{"nrhp_refnum":"76000255","name":"McKnight District","other_names":["Highland District","See Also:McKnight District (Boundary Incre"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Roughly bounded by Penn Central, State St., the Armory, and includes both sides of Campus Pl., and Dartmouth St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Springfield","county":"Hampden County","state":"MA","lat":42.115345500000046,"lon":-72.57309207728213,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1976-04-26","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A roughly 130-acre residential historic district in southwestern Springfield, Massachusetts, containing over 350 houses built mainly in the 1880s and 1890s by brothers John and William McKnight. It lies between State Street and the Western Railroad, east of the Springfield Armory grounds.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the district is a large, well-preserved, planned late nineteenth-century residential development and the home of many prominent Springfield citizens. It was the first totally planned residential area of great size in Springfield and the city's first suburb atop the hill. The McKnights developed both houses and grounds, a practice other developers later followed.","narrative":"This 130-acre neighborhood in southwestern Springfield, Massachusetts, holds more than 350 houses laid out in the late nineteenth century by brothers John and William McKnight. Before 1870 the land held scattered farms, a ravine, a mineral spring and a black settlement near Lake Como. The McKnights bought the Flagg farm in 1870 and expanded in 1881. John planned streets, trees and shrubbery, while William directed construction of 25 to 40 houses a year. Five corner parks with fountains were set out, and part of the original grove was given to the city. Houses range through Italianate, Queen Anne, Shingle, Stick, Tudor and Colonial Revival designs, with Queen Anne dominating, and a consistent scale of two-and-a-half to three stories. The district is almost entirely residential, with two churches, a small store and a school built in 1887. It was Springfield's first large planned residential area and first suburb on the hill. Six mayors and basketball inventor James Naismith lived here. It became a local historic district in January 1976.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"John D. McKnight and William McKnight (developers/builders); carpenter-builder Michael Maher; architects F. R. Richmond and B. H. Seabury (Tapley school), G. Wood Taylor, Guy Kirkham, George Pyne, F. S. Newman","architectural_style":"Predominantly Queen Anne, with Italianate-Bracketed, mansard, Shingle, Stick, Tudor and Colonial Revival houses","criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as in good condition, almost completely residential and virtually unaltered, with few intrusions; made a local historic district in January 1976.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:54.459953-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/69/7952/63795269/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/76000255.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76000255/d78c483319-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76000255/d78c483319-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"User:Magicpiano","credit_html":"User:Magicpiano, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SpringfieldMA_McKnightDistrict_AmherstStreet.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63795269","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McKnight_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6802025"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/hampden-county/mcknight-district-76000255/"}