Highlands Historic District

Rising above downtown Fall River, the Highlands is a 145-acre neighborhood of about 322 mostly residential buildings, largely dating from 1840 to 1925. Once the Rodman Farm, it was divided into large lots after the 1843 downtown fire, when wealthy industrialists moved uphill. Lots averaged 10,000 square feet and were often enclosed by granite retaining walls and ornate iron fences. The earliest mansions were temple-fronted Greek Revival houses, including the Carr-Osborn House of about 1842, attributed to architect Russell Warren. Later buildings form a broad record of Victorian taste: Italianate and Gothic Revival houses, mansard-roofed dwellings, Stick Style, Queen Anne, Shingle Style and Georgian Revival. Residents were mainly Yankee mill owners and industrialists, with merchants, brokers and managers arriving in the late 1880s and 1890s. The district was listed for its part in the city's post-fire rebuilding, its association with leading businessmen, and its architectural quality.