Arlington Center Historic District (Boundary Increase)

Arlington's town center is a district of about 78 acres built up around the crossing of Massachusetts Avenue and Pleasant Street. Its buildings span roughly 1740 to 1940 and include 216 properties, 183 of which contribute to its character. The oldest is the Jason Russell House of 1740, beside the Old Burying Ground. North of the commercial spine lies a neighborhood of modest mid-19th century housing built for workers in the mills along Mill Brook. South of it, Pleasant, Academy and Jason Streets hold larger Victorian and Colonial Revival homes of well-to-do commuters. Along Massachusetts Avenue stand brick and masonry commercial blocks, the Robbins Library of 1892, Robbins Memorial Town Hall of 1912, churches, and an octagonal Central Fire Station of 1926. Together these buildings record the town's shift from a rural crossroads and milling village to a railroad-era suburb of Boston.