{"nrhp_refnum":"89000440","name":"Whitney & Company","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"142 Water St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Leominster","county":"Worcester County","state":"MA","lat":42.52842157300006,"lon":-71.75324454699995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1989-06-08","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national","local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A large three- and four-story wood-frame paper box factory at 142 Water Street in Leominster, Massachusetts, with a central tower projection and later rear additions. The main factory was built in 1893 and fully built out by 1900.","why_significant":"The factory is argued to be one of the few substantial wood-frame factory buildings left in Leominster and a fine example of the city's last phase of frame factory construction. It is also tied to the city's industrial growth, as home to one of its two major folding box makers, whose boxes packaged local combs and shirts for national distribution.","narrative":"Whitney & Company is a large wood-frame factory at Water and Whitney Streets in Leominster, Massachusetts. Its main block dates from 1893 and was complete by 1900. It steps down a hillside from four stories to two and a half, with a wooden cornice and a projecting central tower. Rear wings added around 1910 to 1915, a brick chimney, and 1920s metal warehouses followed. The company was founded in 1886 by brothers Fred Abbott Whitney and Walter F. Whitney and made boxes of all kinds, then mostly folding cartons. These cartons packaged the combs and shirts that Leominster shipped nationwide. Along with E. F. Dodge & Co., it was one of the city's two major box makers, and together they employed about 200 people by 1906. The firm operated here until 1961. The building was listed as one of the last surviving frame factories of its type in the city, despite later siding, infilled windows and a removed tower top.","period_of_significance":"1839-1930","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Late Victorian/Queen Anne","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Vacant and poorly maintained at the time of the form, with rehabilitation proposed under Secretary of the Interior standards.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:02.284446-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/50/7975/63797550/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/89000440.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89000440/44a4198529-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89000440/44a4198529-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Marcbela (Marc N. Belanger)","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Whitney_and_Company.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Marcbela (Marc N. Belanger)</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Whitney_and_Company.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63797550","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitney_%26_Company_(Leominster,_Massachusetts)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7996666"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/worcester-county/whitney-and-company-89000440/"}