{"nrhp_refnum":"78000431","name":"Union Street Railway Carbarn, Repair Shop","other_names":["Centennial Building"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1959 Purchase St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"New Bedford","county":"Bristol County","state":"MA","lat":41.65212540700003,"lon":-70.93051723099995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1978-10-02","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Commerce","Transportation"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A pair of brick buildings at 1959 Purchase Street in Weld Square, New Bedford, Massachusetts: a one-story trolley Repair Shop built in 1897 and a two-story Carbarn built in 1910, both for the Union Street Railway Company.","why_significant":"The buildings were the nerve center of New Bedford's expanding trolley system, which carried manufactured goods, let industries develop across the city, and allowed workers to live outside the center. The 1897 Repair Shop also served as the exposition hall for the city's Semi-Centennial celebration. The nomination calls them surviving resources of the city's trolley age.","narrative":"Two brick buildings at Weld Square in New Bedford once formed the working heart of the Union Street Railway Company's trolley system. The one-story Repair Shop dates to 1897 and has large round-arched portals tall enough for trolleys with overhead wires. The two-story Carbarn, built in 1910, measures 370 by 160 feet and replaced older wooden structures from the horsecar era. Its corner entrance is framed by Doric pilasters, and it held thirteen tracks for up to seventy-two streetcars, with company offices and meeting rooms upstairs. The trolley network let manufacturers locate industries across the city, carried goods, and took people to recreation areas such as Lincoln Park. The Repair Shop first hosted the 1897 Semi-Centennial exposition, which reportedly drew 15,000 people daily, before becoming a full repair and rebuilding facility. Trolley service ended in 1947, and the Carbarn later served buses and then warehousing. A 1970 fire bombing damaged the Repair Shop's center section.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899, 1900- (specific dates 1897, 1910)","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Spare, stylized classical design (Carbarn, with Doric pilasters and molded concrete trim); functional brick industrial building (Repair Shop)","criteria":[],"status_note":"The Carbarn was in use as a warehouse and wholesale grocery business, with the owner hoping to create an indoor mall with office and museum space. The Repair Shop's middle section was partly destroyed by a 1970 fire bombing, while its wings remained intact.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:53.309912-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/62/7945/63794562/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/78000431.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78000431/890b63d531-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78000431/890b63d531-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Union_Street_Railway_Carbarn,_New_Bedford_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">John Phelan</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Union_Street_Railway_Carbarn,_New_Bedford_MA.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"89002035","name":"Acushnet Heights Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/massachusetts/acushnet-heights-historic-district-89002035/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63794562","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Street_Railway_Carbarn,_Repair_Shop","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7886145"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/bristol-county/union-street-railway-carbarn-repair-shop-78000431/"}