School Street Barn
Also known as: Hampden County Jail Farm
Why it's listed
Built around 1880, this large double-ramp barn at 551 School Street in Agawam, Massachusetts, rises from the Connecticut River floodplain and has become a local landmark. It is a four-bent, three-bay timber-frame structure, with sawn timbers of uniform size that reflect local sawmill practice, vertical tongue-and-groove siding, and ramps at both gable ends leading to the main floor above a brick-and-concrete basement. That design let wagons drive straight through and kept livestock and equipment on the lower level, above flood risk. The barn sits on about two acres of a 49-acre town park that was once its farmland. The site of a ca. 1840 farmhouse, demolished in 2000, is included, and the area holds potential for Native American and historic archaeology. After many changes of private ownership, the farm was sold to Hampden County in 1949 and served as a jail farm. Its significance covers agriculture, architecture, law and social history through 1962.
Significance in brief: The nomination presents the barn as a well-preserved example of a double-ramp New England barn, a type developed for sites without slopes, with local sawmill framing practices. It also reflects the agricultural history of Agawam and the barn's later use as part of the county jail farm after 1949. The site of the demolished farmhouse and the archaeological potential add to its significance.
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 12000782, listed September 10, 2012. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | 511 School St., Agawam |
|---|---|
| County | Hampden County |
| Listed | September 10, 2012 |
| Reference number | 12000782 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Period of significance | ca. 1880-1962 |
| Architectural style | Double-ramp, New England-style barn (classified as OTHER) |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Agriculture, Architecture, Law, Social History |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | The barn stands within the town-owned School Street Park. Its openings are boarded up to guard against vandalism, and its current use is listed as recreation/storage. The farmhouse was demolished in 2000. |
| Acreage | 2 |
| Coordinates | 42.07610, -72.59225 (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 12000782.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q15379131
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.