North Amherst Center Historic District

North Amherst Center is a village at the junction of North Pleasant, Pine and Meadow Streets in Amherst, Massachusetts. Church, meeting hall, library, school, fire station, tavern and general store have clustered here since 1821, and the area looks much as it did in the early 19th century. Wood-frame buildings dominate, with granite foundations and many original slate roofs. Houses on the west side of North Pleasant Street are large farmsteads with attached barns and carriage sheds. The architecture ranges from the brick Federal Cowles House to Greek Revival cottages, a Queen Anne library designed by Roswell F. Putnum in 1893, a brick school of about 1887, and early 20th-century Four-Square houses. The district is significant as the civic, religious and commercial heart of a farming community. Mills along the Mill River supplemented farming, and church members were active in temperance, anti-slavery work and a young men's lyceum. The district has 43 contributing buildings and one contributing structure.