Monument Park Historic District

Monument Park Historic District in downtown Fitchburg groups twelve commercial, residential and civic buildings around a two-thirds-acre formal park laid out in 1874. At its center stands a granite Civil War monument by Martin Milmore, dedicated to the 142 Fitchburg citizens who died in the war. Surrounding buildings include Richard Upjohn's granite Christ Church of 1868, the High Victorian Gothic county courthouse of 1871, the 1891 brick Armory, and the granite Classical Revival Post Office of 1903. The oldest remaining building is the 1844 Trinitarian Church, founded by Congregationalists opposed to slavery and visited by abolitionist speakers. Growth followed the arrival of the railroad in 1845 and continued until about 1910. Local architect H. M. Francis designed three district buildings and remodeled two others. The district was largely built as an expression of civic pride and, until 1974, was surrounded by buildings serving four levels of government. Its mix of styles still reads as a harmonious group.