{"nrhp_refnum":"06000523","name":"Center School","other_names":["Burlington Library and Reading Room"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"13 Bedford St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Burlington","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.50376219800006,"lon":-71.24983749799998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2006-06-21","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Community Planning and Development","Education"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-room, 1½-story clapboard schoolhouse at 13 Bedford Street in Burlington Center, Massachusetts, facing the Town Common. It was built in 1855, with carpentry by David Clark of West Cambridge.","why_significant":"The building is argued to be significant for its role in Burlington's community development through successive uses as a school, public library, police station and museum. It is also a fine mid-19th-century one-room schoolhouse blending Greek Revival and Italianate styles, shaped by Massachusetts school reform and local models.","narrative":"Built in 1855 at 13 Bedford Street, Center School is a one-room clapboard schoolhouse facing Burlington's Town Common. It sits on a high brick foundation under a front-gable roof topped by an arched cupola with a wrought iron weathervane. Its style blends Greek Revival and Italianate elements, including quoins and a segmental arched gable window. The design appears to draw on a Massachusetts Board of Education model plan and on two 1853 schoolhouses in Lexington. Land for the lot was donated by tavern keeper Abner Marion, after years of contentious town votes over whether to build. The school closed in 1897 and was converted to the town's first dedicated public library in 1898, a use that lasted seventy years. The police department used it briefly after 1968, until a 1970 fire damaged the interior. Volunteers and donors then repaired it for use as the town museum. The building is valued for its architecture and for the community's repeated efforts to preserve it.","period_of_significance":"1855-1956","architect_builder":"David Clark (carpentry); Mr. French of Woburn (masonry)","architectural_style":"Greek Revival; Italianate","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Described as in good condition; it currently serves as the town museum.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:04.701329-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/96/7957/63795796/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/06000523.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/06000523/ba207ceb2b-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/06000523/ba207ceb2b-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Center_School,_Burlington_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:Center_School,_Burlington_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63795796","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_School_(Burlington,_Massachusetts)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5059337"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/center-school-06000523/"}