{"nrhp_refnum":"89000436","name":"Thompson School","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Prospect St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Webster","county":"Worcester County","state":"MA","lat":42.05078802600008,"lon":-71.87779562899993,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1989-06-07","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story brick grammar school with a raised basement and attic level, on the east side of Prospect Street in Webster, Massachusetts, built in 1912-1913 and designed by architect Walter F. Fontaine. It is now used as apartments.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the school is a well-preserved example of late Gothic/Jacobean Revival architecture. It is representative of the substantial public buildings Webster erected as an expression of civic pride during its industrial prosperity. It is significant at the local level under criteria A and C.","narrative":"Thompson School is a brick grammar school on Prospect Street in Webster, Massachusetts, built in 1912-1913 on the site of an 1881 school that was razed to make room for it. Walter Francis Fontaine, an architect based in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, designed it, and Walker & Doule Company of Providence built it for about $30,000. The T-shaped building has pointed arches, cast-stone trim, sham half-timbering, a high dormered slate roof and brick ventilator stacks. It was named for Dr. John Thompson, a local physician and school committee member. Classes continued until 1980, and the building has since been rehabilitated into apartments, keeping its original interior layout and many original finishes. It was listed as a well-preserved Gothic and Jacobean Revival school, tied to Webster's growth as an industrial town and to the civic pride expressed in its public buildings, with significance at the local level.","period_of_significance":"1912-1938","architect_builder":"Walter F. Fontaine","architectural_style":"Late 19th and 20th Century Revivals: Jacobean Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Vacated as a school in 1980; recently rehabilitated as apartments through a certified rehabilitation, with apartment units in the original classrooms.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:02.22105-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/64/7971/63797164/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/89000436.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89000436/eba6103ce6-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89000436/eba6103ce6-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"User:Magicpiano","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WebsterMA_ThompsonSchool.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">User:Magicpiano</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WebsterMA_ThompsonSchool.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63797164","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thompson_School_(Webster,_Massachusetts)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7795778"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/worcester-county/thompson-school-89000436/"}