Summer Street Historic District

Summer Street Historic District occupies about 27 acres on the edge of downtown Adams, Massachusetts. Its 78 buildings are mostly nineteenth-century single-family houses, with several rowhouse blocks and two brick churches, now fraternal lodges, marking the entrance on Center Street. Only three buildings, late twentieth-century houses on Crandall Street, do not contribute. Greek Revival houses from the 1830s to 1850s sit alongside Italianate, Second Empire and many Queen Anne houses, most built between 1885 and 1895. The neighborhood grew as Adams shifted from farming to milling. Merchants such as Dallas J. Dean and the Smith brothers settled here, and mill owners and managers from the paper and textile firms followed, including James Renfrew, Jr. Local carpenters and builders such as the Richmonds and the Flemmings shaped much of the development. Rowhouses housed young mill executives. The district retains its tree-lined streets, outbuildings and a high potential for archaeological remains.