Allen, Ethan, House and Gun Shop
Why it's listed
On Waterville Street in North Grafton, a brick Greek Revival house and a weathered gun shop sit on neighboring lots beside Pratt's Pond. The house, built about 1833, has a square plan, a broad gable roof, corner chimneys and a pediment facade with a central entry. It was converted to a two-family dwelling around 1900 and is joined to an ell, wagon shed and an 1898 barn. The gun shop, with its earliest section dating to 1830, retains a fieldstone dam, stone spillway, head and tail races, and an interior turbine. Here Ethan Allen, born in 1806, began producing guns after buying land in 1833. With his partner Charles Thurber he made single-shot pistols, a rifle and the pepperbox pistol, a self-cocking revolver, until moving to Connecticut in 1842. The property was listed for this link to the early firearms industry and for its rare surviving building types. Its period of significance runs from 1833 to 1940.
Significance in brief: The property is associated with inventor and gunmaker Ethan Allen and the region's early firearms industry, where he made his first guns and the pepperbox pistol. It is also architecturally significant: the house is the town's only grand brick Greek Revival residence, and the gun shop is a rare surviving example of 1830s vernacular industrial architecture.
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 95001167, listed October 12, 1995. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence high).
Key facts
| Address | 37 Waterville St., Grafton |
|---|---|
| County | Worcester County |
| Listed | October 12, 1995 |
| Reference number | 95001167 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Period of significance | 1833-1940 |
| Architectural style | Mid-19th Century: Greek Revival; Mid-19th Century: Other/Vernacular |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Architecture, Industry |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | The house is currently used as a multiple dwelling and the gun shop for storage; the gun shop lot is partly overgrown, and a turbine and gearing remain beneath its first floor. |
| Acreage | 0.9 |
| Coordinates | 42.23720, -71.70562 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
National Register listing is honorary for a privately owned home: it does not by itself restrict what an owner may do with their own money, and it does not require public access. Restrictions come from local landmark or historic-district ordinances, which are separate (how they differ).
Owner-occupied houses are not eligible for the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit, which applies to income-producing buildings, but many states offer credits for homeowners. Listing also opens the door to preservation easements and to buying a plaque. Start with what listing means for homeowners, renovating a listed house and selling one.
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 95001167.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q5402881
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.