{"nrhp_refnum":"87002562","name":"Murdock School","other_names":["Old Murdock High School"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Murdock Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Winchendon","county":"Worcester County","state":"MA","lat":42.685364744000026,"lon":-72.05378094199995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1988-01-28","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Education","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 2 1/2-story Romanesque Revival brick and sandstone school building on Murdock Avenue in Winchendon, Massachusetts, built 1885-1887 and designed by architect Henry M. Francis of Fitchburg.","why_significant":"The school is tied to the development of Winchendon's educational system and to the Murdock family, especially Ephraim Murdock, Jr., whose will funded its construction and endowment. It is also the most high-style and elaborate of Winchendon's school buildings, and was considered the masterpiece of its architect. It is locally significant under criteria A and C.","narrative":"Murdock School is a Romanesque Revival school on Murdock Avenue in Winchendon, Massachusetts, built between 1885 and 1887. Designed by Fitchburg architect Henry M. Francis and constructed by Henry G. Morse, it combines brick and sandstone walls with a raised granite basement. A center-entry pavilion with a parapeted gable, clock tower and arched entry dominates the front, and the interior retains quartered oak finishes, wainscoting and a large second-floor assembly hall. The school was funded through the will of Ephraim Murdock, Jr., an industrialist whose family shaped local education and the woodenware industry. It cost $120,000 and was endowed with a $250,000 trust. It offered laboratories, a music room and an art room unusual for a town of about 4,390 people. It is the most elaborate school in Winchendon and the only late nineteenth or early twentieth century public school there that was privately financed.","period_of_significance":"1887-1937","architect_builder":"Henry M. Francis (architect); Henry G. Morse (builder)","architectural_style":"Late Victorian/Romanesque (Romanesque Revival)","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Still used as a school (current function listed as Educational/School); interior largely intact, with 1974 renovations that replaced the slate roof with asphalt shingles and some original doors.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:02.204689-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/80/7973/63797380/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/87002562.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/87002562/6794bc834b-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/87002562/6794bc834b-1600.webp","licence":"CC0","author":"Marcbela (Marc N. Belanger)","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Murdock_School_Winchendon.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Marcbela (Marc N. Belanger)</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:Murdock_School_Winchendon.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63797380","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murdock_School","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6938254"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/worcester-county/murdock-school-87002562/"}