Georgetown Central School
Also known as: Memorial Town Hall
Why it's listed
Built in 1905 as a grammar school and now serving as Georgetown's Memorial Town Hall, this two-story clapboard building at 1 Library Street was designed in the Colonial Revival style by the Boston firm Cooper and Bailey. It sits on a small rise near the town's historic commercial center. Its nearly square form, hipped slate roof, symmetrical windows, pedimented center bays, Tuscan pilasters and columned front porch are typical of early Colonial Revival work. The school replaced a combined high school and town hall that burned in December 1898, at a time when Georgetown's one-room schoolhouses were overcrowded and poorly heated, lit and ventilated. The new building's heating and ventilation system was something of an innovation locally. The site has been a civic and educational center since the late 18th century. A rehabilitation in 1999-2000 restored the exterior from historic photographs and converted the four classrooms on each floor to offices while keeping the original floor plan and many interior details.
Significance in brief: The building is one of the few Colonial Revival examples in Georgetown and retains considerable integrity of design after its 1999-2000 rehabilitation. It replaced a high school and town hall lost to fire in 1898, and it was part of the town's effort to improve overcrowded, poorly lit and poorly ventilated schools. It also stands in a long-standing civic center at Central and Andover Streets.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 01000915, listed August 30, 2001. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | 1 Library St., Georgetown |
|---|---|
| County | Essex County |
| Listed | August 30, 2001 |
| Reference number | 01000915 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Architect / builder | Cooper and Bailey (Cooper & Bailey) of Boston |
| Architectural style | Late 19th and Early 20th Century Revival: Colonial Revival |
| Areas of significance | Education, Architecture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Rehabilitated 1999-2000 and in use as town offices (Memorial Town Hall); some interior work was still being completed at the time of the form. |
| Acreage | 2.1 |
| Coordinates | 42.72266, -70.99333 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
For a publicly owned building or structure, listing mainly matters when federal funds, permits or licences are involved: projects then go through Section 106 review so effects on the property are considered. Listing also strengthens applications for preservation grants and, for leased income-producing uses, can enable the federal rehabilitation tax credit.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 01000915.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q5546977
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.