Market Square Historic District

Market Square in Newburyport, Massachusetts, is a triangular open space where State, Water and Merrimac Streets meet beside the Merrimack River. Around it stands a district of about 6.2 acres, made up mostly of three-story brick row buildings with shops below and dwellings above. A fire on May 31, 1811, destroyed nearly the whole area, and a state act required that new buildings be brick or stone. Most of the square was rebuilt over the next twenty-one years under that rule, giving the streets a consistent Federal-style look, with massive fire walls ending in stepped gables. Two buildings stand out: the brick Market House begun in 1823, later converted to a fire station, and the Custom House of 1834-35, designed by Robert Mills. The square was the center of the port's shipbuilding, fishing, trading and distilling economy. Some buildings were owned by a redevelopment authority and stood empty and deteriorated awaiting restoration, while privately owned shops remained in use.