{"nrhp_refnum":"93000437","name":"Fort Devens Historic District","other_names":["1930s Permanent Cantonment Area","Fort Devens"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Roughly bounded by El Caney St., Antietam St., Sherman Ave., MacArthur Ave. and Buena Vista St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Ayer","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.545446500000054,"lon":-71.61443658531454,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1993-06-10","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Landscape Architecture","Military","Politics/Government","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A roughly 300-acre military cantonment district within Fort Devens in Ayer and Harvard, Massachusetts, built mainly between 1929 and 1940 on the layout of the World War I Camp Devens.","why_significant":"The district is a largely intact example of the Army's 1930s permanent construction program, with standardized Georgian Revival brick buildings arranged in a symmetrical U-shaped plan around parade grounds. It reflects the federal housing and hospital program begun in 1926 to replace deteriorated temporary World War I buildings. Camp Devens had been New England's main training and discharge site in 1917-1918.","narrative":"This military district at Fort Devens, in Ayer and Harvard, Massachusetts, covers about 300 acres of the post's permanent 1930s cantonment. Its buildings were constructed mainly between 1929 and 1940 and follow the street pattern of Camp Devens, the temporary World War I training camp set up in 1917. Housing, administration buildings, barracks, a hospital and a theater are grouped around two parade grounds, Rogers Field and Hornet Field, in a symmetrical U-shaped plan. Nearly all buildings are red brick Georgian Revival structures with slate roofs (now mostly asphalt shingle), limestone or cast stone trim and six-over-six windows. The district counts 93 contributing and 25 noncontributing buildings, plus landscaped sites such as Memorial Circle. It reflects the Army's housing program funded after 1926 to replace decayed wartime construction, and it remains little changed and clearly distinct from later development nearby. Uses continue to include headquarters, guardhouse, theater and museum functions.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Late 19th Century Revival/Georgian Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Many buildings remain in military or related use, including post headquarters, guardhouse, sentry station, theater and a museum in the former stables; some have had roofing, porch and entry alterations.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:05.236764-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/79/7959/63795979/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/93000437.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/93000437/4e8c232ca3-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/93000437/4e8c232ca3-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"User:Magicpiano","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:DevensMA_01.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">User:Magicpiano</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:DevensMA_01.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63795979","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Devens_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5471061"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/fort-devens-historic-district-93000437/"}