{"nrhp_refnum":"86000273","name":"Baldwinville Village Historic District","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Roughly Elm and S. Main Sts. between Pleasant St. and Mt. View","address_restricted":false,"city":"Templeton","county":"Worcester County","state":"MA","lat":42.605789000000044,"lon":-72.07619143060293,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1986-02-27","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Commerce","Historic - Non-Aboriginal","Health/Medicine","Architecture","Religion","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A roughly 20-acre village historic district of 116 properties in northern Templeton, Worcester County, Massachusetts, centered on the junction of U.S. Route 202 and Mass. Route 68 beside the Otter River. Buildings date from the late 18th century to about 1920.","why_significant":"Baldwinville was Templeton's industrial center from about 1830, specializing in woodworking and chairmaking. Although the factories are gone, the houses, churches and civic buildings tied to prominent citizens and the village's growth survive. The nomination also cites well-preserved 19th and early 20th century architecture, and Dr. L. W. Baker's Hospital Cottages for epilepsy care.","narrative":"Baldwinville Village Historic District covers about 20 acres of northern Templeton, Massachusetts, around the junction of Routes 202 and 68 and across the Otter River. It holds 116 properties, mostly houses, plus three churches, a fire station, a school and a few commercial blocks. Between about 1825 and 1940 the village hosted woodworking factories, especially chairmaking, and many of the finer homes were built for factory owners and managers. The factories were lost to fire and a 1943 flood control project, but the buildings linked to the people and growth of that industry remain. Architecture ranges from Federal houses such as the 1797 Eden Baldwin House to Greek Revival cottages, a Second Empire mansard house, a brick rowhouse for workers, and Colonial Revival homes of the early 1900s. The district also preserves two cottages from Dr. L. W. Baker's 1882 Hospital Cottages for Children, an early center for epilepsy treatment.","period_of_significance":"1734-1935","architect_builder":"various; James E. Fuller of Worcester (church, uncorroborated); Fuller, Delano, and Frost of Worcester (Baldwinville Grade School); M. Favor of Gardner (builder of Memorial Congregational Church)","architectural_style":"Federal, Greek Revival, Gothic Revival, Second Empire, Stick Style, Queen Anne, Colonial Revival and vernacular Victorian","criteria":["A","B","C"],"status_note":"Occupied; mainly residential with a few commercial, religious and civic buildings. The factories no longer exist.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:57.782502-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/33/7971/63797133/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/86000273.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86000273/7645b1b469-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86000273/7645b1b469-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"User:Magicpiano","credit_html":"User:Magicpiano, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:TempletonMA_BaldwinvilleElementarySchool.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63797133","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baldwinville_Village_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4850634"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/worcester-county/baldwinville-village-historic-district-86000273/"}