Hadley Center Historic District (Boundary Increase)

Hadley's historic center covers a broad area around the Town Common, including West, Middle, East and Russell Streets and Bay Road. It adds hundreds of buildings to an earlier listing that focused on civic structures facing the common. The district traces the town from its mid-17th-century settlement to its years as a market gardening center. West Street holds side-gabled Georgian and Federal farmhouses, among them the 1713 Samuel Porter House, the town's oldest surviving residence. Middle Street has Greek Revival houses of merchants and entrepreneurs, while lower Russell Street has modest Queen Anne houses built along a streetcar line. East Street has Colonial Revival and Craftsman houses built for immigrant farmers. Early 20th-century civic buildings include the 1894 Russell School, the 1902 Goodwin Memorial Library and Hooker School. The Hadley Farm Museum occupies an 1782 barn moved to its site in 1930. Together these resources show a full range of New England village architecture from 1700 to 1935.