Munroe Street Historic District

Munroe Street in downtown Lynn, Massachusetts, forms a compact commercial district of about 2.2 acres, with 18 contributing resources including brick and wood buildings from the mid-19th to mid-20th century. The street grew after the Eastern Railroad arrived in 1838 and became the center of Lynn's shoe industry by the 1850s. Five post-Civil War shoe factory lofts survive here, notable as the only ones in downtown Lynn to escape the Great Lynn Fire of 1889. Among them is the Johnson-Filene Building, where William Filene ran a one-price clothing store from 1878 to 1880, a forerunner of Filene's Department Store in Boston. Later business blocks show Panel Brick, Classical Revival, Tudor and Moderne designs, and an original granite sidewalk from about 1879 remains. Urban renewal removed some older buildings, yet the street keeps its historic retail character and much of its original streetscape.