{"nrhp_refnum":"93000127","name":"Powers Institute Historic District","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Church St. between South and Library Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Bernardston","county":"Franklin County","state":"MA","lat":42.671425000000056,"lon":-72.55219127880022,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1994-03-18","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Education","Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A small historic district at the western end of Church Street in the center village of Bernardston, Franklin County, Massachusetts, made up of the Powers Institute school (1857), Cushman Library (1862), Cushman Hall (1860) and Cushman Park, plus a 1975 fire station that does not contribute.","why_significant":"The district is tied to the founding of Bernardston's secondary school through a bequest by Edward Eppes Powers and to gifts of land and buildings by Henry W. Cushman. The Institute's complex Italianate massing was unusual for rural Massachusetts schools because the exterior expressed the larger and more specialized interior. The grouping also forms an important educational and civic part of the village.","narrative":"Two lots facing each other across Church Street in Bernardston's center village hold a group of mid-19th-century buildings tied to local education. The Powers Institute, built in 1857, is a clapboarded Italianate school with a gabled main block, two small projecting wings, a slate roof and a belvedere. Its plan, with large recitation rooms and specialized spaces, was uncommon for rural Massachusetts, where schools were usually small one-room buildings. Nearby are the brick Cushman Library of 1862 and Cushman Hall of 1860, a boarding house and dormitory, with Cushman Park opposite. The school was funded by a bequest from Edward Eppes Powers, a Bernardston native who made his career in Georgia, and supported by land and gifts from Henry W. Cushman. Carpenter Virgil Woodcock of Swanzey, New Hampshire, is associated with the Institute building. The school stopped serving as the high school in 1958 and now houses the historical society, while a 1975 fire station is the only new building.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Virgil Woodcock (carpenter associated with the Powers Institute)","architectural_style":"Late Victorian: Italianate","criteria":[],"status_note":"The Powers Institute ceased serving as the town high school in 1958 and now houses the Bernardston Historical Society collections. Cushman Library remains a library, and Cushman Hall has been divided into apartments.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:04.15921-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/25/7951/63795125/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/93000127.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/93000127/548bd24621-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/93000127/548bd24621-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"ToddC4176 (talk)","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Powers_Institute.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">ToddC4176 (talk)</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Powers_Institute.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63795125","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powers_Institute_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7236822"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/franklin-county/powers-institute-historic-district-93000127/"}