{"nrhp_refnum":"90001728","name":"Lincoln Historic District","other_names":["See Also:Old Ship Meeting House","Lincoln, Gen. Benjamin, Hous"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Roughly, North & South Sts. from West to Water Sts., Main St. S to Garrison Rd., & Lincoln St. & Fearing Rd. N to Miles","address_restricted":false,"city":"Hingham","county":"Plymouth County","state":"MA","lat":42.24070800000007,"lon":-70.90055993345918,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1991-01-07","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Education","European","Science","Architecture","Maritime History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A large historic district of about 260 acres in the northern part of Hingham, Massachusetts, west of Hingham Harbor. It holds 568 contributing resources, mostly houses, plus churches, civic buildings, monuments and a cemetery, dating from the 17th century onward.","why_significant":"The nomination presents the district as one of the best preserved groupings of 17th, 18th and 19th century residential streetscapes in southeastern Massachusetts. It holds twelve surviving 17th century houses and about sixty-seven Colonial houses. It also includes the Old Ship Meeting House (1681) and the General Benjamin Lincoln House, both National Historic Landmarks. Most of Hingham's commercial, civic and religious buildings are concentrated here.","narrative":"Hingham's Lincoln Historic District covers roughly 260 acres north of the town's center, beside Hingham Harbor. It follows the early streets laid out along Town Brook, including North, South, Lincoln and Main Streets. The district contains 568 contributing resources: houses, churches, a school, civic buildings, monuments and a cemetery. Twelve houses date from the 17th century, though their exteriors have been encased or rebuilt, and about sixty-seven more follow the 18th century Colonial form. Many buildings grew by additions over time, such as the General Benjamin Lincoln House, begun in 1667 and enlarged in 1715 and 1790. The Old Ship Meeting House of 1681 is described as the oldest building in ecclesiastical use in the United States, known for its \"Hingham truss.\" The district was listed because its downtown streetscapes have survived with unusual integrity, and because Hingham builders favored conservative styles, returning repeatedly to Colonial and Colonial Revival forms.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"William Roger Greeley (Memorial Bell Tower, 1912); Edgar T. P. Walker (Old Ship Meeting House restoration)","architectural_style":"Colonial/Georgian, Federal, Greek Revival, Gothic Revival, Italianate, Second Empire, Queen Anne, Shingle Style, Romanesque, Colonial Revival, Craftsman","criteria":[],"status_note":"Most buildings remain in residential, commercial, civic and religious use. The General Benjamin Lincoln House is lived in by one of his descendants, and the Old Ordinary is a house museum.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:05.216389-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/40/7965/63796540/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/90001728.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/90001728/600c5c4e80-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/90001728/600c5c4e80-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 2.0","author":"Timothy Valentine","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HinghamMainStreet.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Timothy Valentine</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HinghamMainStreet.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63796540","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_Historic_District_(Hingham,_Massachusetts)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6550750"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/plymouth-county/lincoln-historic-district-90001728/"}