{"nrhp_refnum":"94001592","name":"Colburn School","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"136 Lawrence St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Lowell","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.63974224200007,"lon":-71.30401101299998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1995-05-19","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Education","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story brick Greek Revival schoolhouse at 136 Lawrence Street in Lowell, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, built in 1848 and designed by Jacob Graves.","why_significant":"The school illustrates the mid-19th century growth of Lowell's public school system as textile industry population surged, and it adopted progressive educational methods. It is also a well-preserved example of Greek Revival design, one of three 19th-century Lowell schools judged worthy of individual listing.","narrative":"Colburn School is a modest two-story brick schoolhouse on Lawrence Street in Lowell, Massachusetts, completed in 1848 to a Greek Revival design by Jacob Graves, a local grammar school principal. A broad pedimented gable with modillioned cornices faces the street, and granite lintels and sills trim the regularly spaced windows. Named for educator Warren Colburn, it opened as the city's ninth grammar school during a period when textile mills drew rapidly growing numbers of workers and their children. Its interior was reorganized in 1863 into eight classrooms when a graded system was adopted, and it later also housed a teacher training school. It served as a school until 1992 and is now vacant, with some alterations such as Victorian door hoods and a fire stair. It was listed for its role in Lowell's educational development and as a well-preserved example of Greek Revival public architecture.","period_of_significance":"1848-1920","architect_builder":"Jacob Graves","architectural_style":"Mid-19th Century: Greek Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Used continuously as a school until 1992; now vacant and used for storage, needing considerable exterior repairs.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:04.7178-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/71/7958/63795871/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/94001592.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/94001592/7714950888-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/94001592/7714950888-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"Tim Pierce","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lowell_MA_Colburn_School.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Tim Pierce</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lowell_MA_Colburn_School.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63795871","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colburn_School_(Lowell,_Massachusetts)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5141992"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/colburn-school-94001592/"}