{"nrhp_refnum":"84002570","name":"Dow Block","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Central Square","address_restricted":false,"city":"Stoneham","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.47941131400006,"lon":-71.10005704399998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1984-04-13","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-story brick commercial block in Second Empire style at Central Square, Stoneham, Massachusetts, built in 1864 for Moses Dow, an outside investor from Charlestown.","why_significant":"It is the most important of three major mid-to-late 19th century commercial blocks defining Central Square, reflecting the town's shoe-industry prosperity in the 1860s and 1870s. It is also a good local example of Second Empire commercial architecture with notable integrity. It occupies the apex of the triangle formed by Main Street, Central Street and Central Square.","narrative":"Standing at the apex of the triangle formed by Main Street, Central Street and Central Square in Stoneham, the Dow Block is a three-story brick commercial building completed in 1864. Moses Dow, a Charlestown investor, editor of the Waverly Magazine and owner of several Charlestown buildings, had it built. Its Second Empire design includes a patterned slate roof, sandstone quoins, a bracketed cornice, a slightly projecting central pavilion, grouped windows with molded sandstone lintels and Stick Style panels between the upper floors. The storefronts keep their original posts and lintels, despite mid-20th-century changes at shop level. It is the earliest and most imposing of three major 19th-century commercial blocks around the square, alongside the Chase Block and the Odd Fellows Building. Built during a prosperous period in the local shoe industry, it housed shops, the public library and the post office, and it is valued for its architecture and its role in the town center's growth.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Builder: Moses Dow; architect unknown","architectural_style":"Second Empire","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Present use is mixed retail and commercial; the first-story shop level was altered in the mid 20th century, though the ground floor retains original posts and lintels.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:56.590359-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/6/7915/63791506/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/84002570.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84002570/8ab7b1c767-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84002570/8ab7b1c767-1600.webp","licence":"CC0","author":"Daderot","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dow_Block_-_Stoneham,_MA_-_DSC04294.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Daderot</a>, <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dow_Block_-_Stoneham,_MA_-_DSC04294.JPG"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"89002277","name":"Central Square Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/massachusetts/central-square-historic-district-89002277/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63791506","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dow_Block","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5302601"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/dow-block-84002570/"}