{"nrhp_refnum":"89002250","name":"Lake Cochituate Dam","other_names":[],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"NW side of Lake Cochituate","address_restricted":false,"city":"Framingham","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.31499533700003,"lon":-71.38409104599998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1990-01-18","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Engineering","Politics/Government"],"significance_levels":["state","local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A small concrete and granite dam with a 62-foot overflow on the west side of upper Lake Cochituate in Framingham, Massachusetts, built in 1890 to designs supervised by engineer Desmond Fitzgerald.","why_significant":"The dam is argued to be an example of the evolving technology of dam construction within the Metropolitan Water Supply System. It is also significant for its association with the Cochituate Aqueduct. It retains integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship and feeling.","narrative":"Lake Cochituate Dam is a small control dam on the west side of upper Lake Cochituate in Framingham, Massachusetts. Built in 1890, it has a concrete body with a 62-foot overflow and a rubble granite core. It was constructed under the supervision of Desmond Fitzgerald, then an engineer with the Boston Water Board. The present structure replaced two earlier wooden dams on the same site, the first built in 1846 with the Cochituate Aqueduct and the second in 1857. The Metropolitan Water Board took over the lake and dam in 1898, and the reservoir was removed from service in the late 1930s and passed to the parks division of the Metropolitan District Commission. It now lies in a rural state park and is recorded as in good condition with no alterations. It was listed as an example of evolving dam-building technology within the metropolitan water supply system and for its link to the Cochituate Aqueduct.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Desmond Fitzgerald, engineer","architectural_style":"Control dam (small dam type, concrete with rubble granite core)","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Condition described as good, with no alterations; the reservoir was removed from water-supply service in the late 1930s and transferred to the MDC parks division, and the dam sits in a state park.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:00.696649-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/4/7920/63792004/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/89002250.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89002250/85ee13718b-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89002250/85ee13718b-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lake_Cochituate_Dam,_Framingham_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">John Phelan</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lake_Cochituate_Dam,_Framingham_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63792004","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Cochituate_Dam","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6475419"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/lake-cochituate-dam-89002250/"}