The Leverett Center Historic District is an expansive

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 heart of the rural community of Leverett in eastern Franklin County, Massachusetts. The district is focused on a two-mile stretch of Depot and Montague Roads, at whose center is the civic heart of the town. It includes the 1838 Greek Revival First Congregational Church, the town hall, whose present form was achieved in 1895 by raising the 1845 construction and building a first floor underneath it, and the Colonial Revival Field Memorial Library (1916). It also includes a town pound (a stone-walled pen for stray livestock) built c. 1822, and a number of 18th century residences. 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 2008. Leverett was first settled in the late 17th century as part of

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

, and was separately incorporated in 1774. Its town center, located at the junction of Depot, Montague, and Shutesbury Roads, arose by the placement there of the community's first

meeting house A meeting house (meetinghouse, meeting-house) is a building where religious and sometimes public meetings take place. Terminology Nonconformist Protestant denominations distinguish between a * church, which is a body of people who believe in Chr ...

not long after incorporation. The oldest surviving residences in the center date to about 1750. Its single largest period of growth lasted until about 1830, which included construction of the town's first school c. 1800 (94 Depot Road), and the town pound. Modest growth continued in the mid-19th century, when a railroad line was run nearby. This provided the impetus for some small-scale industrial activity, evidence of which survives in a single modest wood-frame factory building.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Buildings and structures in Franklin County, Massachusetts Georgian architecture in Massachusetts National Register of Historic Places in Franklin County, Massachusetts Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Leverett, Massachusetts

See also

References