The Old Third District Courthouse in

New Bedford New Bedford (Massachusett: ) is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts. It is located on the Acushnet River in what is known as the South Coast region. Up through the 17th century, the area was the territory of the Wampanoag Native American pe ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, is located at the corner of Second and William streets. It was built in 1853 by Russell Warren in the

Greek Revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but ...

architectural style An architectural style is a set of characteristics and features that make a building or other structure notable or historically identifiable. It is a sub-class of style in the visual arts generally, and most styles in architecture relate closely ...

, as the home of the New Bedford Institute for Savings, a local bank. After the bank moved, the Bristol County courts came in. They, too, eventually outgrew it and moved elsewhere in the city. Since the creation of

New Bedford Whaling National Historic Park New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park (NBWNHP) is a United States National Historical Park in New Bedford, Massachusetts, and is maintained by the National Park Service (NPS). The park commemorates the heritage of the world's preeminent w ...

in 1996, it has been used by the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...

(NPS) as the park's visitor center.

History

The building itself is a small two-story three-by-three-

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...

structure of brick with a raised basement and

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

facade. A small bracketed

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...

tops the windows and main entrance on William Street, which is fronted by a granite

balustrade A baluster is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its con ...

d porch. The roofline is marked by a

pediment Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds. A pedimen ...

. "THIRD DISTRICT COVRT OF BRISTOL" is carved into the second story in prominent letters. It began life as the NBIS's building. When whaling declined in New Bedford, to be replaced by textiles, the bank moved to larger quarters

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...

where it has remained ever since. In 1896 the courts moved in, but later needed more space themselves and moved out. During the mid-20th century it became a store, selling

antique An antique ( la, antiquus; 'old', 'ancient') is an item perceived as having value because of its aesthetic or historical significance, and often defined as at least 100 years old (or some other limit), although the term is often used loosely ...

s at one time and auto parts at another. It had come back around to being used as a branch by Fleet Bank in 1995 when New Bedford's Waterfront Historic Preservation LEague (WHALE) bought it and turned it over to the NPS. In 1971 it 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 ...

. It is one of 20

contributing properties In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distric ...

to the

New Bedford Historic District The New Bedford Historic District is a National Historic Landmark District in New Bedford, Massachusetts, United States, west of the community's waterfront. During the 19th century, when the city was the center of the American whaling industry ...

, a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

, and diagonally opposite the U.S. Customhouse, also a National Historic Landmark.

Visitor Center

Inside the building, during its hours of operation,

park ranger A ranger, park ranger, park warden, or forest ranger is a law enforcement person entrusted with protecting and preserving parklands – national, state, provincial, or local parks. Description "Parks" may be broadly defined by some systems in thi ...

s offer brochures and guided walking tours of the historical park, which covers much of the waterfront area of New Bedford. The park's gift shop is also located on the premises. According to a 1999 study conducted for the Park Service, it is the most frequent start of a visitor's journey through the park.Littlejohn, Margaret; ;

University of Idaho The University of Idaho (U of I, or UIdaho) is a public land-grant research university in Moscow, Idaho. It is the state's land-grant and primary research university,, and the lead university in the Idaho Space Grant Consortium. The University ...

; March 2000; accessed July 14, 2008, 5. "The sites most often visited first were the park visitor center (41%) and the New Bedford Whaling Museum (36%)."

References

{{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Courthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park Greek Revival architecture in Massachusetts Government buildings completed in 1853 Buildings and structures in New Bedford, Massachusetts Russell Warren buildings County courthouses in Massachusetts Historic district contributing properties in Massachusetts National Register of Historic Places in New Bedford, Massachusetts

History

Visitor Center

See also

References