{"nrhp_refnum":"04000424","name":"Rockport High School, Old","other_names":["Rockport Community House"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"58 Broadway","address_restricted":false,"city":"Rockport","county":"Essex County","state":"MA","lat":42.65539733400004,"lon":-70.62236218499999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2004-05-12","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Education","Community Planning and Development","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 2½-story wood-frame Italianate building at 58 Broadway in Rockport, Essex County, Massachusetts. It was built in 1865 as a one-room high school and enlarged several times through 1908. It is now the Rockport Community House.","why_significant":"It is significant for its link to the development of Rockport's school system and as an example of early wooden school construction. It has also served as a community meeting place since 1929. The form finds local significance under Criteria A and C.","narrative":"Built in 1865 as a small one-room wooden schoolhouse, this Italianate building on Broadway in Rockport served as the town's high school until 1926. It was raised twelve feet in 1869 so a new first floor could be built beneath it, and later additions in 1890, 1900 and 1908 provided classrooms, a stairhall, plumbing, and laboratory space as enrollment grew and state sanitary rules were enforced. After the school closed, the building sat empty until 1929, when the newly formed Rockport Garden Club led an effort to reopen it as the Rockport Community House. The Sandy Bay Historical Society opened its first museum there and placed a practice cannon from the U.S.S. Constitution on the lawn in 1931. Groups such as the Community Chorus have met in it since the 1930s. The nomination cites its role in the growth of Rockport's schools, its early wooden school construction, and its continuing civic use. The building retains original floors, windows and blackboards.","period_of_significance":"1865-1954","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Mid-19th Century/Late Victorian: Italianate","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Still actively used as a community meeting place (Rockport Community House); the form notes it was empty from 1926 until 1929.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:04.321361-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/25/7950/63795025/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/04000424.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/04000424/213b6ebb26-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/04000424/213b6ebb26-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_Rockport_High_School,_Rockport_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">John Phelan</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_Rockport_High_School,_Rockport_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63795025","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Rockport_High_School","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7084865"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/essex-county/rockport-high-school-old-04000424/"}