{"nrhp_refnum":"04000187","name":"Whitman Park","other_names":[],"category":"site","location":{"address":"Park, Maple, Whitman, Hayden Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Whitman","county":"Plymouth County","state":"MA","lat":42.08279502850007,"lon":-70.9344956793339,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2004-03-18","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Entertainment/Recreation","Landscape Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Whitman Park is a 14.3-acre town park in Whitman, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, bounded by Park, Maple, Whitman and Hayden Avenues. The town set the land aside in 1880, and the Olmsted Brothers designed it in 1900 and redesigned it in 1931.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the park is an excellent, intact example of a late-19th to early-20th century neighborhood park by the Olmsted Brothers under John Charles Olmsted. It is unusual because the same firm designed it twice, in 1900 and 1931, and both layers remain readable. It also shows how a typical town park evolved through the first half of the 20th century, and it served as the town's common and memorial site.","narrative":"Whitman Park is a 14.3-acre public park just east of the town center of Whitman, Massachusetts. The town received the land from the Whitman family in 1880, when it held small hills, a stream and marshy ground used for casual play. The Olmsted Brothers laid out the park in 1900, reshaping the pond, adding curving gravel paths, plantings and street trees, and redesigned it in 1931 to fix drainage problems and create a children's play field. Surviving features include the Wading Pond, the hills with mature trees, a 1908 wood and fieldstone bandstand, a 25-foot Civil War monument from 1908 and the Brigham Drinking Fountain from about 1924. Because Whitman never had a town common, the park also served that role and hosted memorials. A pool, Little League field and play structure were added later and count as noncontributing. The park was listed for its local landscape architecture, recreation and community planning importance.","period_of_significance":"1880-1954","architect_builder":"Olmsted Bros.","architectural_style":"OTHER: park-urban designed landscape; Late Victorian: Stick/Eastlake","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Overall condition described as fair to good; many original 1900 and 1931 design elements remain, though many trees are in poor health and paths need repair. The park remains a public park in use.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:03.510522-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/56/7966/63796656/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/04000187.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/04000187/151a46cb4c-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/04000187/151a46cb4c-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Whitman_Park,_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">John Phelan</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Whitman_Park,_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63796656","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitman_Park","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7996619"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/plymouth-county/whitman-park-04000187/"}