{"nrhp_refnum":"76000298","name":"Barre Common District","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Bounded roughly by South, Exchange, Main, Pleasant, Broad, School and Grove Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Barre","county":"Worcester County","state":"MA","lat":42.42281900000006,"lon":-72.10531188233648,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1976-05-04","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A historic town-center district in Barre, Worcester County, Massachusetts, made up of thirty commercial, municipal, cultural, religious and residential buildings around a roughly 15-acre common. Most of the buildings date to the nineteenth century.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the district is significant for its large common and the well-preserved, mainly nineteenth-century buildings around it. It has long been the center of town life, with fine Greek Revival buildings, two of them attributed to Elias Carter, and with homes of citizens important to the town's development. The Common also hosted events such as Daniel Webster's 1840 oration and militia training.","narrative":"Barre Common District is the historic center of Barre, Massachusetts: thirty commercial, municipal, cultural, religious and residential buildings facing a large open common of just over 15 acres. Greek Revival architecture dominates, including the Congregational Church of 1849, the Town House of 1838-39 designed by E. Lamb, and two buildings of 1836 attributed to Elias Carter. Other styles appear too, such as a late eighteenth-century Federal house, a bracketed house of 1865, and the Richardsonian Romanesque Barre Savings Bank of 1894. Only five twentieth-century structures intrude. The Common itself has been a gathering place for militia training, a July 1840 speech by Daniel Webster, and summer band concerts that earned Barre the nickname \"Band Concert Town of New England.\" The Town House briefly housed the Barre Normal School. Many properties trace to the Caldwell and Woods families, who gave the North Park, the church and the library.","period_of_significance":"1700-1799, 1800-1899, 1900-","architect_builder":"Elias Carter (attributed, Barre Historical Society Building and Lawrence-Holman-Graziani House); E. Lamb of Princeton, Massachusetts (Barre Town House)","architectural_style":"Greek Revival, with bracketed and Richardsonian Romanesque examples","criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as retaining its primarily nineteenth-century character, with five twentieth-century structures and a few exterior alterations to commercial buildings. Summer band concerts continue on the Common.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:53.559452-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/18/7972/63797218/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/76000298.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76000298/2e329bc273-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76000298/2e329bc273-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_Town_Hall,_Barre_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:Old_Town_Hall,_Barre_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63797218","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barre_Common_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4863279"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/worcester-county/barre-common-district-76000298/"}