{"nrhp_refnum":"75000287","name":"Powder House Park","other_names":["Nathan Tufts Park"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Powder House Circle","address_restricted":false,"city":"Somerville","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.400399277000076,"lon":-71.11661533599994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1975-04-21","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Military","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A five-acre public park in Somerville, Massachusetts, also called Nathan Tufts Park, built around an old quarry. It holds a stone Powder House (c. 1704-1720) and a stone Fieldhouse built by the Work Project Administration in 1935.","why_significant":"The park owes its significance mainly to the Powder House, built as a mill and later sold to the Province of Massachusetts as a powder magazine. It was the target of General Gage's raid of September 1, 1774. The Fieldhouse is significant as a Work Project Administration product built for the citizens of Somerville.","narrative":"Powder House Park in Somerville, Massachusetts, covers about five acres around a former quarry with roughly 100 feet of elevation change. Its central feature is a cylindrical bluestone tower with two-foot-thick walls, built between 1704 and 1720 as a mill and quarried from the adjoining ground. In 1747 the mill was sold to the Province of Massachusetts for use as a powder house. On September 1, 1774, General Gage led a raid that removed 250 half-barrels of the colony's powder, and the building later served as a magazine for revolutionary forces. The Tufts family acquired it in 1822, and in 1890 the heirs of Nathan Tufts deeded it to the city, which created Nathan Tufts Park. The park also contains a stone Fieldhouse of 1935, built by the Work Project Administration with a small round tower and a knotty pine main room. Walkways, benches, mature trees and two tot lots complete the park.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Work Project Administration (Fieldhouse)","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Public park owned by the City of Somerville, occupied, in fair condition, with playground areas and landscaped walkways.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:54.462245-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/50/7955/63795550/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/75000287.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75000287/022e00235b-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75000287/022e00235b-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Arthur C. Haskell for the Historic American Buildings Survey","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SomervillePowderhouse1935.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Arthur C. Haskell for the Historic American Buildings Survey</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SomervillePowderhouse1935.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63795550","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powder_House_Square","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7235979"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/powder-house-park-75000287/"}