{"nrhp_refnum":"85002339","name":"Hoosac Stores 1 & 2-Hoosac Stores 3","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"25 and 115 Water St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Charlestown","county":"Suffolk County","state":"MA","lat":42.371251993000044,"lon":-71.06061962999996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1985-08-14","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Economics","Transportation","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A district in Charlestown, Boston, made up of two former railroad warehouses on Water Street (Constitution Road) and the railroad right-of-way between them: Hoosac Stores 1 & 2 (1895) and Hoosac Stores 3 (1875, converted 1897).","why_significant":"The nomination argues the warehouses are significant architecturally and as evidence of America's industrial revolution and Boston's late nineteenth-century port trade. Hoosac Stores 1 & 2 was purpose-built for storage on a constrained urban lot, while Hoosac Stores 3 exemplifies classically inspired panelled brick industrial design and is the only surviving evidence of Charlestown's machine shop and boiler making industry. Together with the right-of-way they mark the site of the Hoosac Docks complex, among the few surviving warehouses of their type on Boston's waterfront.","narrative":"Two brick warehouses and the rail corridor between them form this Charlestown waterfront district on Water Street, now Constitution Road. Hoosac Stores 1 & 2, built in 1895 by the Fitchburg Railroad for wool storage, is a six-story, trapezoidal red brick building with heavy timber interior framing, slit windows and metal-clad shutters. Hoosac Stores 3 began in 1875 as a storehouse for the Cunningham Iron Works and was converted to wool storage in 1897. Its facade has brick pilasters, recessed arched panels and paired windows. The railroad right-of-way dates to 1836-38 and once served wharves, a grain elevator and warehouses of the Hoosac Docks, which handled much of Boston's grain and wool trade after the Hoosac Tunnel opened in 1876. The buildings are valued as rare surviving waterfront warehouses and as evidence of the port's industrial and rail-linked commerce. Both were vacant or nearly so when documented.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899 and 1900- (specific dates 1875-1895)","architect_builder":"Fitchburg Railroad","architectural_style":"Classically inspired panelled brick industrial style (Hoosac Stores 3); utilitarian mill-type brick warehouse (Hoosac Stores 1 & 2)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Hoosac Stores 3 has been vacant since 1977, with a 1981 zoning variance to convert it to eight apartments. Hoosac Stores 1 & 2 was used as a storehouse until 1980 and was acquired by the National Park Service in 1981. The form lists present use as vacant and condition as deteriorated to fair.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:57.133394-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/88/7967/63796788/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/85002339.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85002339/9bd35898ab-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85002339/9bd35898ab-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Jameslwoodward","credit_html":"Jameslwoodward, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hoosac_Stores_Boston_MA_01.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63796788","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoosac_Stores","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5898509"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/suffolk-county/hoosac-stores-1-and-2-hoosac-stores-3-85002339/"}