{"nrhp_refnum":"94000688","name":"Belchertown State School","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"30 State St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Belchertown","county":"Hampshire County","state":"MA","lat":42.27484400000006,"lon":-72.4171256317062,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1994-07-19","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Agriculture","Social History","Architecture","Education","Health/Medicine"],"significance_levels":["state","local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A state institutional campus of about 846 acres on State Route 202 in Belchertown, Hampshire County, Massachusetts. It was developed from 1918 as the third Massachusetts school for the feeble-minded, and most buildings date from the 1920s and 1930s.","why_significant":"The campus reflects the mature development of the Massachusetts state hospital and school system before the mid-twentieth century. It was closely modeled on the Wrentham State School and continued treatment programs begun at Fernald. It was the only school for developmentally disabled children in western Massachusetts. The form cites criteria A and C.","narrative":"Belchertown State School is an 846-acre campus on Route 202 in Belchertown, Massachusetts, built to serve the western part of the state. The state bought the land in 1915 and began development in 1918 under the supervision of the Wrentham School. The school opened in 1922 as the Commonwealth's third school for the feeble-minded. Its main buildings follow the dispersed cottage plan: red-brick Colonial Revival dormitories, stuccoed Craftsman staff cottages, an administration building with a clocktower, and utilitarian industrial and support buildings arranged around three central greens. Kendall, Taylor & Co. designed many of them, closely modeling the layout on Wrentham. A working farm colony to the north keeps early farmhouses and barns, including an 1829 house later remodeled in Greek Revival style. The campus was listed for its role in the state school system and for its architecture, with a period of significance from 1915 to 1940. Landscape and building integrity are described as high.","period_of_significance":"1915-1940","architect_builder":"Kendall, Taylor & Co. (identified as architect of many buildings)","architectural_style":"Colonial Revival, Craftsman, Greek Revival, Italianate, Utilitarian","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Most buildings are in good condition without major alterations; the form lists current function as vacant, and part of the farm land is managed by the New England Small Farm Institute.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:03.891824-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/73/7903/63790373/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/94000688.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/94000688/10b197f144-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/94000688/10b197f144-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Jaklun","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Belchertown_State_School_2012-09-05_15-20-22.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Jaklun</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:Belchertown_State_School_2012-09-05_15-20-22.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63790373","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belchertown_State_School","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4882064"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/hampshire-county/belchertown-state-school-94000688/"}