West Main Street Historic District

West Main Street Historic District is a 23-acre residential neighborhood on the west side of downtown Marlborough, Massachusetts. It follows West Main Street (U.S. Route 20) and takes in Pleasant, Winthrop and Witherbee Streets, forming a rough J shape. Seventy-seven buildings contribute to its character, most of them wood-frame houses built between the 1820s and 1930, though the feel is mainly late 19th and early 20th century. Houses on West Main and Pleasant are large and set back on landscaped lawns, while those on Winthrop and Witherbee are smaller and more vernacular. Styles range from Greek Revival and Second Empire to Queen Anne and Colonial Revival. The neighborhood grew with Marlborough's shoe industry, and shoe manufacturers, managers, merchants, professionals and workers built homes close to the factories north and east of here. Original forms and details largely survive, and the hilly terrain, trees and street pattern add to the sense of an intact historic area.