{"nrhp_refnum":"85003384","name":"Blackinton Historic District","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Roughly Massachusetts Ave. between Ashton and Doanes Aves. and Church Hill and Boston & Maine RR","address_restricted":false,"city":"North Adams","county":"Berkshire County","state":"MA","lat":42.70421550000006,"lon":-73.16449057606387,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1985-10-25","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A linear mill-community historic district along Massachusetts Avenue on the north side of the Hoosac River at the western edge of North Adams, Massachusetts, near the Williamstown line. It contains about 20 structures dating from roughly 1830 to 1917, centered on the Blackinton Mill.","why_significant":"It is described as the best-preserved and most intact 19th-century mill community in North Adams, with well-preserved residential, industrial and ecclesiastical architecture. It is tied to Sanford Blackinton, a leading North Adams industrialist, who founded the mill community. The district retains integrity of setting, design, materials and association.","narrative":"Blackinton is a small mill village strung along Massachusetts Avenue at the western edge of North Adams, beside the Hoosac River and the railroad tracks. Sanford Blackinton and partners built a woolen mill here in 1822, and the community grew around it with worker housing, a company store, two churches and mansions for mill owners. The surviving mill dates mainly from 1872, 1908 and 1917 and includes a Tudor Revival crenelated tower. Nearby are four Greek Revival workers' houses from about 1840, the 1839 company store, and the Federal and Italianate Wells-Archer House from about 1832. Other landmarks include the Gothic Revival Union Church of 1871 and the Downing-inspired Monroe Temple House of 1858. The district was listed because it is the most intact nineteenth-century mill community in the city, preserving a cohesive group of industrial, residential and church buildings linked to a leading local industrialist.","period_of_significance":"1830-1917","architect_builder":"Marcus Fayette Cummings (attributed, Union Church); Blackinton Company (builder of Union Church); Monroe Temple and William A. Hopkins (builders of their own houses)","architectural_style":"Federal, Greek Revival, Italianate, Gothic Revival, Stick Style, Queen Anne, Tudor Revival","criteria":["A","B","C"],"status_note":"The former company store is presently used as a warehouse; the four workers' houses near the mill are in a fine state of preservation. Many houses outside the district core have been altered.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:57.760033-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/71/7892/63789271/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/85003384.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85003384/eeaf9e4db4-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85003384/eeaf9e4db4-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blackinton_Company,_North_Adams_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:Blackinton_Company,_North_Adams_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63789271","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackinton_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4923036"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/berkshire-county/blackinton-historic-district-85003384/"}