{"nrhp_refnum":"86002466","name":"McKnight District (Boundary Increase)","other_names":["Highlands District:See Also","McKnight District"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Roughly bounded by New England RR, Pease, and Sherman and Harvard Sts, and Saint James Ave., Florida, and Bay Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Springfield","county":"Hampden County","state":"MA","lat":42.111705500000056,"lon":-72.57215051720095,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1986-09-26","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Landscape Architecture","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A large late-19th-century residential historic district of about 250 acres northeast of downtown Springfield, Massachusetts, containing roughly 884 properties. It expands a smaller McKnight district listed in 1976 and was developed mainly by brothers John and William McKnight beginning in 1870.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the district is the largest late 19th and early 20th century middle-class neighborhood in Springfield and survives essentially intact. It shows the full range of popular Victorian house styles, unified by consistent scale, setback and density. It also reflects a planned community shaped by the McKnight brothers' deed restrictions and real estate development.","narrative":"Northeast of downtown Springfield, on a broad plateau, lies a neighborhood of about 250 acres and some 884 properties that grew from a purchase of twenty-two acres in 1870. Brothers John and William McKnight, former dry goods merchants, platted the streets, built roughly half the houses and sold the remaining lots with deed restrictions on setback, front fences and minimum construction cost. Most buildings are one- and two-family wood-frame houses from 1880 to 1900, with Queen Anne the dominant style alongside Italianate, Stick, Shingle and Colonial Revival examples. A Romanesque Revival school, several churches and a few commercial buildings serve the area. The district was listed as an expansion of a smaller 1976 district. It is considered significant as Springfield's largest late Victorian middle-class neighborhood, notable for its consistent scale and its well-preserved architectural variety, and for the planning that shaped it. Few buildings postdate 1918.","period_of_significance":"1860-1918","architect_builder":"Various","architectural_style":"Late Victorian styles, predominantly Queen Anne, with Italianate, Second Empire, Stick, Shingle, Romanesque Revival, Tudor Revival and Colonial Revival examples","criteria":["A","B","C"],"status_note":"Described as essentially intact, with only 39 post-1918 intrusions; the district is occupied and many owners have removed synthetic siding and restored houses since the 1970s.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:02.009388-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/75/7952/63795275/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/86002466.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86002466/d78c483319-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86002466/d78c483319-1600.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:SpringfieldMA_McKnightDistrict_AmherstStreet.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63795275","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McKnight_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6802025"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/hampden-county/mcknight-district-boundary-increase-86002466/"}