corner Historic District is a residential, civic, and rural

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 ...

in the geographic center of

Weston, Massachusetts Weston is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, about 15 miles west of Boston. At the time of the 2020 United States Census, the population of Weston was 11,851. Weston was incorporated in 1713, and protectio ...

. The district is centered on the four-way intersection of School, Wellesley, Newton and Ash Streets in

, and runs mainly along Wellesley Street, which runs north-south through the district between the centers of Weston and Wellesley. The district encompasses a pastoral landscape managed by Marian Case, a horticulturalist and landscape preservationist. One of its central features is the Case Estates, a property bequested by Case to

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

that once served as a nursery for Boston's

Arnold Arboretum The Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University is a botanical research institution and free public park, located in the Jamaica Plain and Roslindale neighborhoods of Boston, Massachusetts. Established in 1872, it is the oldest public arboretum in N ...

. The district 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 artistic v ...

in 2002.

Description and history

The multi-junction intersection of Wellesley, School, Newton, and Ash Streets is located near the geographic center of Weston, a sprawling suburb of Boston, Massachusetts. To the west and north of this junction is a cluster of civic buildings, including several schools and former school buildings, as well as the Weston Public Library. East of this cluster and north of the junction is a residential area of late 19th and early 20th century houses that is bounded on the north by

United States Route 20 U.S. Route 20 or U.S. Highway 20 (US 20) is an east–west United States Numbered Highway that stretches from the Pacific Northwest east to New England. The "0" in its route number indicates that US 20 is a major coast-to-coast route. S ...

, which forms the historic district's northern boundary. East of the junction is town-owned open land that is partially occupied by Land's Sake Farm, but is generally preserved by the town as open space. To the south and southwest are lands that made up a significant portion of the former Case Estate, some which are now owned by

. Included in these lands are the Case Estates, west of Wellesley Street, which served as a nursery for the Harvard-owned

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, but are now under negotiations to be acquired by the town. The core of the historic district is a landscape mostly developed and preserved by Marian Case. Her father, James Case, was a wealthy Boston businessman who purchased land here in 1869, and in 1889 built the large Shingle style mansion at 89 Wellesley Street. After James Case died in 1907, Marian established what became known has Hillcrest Gardens, a model market garden property which she used to educate and train a generation of horticulturalists, and to bring an appreciation of the vanishing rural landscapes to the town's children. In addition to the garden property, she purchased adjacent farm properties, preserving their farmhouses and outbuildings. The Hillcrest garden property was bequested to Harvard upon her death in 1944.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Historic districts in Middlesex County, Massachusetts Buildings and structures in Weston, Massachusetts National Register of Historic Places in Middlesex County, Massachusetts Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts

Description and history

See also

References