South Middleborough Historic District

South Middleborough is a roadside village about six and a half miles south of Middleborough center, laid out along Wareham, Locust, and Spruce Streets over roughly 88 acres. Until 1960 these streets formed one of two principal routes between Boston and the summer resorts of Cape Cod. The district holds 75 contributing resources built between the late 18th and mid-20th centuries, including a ca. 1773 Baptist parsonage, Cape-style and Greek Revival houses, the stuccoed stone house of 1828, a church begun in 1841, a school, a grange hall, a fire station, and Sisson's Diner of about 1901. The village grew after the Cape Cod Branch Railroad arrived in 1848, when local farmers and mill owners such as the Benson family could ship lumber, boxboards, and other products to distant markets. Houses of mill owners and workers remained small and restrained. Later commercial buildings reflect the era of automobile travel toward Cape Cod.