{"nrhp_refnum":"91000599","name":"Old Town Historic District","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"SE of jct. of I-295 and Washington St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"North Attleborough","county":"Bristol County","state":"MA","lat":41.94381795000004,"lon":-71.33981906833269,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1991-05-30","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Community Planning and Development","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A historic district of about 100 acres on Old Post Road, Mount Hope Street and Stagecoach Road in the southwest corner of North Attleborough, Massachusetts. It contains 58 contributing and 36 noncontributing resources: houses, outbuildings, a church, a schoolhouse, a powderhouse, a mill site, bridges and archaeological sites.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the district is the earliest town center of the original town of Attleborough (1694-1887) and meets Criterion A. It also meets Criterion C for its domestic, religious and public architecture and surrounding landscape. Its settlement pattern, farmland and civic buildings survive largely intact from the eighteenth century, with a light overlay of early 20th century streetcar-era suburban building.","narrative":"Old Town is a crossroads settlement in the southwest corner of North Attleborough, Massachusetts, covering about one hundred acres along Old Post Road and Mount Hope Street. Once rural and now largely suburban, it holds twenty-three houses, a church, a former schoolhouse, a brick powderhouse, a mill dam, stone slab bridges and several archaeological sites. The 1828 First Congregational Church, built by local carpenter Ezra Walker, is the chief landmark, facing the ca. 1680 and ca. 1731 Captain John Stearns House across the intersection. The 1768 town powderhouse and a Greek Revival district schoolhouse add to the civic core. Farmhouses to the north show Georgian, Federal and Greek Revival styles, while streetcar-era houses and an ice company's villas reflect later growth. The district was listed for its role as the earliest town center of old Attleborough, which existed from 1694 to 1887, and for its architecture and well-preserved landscape of fields, stone walls and roadside lawns.","period_of_significance":"Ca. 1781-1937","architect_builder":"Walker, Ezra","architectural_style":"Colonial/Georgian; Early Republic/Federal; Mid-19th Century/Greek Revival; Late Victorian/Queen Anne, Stick/Eastlake; Colonial Revival; Classical Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Largely suburban now, with working farms at the northern end. The church remains in use, and the former schoolhouse now houses the church Sunday School.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:03.845667-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/86/7943/63794386/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/91000599.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/91000599/a29150e09f-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/91000599/a29150e09f-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"User:Magicpiano","credit_html":"User:Magicpiano, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NorthAttleboroughMA_FirstCongregationalChurch.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63794386","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Town_Historic_District_(North_Attleborough,_Massachusetts)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7085293"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/bristol-county/old-town-historic-district-91000599/"}