{"nrhp_refnum":"12000827","name":"Middlefield Center Historic District","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"138-188 Skyline Trail, & 7 Bell Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Middlefield","county":"Hampshire County","state":"MA","lat":42.35264300000006,"lon":-73.01647115439448,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2012-10-03","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Agriculture","Architecture","Community Planning and Development"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A historic district of 54 contributing resources along Skyline Trail and Bell Road in Middlefield Center, a hill town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts. It contains houses, a church, a general store, a former town hall, a cemetery and agricultural fairgrounds, mostly dating from the 1780s onward.","why_significant":"The district is the historic core of Middlefield, first settled after the town's 1783 incorporation. It preserves a range of architecture from Federal through Craftsman styles, including Federal houses with unusual reeded corner pilasters. It also reflects the town's commercial, religious, civic and agricultural life, including the long-running agricultural fair.","narrative":"Middlefield Center is the historic heart of a hill town in the Berkshire foothills of Hampshire County, Massachusetts. The district runs mainly along Skyline Trail, with Bell Road and Town Hill Road crossing it to form a core of church, store, old town hall and closely spaced houses. Farther out, homes are set among fields and woodland, with long views west toward the Berkshires. Development began after the town's 1783 incorporation, so the earliest surviving buildings are Federal in style, including houses with reeded corner pilasters, a rare detail in the region. Greek Revival, Italianate, Queen Anne, Colonial Revival and Craftsman buildings followed. The Mack General Store, a Congregational church assembled from buildings of different periods, the Mack Cemetery and the agricultural fairgrounds with its 1859 hall show how commerce, worship and farming shaped the village. The district contains 54 contributing resources, and the fair has run nearly every year since the 1850s.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Federal, Greek Revival, Italianate, Queen Anne, Colonial Revival, Craftsman; mixed","criteria":[],"status_note":"The core still contains a church, a store with a post office, and the old town hall, now a senior center and historical museum. Fairgrounds and residences also remain 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 02:10:51.829837-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/69/7953/63795369/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/12000827.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/12000827/95e4a50b0b-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/12000827/95e4a50b0b-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Middlefield_Center,_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:Middlefield_Center,_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63795369","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middlefield_Center_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16895125"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/hampshire-county/middlefield-center-historic-district-12000827/"}