Barre Common District

Barre Common District is the historic center of Barre, Massachusetts: thirty commercial, municipal, cultural, religious and residential buildings facing a large open common of just over 15 acres. Greek Revival architecture dominates, including the Congregational Church of 1849, the Town House of 1838-39 designed by E. Lamb, and two buildings of 1836 attributed to Elias Carter. Other styles appear too, such as a late eighteenth-century Federal house, a bracketed house of 1865, and the Richardsonian Romanesque Barre Savings Bank of 1894. Only five twentieth-century structures intrude. The Common itself has been a gathering place for militia training, a July 1840 speech by Daniel Webster, and summer band concerts that earned Barre the nickname "Band Concert Town of New England." The Town House briefly housed the Barre Normal School. Many properties trace to the Caldwell and Woods families, who gave the North Park, the church and the library.