The Lower Main Street Historic District of

Lee, Massachusetts Lee is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts, metropolitan statistical area. The population was 5,788 at the 2020 census. Lee, which includes the villages of South and East Lee, is p ...

encompasses the historic center of the town. It is centered on the junction of Main and Park Streets, where the center of the town was laid out when it was established in 1760. Although a meeting house was erected on this site, that structure was torn down, and the space was converted into a

town common Common land is land owned by a person or collectively by a number of persons, over which other persons have certain common rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect wood, or to cut turf for fuel. A person who has a ...

, a function it continues to serve today. The district also includes a portion of the business district, running along Main Street. 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 1976.

Description and history

The town of Lee was settled in 1760 and incorporated in 1777. Its economy in the early 19th century grew on the basis of paper manufacturing, which was augmented in the 1850s by the addition of

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite. Marble is typically not Foliation (geology), foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the ...

quarrying; the town's marble was used in high-profile projects including the

United States Capitol The United States Capitol, often called The Capitol or the Capitol Building, is the seat of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, which is formally known as the United States Congress. It is located on Capitol Hill ...

and the

Washington Monument The Washington Monument is an obelisk shaped building within the National Mall in Washington, D.C., built to commemorate George Washington, once commander-in-chief of the Continental Army (1775–1784) in the American Revolutionary War and the ...

. Most of its paper mills were destroyed by flooding in 1886. In the 20th century, the town's economy transitioned to be largely based on tourism. The town center, centered on the junction of Main and Park Streets, is reflective of its 19th-century period of economic prosperity. The historic district's visual focus is the oval town park at the northeast corner of Park and Main Streets. It is the site of the town's first church, built in 1780, and is now overlooked by the Romanesque First Congregational Church, built in 1858. Also facing the park is the 1874 Memorial Hall, which houses town offices and court facilities and serves as its 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 policies ...

dead. Extending north from the park are a series of mainly masonry commercial buildings, most of which were built between 1850 and 1900, often by businessmen associated either with the marble or papermaking business. Native Lee marble is also seen in several of the district's buildings, including the public library.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts National Register of Historic Places in Berkshire County, Massachusetts Romanesque Revival architecture in Massachusetts Historic districts in Berkshire County, Massachusetts Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Lee, Massachusetts

Description and history

See also

References