FORM B - BUILDING

MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION

Office of the Secretary. State House. Boston
NR In Area no. Form no.

,
.":' 1. Town Marlborough
<

Address 377 Elm Street

NameCapt. Peter Rice Homestead

Present use Homeof Marlborough

2. Histor~cal Soc~etY

Present owner Microswitch Div. of

Roneysell
3. Description: 2t Story Center Chimney

Date 1688

Source Pub. local histories

, ':~ Style_C_o_l_o_n_i_a_1 _
4. Map. Draw sketch of building location Architect Peter Rice (bui;Lder)
. in relation to nearest cross streets and
other bLlildings. Indicate north. @ Exterior wall fabric Clapboard
n \ ",\ \ a
Outbuildings (describe) None'
EL /'It ST ---------
o Other features

Civil War retained

Porch added during.
on west side

Altered Date _

Moved Date

5. Lot size:

On9 acre or less Over one acre X

Approximate frontage 100 Feet

Approximate distance of building from street

50 Feet
o NOT WRITE IN THIS SPACE 6. Recorded by Ernest Ginnetti
USGSQuadrant
-,
------- Marlborough Historical
Organization Commission

R'tCEl\/EDDate
12/29/76
\ (over)
APR 22 1977
\

1-2-75-R06146S: (20M-2';76) \e MASS~IST. CO;,i~J.

 7. Originalowner (if known) )
Capt. Peter Rice
Originaluse Farm
------------------------
Subsequentuses (if any) and dates
Residence

8. Themes (checkas many as applicable)

----------------------
Aboriginal Conservation Recreation
Agricultural x Education Religion
Architectural X Exploration/ Science/
The Arts settlement x invention
Commerce Industry Social!
Communication Military X- humanitarian
Community development x Political X Transportation )
9. Historicalsignificance(includeexplanationofthemes checked above)

The first Rice in America was Peter's grandfather Edmond, who was born
in 1594, and came from Barkhamstead in the county of Hertfordshire in Eng-
land.to sett1.e in Sudbury, Mass. in 1638, with his wife Tamazine. and was
one of the first petitioners for the M~r1borough Plantation.
Capt. Peter Rice was born Oct. 24, 1658, and married Rebecca Howe in
1688, for whom this house was built as a wedding present. His father Thor
as Rice lived a mi1.e south on the Boston Post Road, and was the son of Ed-
mond , Peter was a prominent man. He was captain of a train band and one
of the committee in 1711 who designated the Garrisons of the town and the
families who wou1.d seek safety in them in troubled times, he died in Nov.
1.753 at 95 years of age.
The house represents the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th .stages of colonial archi-
tecture, being bui1.t as a two room plan, added leantoe, and as now, a
fUlly developed center chimney. During restoration of facade, chimney,
and exterior porch through matching state and federal funds, a quantity
of shawdow molded sheathing was uncovered furthering indicating the 17th
century. :
Although the house was donated to the Marlborough Historical Society
they still pay a nominal rent to Honeywell for the land, which is zoned
for Industry, which they did not donate. For this reason the Marlborough
Historical Commission places this property at the top of its survey for
recognition in the National Register of Historic Places.

10. Bibliographyand/or references(suchas localhistories,deeds, assessor'srecords,

early maps, etc.)
History of Marlborough Mass. Charles Hudson, Boston, 1862.

Historical Reminiscences of Marlborough, Ella Bigelow, 1910

Marlborough Engineering Dept •

....•..
 rFORM B - BUILDING In Area no. Form no.

MASSACHUSETTSHISTORICAL COMMISSION 57
Office of the Secretary, State House, Boston
~ .. \'~,_ ...
1. Town Marlborough

Address 475 Elm Street

Name Joshua Rice Homestead

Present use Residence

2.

Present owner John Kline

3. Description: 2t
Story Saltbox
, Center Chimney
Date 1681 C.

'Source Pub. LQca1 Histories

Style Col.onial

4. Map.'
"- -
Draw sketch of building location Architect Josua Rice
in relation to nearest cross' streets and
other buildings. Indicate north. Exterior wall fabric Clapboard

CU. \ \\ \
Outbuildings (describe)_N_o_n_e _

Other features Large ell at rear

ST
o (not shown)

Altered Date
-------- -----
Moved Date
--------- ------
5. Lot size:

One acre or less Over one acre X

--
Approximate frontage 150 Feet

Approxlrnatedlstance of building from street

Rle.
40 Feet
NOT WRITE IN THIS SPACE 6. Recorded by Ernest Ginnetti
USGSQuadrant
------- Marlborough Historical
Commission
12/29/76
Date
----------------

-
\

5M-2-75-R061465'~ (20M-2o;;76) \, fit

 7. Originalowner (if known) Joshua Rice
-
,
Originaluse Fann )
---------------------------
Subsequent uses (ifany) and dates Residence
--:-----------------------
8. Themes (checkas many as applicable)

Aboriginal Conservation . Recreation

Agricultural x Education Religion
Architectural X Exploration/ Science/
The Arts settlement invention
Commerce Industry Social!
Communication Military humanitarian
Community development x Political x Transportation

9. Historicalsignificance
(includeexplanationof themes checked above)
Joshua Rice, whose father was Samuel, was born in Sudbury April 19,
l661,and his family moved to Ma.rlborough in 1662. He married M~ry in
Marlborough about 1681 and built the above house. He was a proprieter
of Worcester, where he lived for a time but soon returned to Marlboroug
In ~ letter from J~es Taylor, General Treasurer and Receiver General
for His Majesty in the Province of Massachusetts Bay; addressed to Mr •
.Joshua Rice, Constable or Collector of the Town of Marlborough, in which
they discuss at some length the decision from the General Court to levy
and collect a tax upon Polls and Estates. it is dated the nineteenth day
of May 1700, in the Twelth Ye~r of the Reign of our Sovereign. Lord Wil-
liam the Third, of England, King. He died in MC:\-rlborough .June 23, 1734
with five children.
Architec~a11y it is very important because it is the finest example
of the "Saltbox" left in the city, and to my knowledge the only one.
The house also has been extended horizontally, th~t is the typical nine
window facade was extended to the east 2~ Stories front to rear.

IG-. Bibliographyand/or references (suchas localhistories,deeds, assessoris records,

early maps, etc.)

History of Marlborough M~ss. Ch3.rles Hudson, Boston 1862

Historical Reminiscences of Marlborough, Ella Bigelow, Marl. 1910

Marlborough Engineering Dept.

--
 7. Original owner (if known) Joshua Rice
'~:··.1.··
Original use Fann
------------------------------------
Subsequent uses (if any) and dates
---------------------------
8. Themes (check as many as applicable)

Aboriginal Conservation Recreation

Agricultural x Education Religion
Architectural X Exploration/ Science/
The Arts settlement invention
Commerce Industry Social!
Communication Military humanitarian
Community development x Political x Transportation

'. Historical significance (include explanation of themes checked above)

In the writer'? possession (Ella Bigelow) is the following order to
Mr. Joshua Rice, constable or collector of the town of Marlborough.
• Province of Massachusetts Bay.
James Taylor, General Treasurer and Receiver General for His Majesty
said Province.
"To Mr. Joshua Rice, .consta.bleor Collector of the town of Marlborough,
, ,Greeting:
J. "By virtue of an Act of the Great and General Court or Assembly of the
said Province, Made at their Session, Begun and Held at Boston, the
_, Thirty First Day of May, 1699. And continued by seneral Prorogations
until Wednesday the Thirteenth day of March following, In the Twelth
'i year of His Magesties Reign, Entitled An Act for Granting unto his
, Majesty, a Tax-upon Polls and Estates.
!,':-'
uThese are in His Majesties Name, to Will and Require you to Collect all
and "every the Sums of Money, ~entioned in the List of said Tax or Asses-
sment of your Town, made by the Assessors or Selectmen of said Town,
and Committed to you to OOllect, Amounting to the Sum of Thirteen
pounds four Shillings.
- ";".
The last Paragraph is quite lengthy but, it is signed Sam Taylor.

10. Bibliography and/or references (such as local histories, deeds, assessor's records,
early maps, etc.) "
Homestead names are taken from the Oct. 24, 1803 map of Marlborough by
Silas Holman Surveyor. Which includes the town of Hudson.
Histories are taken from Historical Reminisces of Marlboroughtby
F.l1~ Bi~elow ,1910. -
INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Community Property

Marlborough Jacob and Thomas

Rice House

Massachusetts Historical Commission

80 Boylston Street Area(s) Form No.
Boston, Massachusetts 02116 AL 57

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE, cont.

Thomas Rice (1747-1840) married Abigail Hapgood in 1772. He was a Selectman in 1804. Among
their eight children was Jonathan, who owned part of the house in the 1830's, when it is shown
under the names "T. and J. Rice". This was a common situation, especially in the case of an aged
parent, such as Thomas Rice, who would have been in his eighties at the time. Jonathan Rice
(1786-1860), had married Betty (Betsey) Brigham in 1809, and they had ten children. During the
time they lived here, some work was done on the interior stairwell, and an inscription there still
reads "repaired by Jonathan Rice, Edward Holyoke, carpenter, 1841." (Edward Holyoke lived and
had his carpentry shop at 109 Lakeside Avenue [see Form #72]).

By 1853 the property is shown under the ownership of "J. and S. Rice". This refers to Jonathan
and his brother, Solomon Rice (b. 1799). He evidently sold his share of the house back to
Jonathan, however, and built the house next door at 481 Elm Street, probably between 1836 and
1841. By 1875, the property is shown again under one owner, Jonathan and Betty's son, Aaron B.
Rice (1819-1896). (He is also listed on the tax rolls as owning a property of about this size as early
as 1860, and in 1875). By 1889, the Rice name has disappeared, and the house is shown under the
ownership of Leonard Bullard. Little is known about him, but both he and A.B. Rice fought in
the Civil War--Aaron Rice with Co. E. of the Mass. 12th Regiment, and Leonard Bullard in the
Third Brigade of the Second Army Corps, where he was a member of the band.

It is possible that the maps may be in error in regard to the house's later ownership, however, as
conflicting evidence comes from both Ella Bigelow and some 1959 research by John Bigelow, who
say that the house was purchased by Micah (Michael) Priest. Ms. Bigelow states that at one time
this house was purchased from Brigham Rice by carpenter Micah Priest, who had come to
Marlborough from New Hampshire, and lived here with his large family for a number of years.
(Bigelow 163). He was also one of Marlborough's first police officers. According to Mr. Bigelow,
Michael Priest bought the property in 1848, and Aaron Rice moved to Shrewsbury. Pictorial
Marlborough, in its listing of 1879, does show Micah Priest in this vicinity, and lists no Aaron Rice
or Leonard Bullard.

ADDITIONAL BIBLIOGRAPHY.
Maps and atlases: 1803, 1830, 1835, 1856/57, 1875, 1889.
Marlboro vital records
Marlboro directories and tax valuations.
Marlboro Historical Society: House files.
Bigelow, James. "Photographs and Descriptions of Some Old Houses in Marlborough". 1927.
Owner's deed research.
Pictorial Marlborough. 1879.

[x] Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked, a completed
National Register Criteria Statement form is attached.
INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Community Property

Marlborough Jacob and Thomas

Rice House

Massachusetts Historical Commission

80 Boylston Street Area(s) Form No.
Boston, Massachusetts 02116 AL 57

Additional information by Anne Forbes, consultant to Marlborough Historical Commission,

5/11/95:

ASSESSOR'S #67-3 less than one acre. PHOTO #95-11: 22

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION
One of the largest of Marlborough's historic houses, 475 Elm Street illustrates better than almost
any other how houses grew in size over the years. An interior inspection has shown that the
earliest part of the house is the west end, and that it was probably constructed before 1730. The
east end was apparently built about 1800, and the long 1 112-story ell, which stretches northeast
from the rear of the east end, connects an eighteenth-century woodshed to the main house. The
main part of the building today is a long 2 112-story,seven-bay structure, with a rear leanto, which
gives a "salt-box" profile to the view from the west. The two bays on the east end have smaller,
lower window openings than the rest of the facade, indicating that this section was added to what
was an existing symmetrical, five-bay, center-chimney house.

The main center entry, updated in the Federal period, has a wide, heavily molded, louvered fanlight
and four-pane sidelights with panels below. The door is covered by a vertical-board storm door.
The windows are of two types, in slightly projecting frames, with new shutters. Most are 2-over-2-
sash, but three on the east wall still have 6-over-9-sash. Although the synthetic siding may obscure
some trim detail, a large bed molding is still visible under the front cornice.

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE, cont.

Both Ella Bigelow and Ernest Ginnetti in the 1976 inventory form refer to this as the Joshua Rice
Homestead, and Mr. Ginnetti surmises a date of ca. 1681 for the construction of its first section.
More research will be necessary, however, to sort out the house's origin and its growth into the very
large structure seen today. If its first section was built for Joshua Rice (1661-1734) it might have
been constructed in the 1680's, when he was in his twenties, and would have married his wife,
Mary. He was the son of Samuel Rice, and his grandfather was Edmund Rice, an original
Marlborough settler, who had lived and owned a large acreage in this part of town. Joshua Rice
was an original proprietor of the town of Worcester, however, which was incorporated in 1684, and
moved there for a while around that time. He eventually returned to Marlborough, making it more
likely that the house was either built later, after his return, or was constructed by someone else.

On the other hand, owners' research has traced the building of the first section to before 1730, and
its first known owner as Joshua Rice's cousin Jacob Rice (1660-1746). He was the son of Edmund
Rice's eldest son, Dea. Edward Rice. The house was inherited by Jacob's son, Gershom Rice
(1710-1790). He in turn willed it so his son, Thomas Rice, who is shown as the owner on the map
of 1803. (Cont.)
~INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Community Property
Marlborough Jacob and Thomas
Rice House
Massachusetts Historical Commission
80 Boylston Street Area(s) Form No.
Boston, Massachusetts 02116 AL 57

j
/
/J
Massachusetts Historical Commission Community Property Address
80 Boylston Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02116 Marlborough 475 Elm Street

Area(s) Form No(s).

AL 57

National Register of Historic Places Criteria Statement Form

Check all that apply:

[x] Individually eligible [ ] Eligible only in a historic district

[ ] Contributing to a potential .historic district [] Potential historic district

Criteria: [x] A [] B [x] C [] D

Criteria Considerations: []A []B []C []D []E []F []G

Statement of Significance by _An

__ n_e_F_,o_f_be_s _
The criteria that are checked in the above sections must be justified here.

The Jacob and Thomas Rice House meets Criteria A and C of the National Register. It is the oldest
surviving house in west Marlborough associated with one of the earliest and most important of the
founding families of that part of the city, the Rices, and may even contain a pre-1700 First Period
structure. In spite of the synthetic siding, which is its only significant alteration, the building is a fine
illustration of the evolution of a colonial farmhouse from a small, possibly one- or two-room building,
through a "salt-box", 5-bay center-chimney house, to a long seven-bay structure with a long rear ell.

With the exception of the siding, the property retains integrity of location, design, setting,
workmanship, feeling, and association.

The property retains integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and
association.
 FORM B - BUILDING In Area no. Form no.

MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION

Office of the Secretary, State House, Bosto?_

1. Town ~.a"i~lborough

Address 190 Elm Street

:-Jame Caleb Brigham llon:estead

f
Present use Residence
2.

Present owner Mr. Frank Farina

3. Description: Central Hall 21- Stories

Date 1300

Source Pub_ local Histories

Style Colonial

4. Map. Draw sketch of building location Arc hitect None

in relation to nearest cross streets and
other buildings. Indicate north. Exterior wall fabric Wood clapboard

Outbuildings (describe)_N_o_n_e _

Other features None

Altered Facad.e Date 1950's

Moved Date

5. Lot size: 1 acre appx ,

One acre or les s Over one acre

Approximate frontage_l_5_0 __ F_t _

Approximate distance of building from street

30 Ft.

DO NOT WlliTE IN THIS SPACE 6. Recorded by Ernest Ginnetti

USGS Quadrant
,
Organization Marlborough Historical
MHC Photo no. Commission

l4 F.CE1\!E~te_6/_7_/7_8_-------
(over)
JUL G 1978

• MASS. HiST. COMM.

20M-5-13-{)75 014 • ·o'f
.,;,:.
 7. Originalowner (ifknown) Cal ib Brirrh:=lID
------------------------------
Originaluse ~~~sidcnce
subsequentuses (ifany)and dates Same
----------------------------
8. Themes (checkas many as applicable)

Aboriginal Conservation Recreation

Agricultural Education x Religion
Architectural x Exploration/ Science/
The Arts X settlement invention
Commerce Industry Social!
Communication Military humanitarian X
Community development Political Transportation

9. Historicalsignificance
(includeexplanation ofthemes checked above) •
t
Mr. Calib Brigham was a man celebrated for many miles as a taler(ted
violin player, and a popular dancing master, a strict teacher of good.
character and manner.
The Brighams Here not among the first settlers of Harlborough
although they were here well before the close of the 17th century.
the ancester of Calib and all the Brighams of Marlborough was Thomas
Brigham, who set sail from London for the l~ericas April 18, 1635
aboard the ship Susan and Ellyn, Edward Payne master. He was then
32 years of age and settled in that part of \~atertown aftenvard set
to Cambridge. He was made Freeman in 1639 and. was Selectman in 1640.
Hr. Caleb Brigham wa s born Dec. 26 1778, and. died Aug. 17, 1842,
his wife Martha died. April 20, 1860 at the age of 78.

10. Bibliographyand/or references(suchas localhistories,deeds, assessor'srecords,

early maps, etc.)

History of Marlborough Mass. Charles Hudson, Boston 1862.

Historical Reminiscences of Marlborough, Ella Bigelow, Marl. 1910.

1835 Map of Marlborough William H. Wood Surveyor

3/73
INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Community .Property

Marlborough "Jonah Rice"/Saml. Howe

House
Massachusetts Historical Commission
80 Boylston Street Area(s) Form No.
Boston, Massachusetts 02116 D 69
Additional information by Anne Forbes, consultant to Marlborough Historical Commission,
3/31/94:

ASSESSOR'S # 68-399.

APPROXIMATE DATE: ca. 1822-25.

ALTERATIONS: shingled vestibule/extension on east side of ell. Porch removed and main entry
replaced--1980's-early 90's.

SETIING: On small lot at corner of Frye, in area of primarily Iate-Ivth-century gable-end

houses.

ARCHITECfURAL DESCRIPTION, cont.

This house is the only example in Marlborough of one prevalent house-type of the Federal period--
the two-story, one-room-deep, hip-roofed "brick-ender." Here it is interpreted with what was probably
a single integral chimney in each end wall (only the eastern one remains). A clapboarded one-story
ell extends to the rear from the northeast comer, and clapboards also sheath the front and back of
the main house. The windows, installed sometime after 1850, are two-over-two-sash, with molded
surrounds. What appears to have been a late-nineteenth-century double-leafed center entry has been
replaced by a four-panel door flanked by half-length sidelights in a simple, molded-board surround
with no entablature. The other architectural trim, characteristic of the Federal period, includes
narrow cornerboards and a molded, boxed cornice. A facade porch, probably of late-nineteenth-
century date, has been removed since 1978.

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE, cont.

Recent research reveals that this is not the house built late in the eighteenth century by Jonah Rice.
Long before the West Village and French Hill were developed, a former house that was later moved
to this site stood at what was the original foot of Pleasant Street where it formed a triangle with Elm.
By 1803 that building was owned jointly by Jonah Rice and his son Nathan. According to Ella
Bigelow, cooper Samuel Howe (b. 1800) tore down and replaced the Rice house when he came into
possession of the property, which would place the date of this one no earlier than the early 1820's.
He married Charlotte Howe in 1822, which would be a likely time for his father-in-law to have sold
him the property. (See 1978 inventory form).

Pleasant Street was extended south in about 1810. Charlotte and Samuel's son, S. Herbert Howe,
was born in 1835, and as he is said to have used his father's former cooper shop at the corner of
Pleasant and Elm for his first shoe shop, it is likely that the house was still at the old location when
he was working there in the mid-1850's. The maps of 1853 and 1857 show "S. Howe, Jr." still at the
southeast comer of .Pleasant and Elm. By about 1865, S.H. Howe had built his own residence on
lower Pleasant Street, however. (Cont.)
INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Community Property

Marlborough "Jonah Ricefl/Saml.Howe

I-he
Massachusetts Historical Commission
80 Boylston Street Area(s) Form No.
Boston, Massachusetts 02116 C 69
mSTORICAL NARRATIVE, cont.
The first map that appears to show a house at the location of 159 Elm is the 1871 Walling, on which
a house of this footprint appears under the name F. Belmore. By 1875, this house had been acquired
by Joseph Proctor. He was a wood-dealer and jobber who built up a substantial business Joseph
Proctor & Son, in the late nineteenth century, most of which was located on the north side of Elm
Street behind and beside the house at 127 Elm (MHC#283) on a short lane called Proctor Court.
It is not known whether he actually ever lived here, as directories list his residence as 127 Elm Street.
Joseph Proctor employed several family members who lived both in this house and nearby in the
neighborhood, including his son, Frank B. Proctor of 118 Elm (MHC#D-284), who was still teaming
and jobbing there at the turn of the century.

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES, cont.

Conklin. Middlesex County and its People. 1927.
Maps and atlases: 1803, 1830, 1835, 1853, 1857, 1875, 1878, 1889; Sanborn Maps.
Bigelow, Ella. Historical Reminiscences of the Early Times in Marlborough. 1910.
Marlborough Directories.
Marlborough Vital Records.

[ X] Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked, a completed
National Register Criteria Statement form is auached.
Massachusetts Historical Commission Community Property Address
80 Boylston Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02116 Marlborough 159 Elm Street

Area(s) Form No(s).

D 69

National Register of Historic Places Criteria Statement Form

Check all that apply:

[xl Individually eligible [ ] Eligible onlv in a historic district

[ ] Contributing to a potential historic district [] Potential historic district

Criteria: [xl A [] B [xl C [] D

Criteria Considerations: [] A [] B [] C [] D 1:"1 E [] F [] G

Statement of Significance by __ F_o_rb_e_s_I_S_c_h_u_le_I_" _

The criteria that are checked in the above sections must be justified here.

The Samuel Howe House meets Criteria A and C of the National Register. Associated with
one of the early Marlborough families, the Howes, this property is a good example of a once
prevalent house-type, the Federal style dwelling with hipped roof and brick ends. The
property retains integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and
association.
 FORM B - BUILDING Assessor's number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number

Massachusetts Historical Commission I 55-176 I I Marlborough I C 142

80 Boylston Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02116

Town Marlborough
1·_·· __ ··_··--.-1·_······ __·__··_···_-_·__ ·····__······· -.. """jPlace (neighborhood or village) ------
., •...
\
- -:i West Vmage

,-~~~JAddress 68 Elm Street

"':-~f1HistoriC Nam•....
e __ .••. k
••..•
lIn•.•. o..•.•
n•.•.•\l.Lvn'""'- _

Uses: Present 6-unjt dwelljng

Original 6-lInit dweJIing

Date of Construction ...•

8.....
8..•..
1..•....
1 _

.:Source carvin~ on buildin,2

.Style/Form Italianate vernacular

~ArchitectlBuilder unknown

I
,
i Exterior Material:
.A
Foundation brick

Wallffrim stucco and asbestos siding

Roof asphalt shingle

Outbuildings/Secondary Structures _

none

Major Alterations (with dates) SJdmg;

three facade doors repJacecl--20th centllry

N Condition bjr

Moved pq no [ ] yes Date N/A

Acreage less than one acre

Recorded by Anne Forbes Setting Stands end to street at edge of resi-

Organization for Marlboro Hjst Camm dentjaJ area of Elm Mjtchel] School across

Date 3/31194 Elm; apartment hOllse to west

BUILDING FORM

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION [ ] see continuation sheet

Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings
within the community.

In spite of being sheathed in two types of twentieth-century siding, 68 Elm Street is a remarkably
well-preserved example of a type of workers' housing that has rarely survived intact in New England's
nineteenth-century industrial communities. It is a long 2 1I2-story gable-roofed six-unit dwelling. All )
six of its ridge chimneys survive, as do the six pedimented dormers over the north-facing facade--the
only parts of the building that are still clapboarded. Although three of the main entry doors have
been replaced, the three others are a type typical of the 1880's, with a pair of long rectangular lights
over a paneled lower section. The facade entries all retain their original heavy, projecting Italianate
hoods, supported on large calVed brackets with drop finials, and a hexagonal-paneled frieze. The two
center entries are paired under a wide, pedimented canopy. In addition to the heavy brackets at the
outer edge, this hood has paired cornice brackets, and the carved date of the building, "1881",
displayed in a cartouche in the face of the pediment.

The windows, which number eighteen across the second story of the main facade, are 2-over-2-sash,
with molded surrounds. Other architectural trim consists of narrow cornerboards, a molded, boxed
roof cornice with paired brackets, and a sill board above the brick foundation. The prominent
horizontal, vertical, and diagonal banding and "stickwork'' on the two stucco sides of the building
probably dates to the installation of the stucco in the twentieth century.

~
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE [] see continuation sheet J
Explain history of the building. Explain its associations with LocaL(or state) history. Include uses of the
building, and the roLe(s) the owners/occupants played within the community.

This building is the largest nineteenth-century workers' housing block in Marlborough. Maps indicate
that it was constructed for S.H. Howe to house workers at his nearby shoe factories. In 1855, S.
Herbert Howe began making shoes in his father's cooper shop at about this location near the
southeast corner of Elm and Pleasant Streets. Over the years, while operating alone or with various
partners, his company grew to become one of the largest in Marlborough, with facilities at several
locations in the West Village. The largest of them, the home factory, was built at the northwest
comer of Pleasant and Elm. In 1878 Mr. Howe expanded into the former Tucker shoe factory at
Pleasant and Chestnut, (see Form#117), enlarging it for the production of a finer grade of goods
than he had formerly produced. It may have been that expansion that produced the need for him
to construct more housing for his shoe workers in the neighborhood.

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES [] see continuation sheet

Conklin. Middlesex County and its People. 1927.
Hurd, D. Hamilton. History of Middlesex County, Mass. 1890.
Maps and Atlases: Walker, 1889; Sanborns.
Marlborough Directories.

[ X] Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked, a compLeted
National Register Criteria Statement form is attached.
Massachusetts Historical Commission Community Property Address
80 Boylston Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02116 Marlborough 68 Elm Street

Area(s) Form No(s).

C 142

National Register of Historic Places Criteria Statement Form

Check all that apply:

[x] Individually eligible [ ] Eligible only in a historic district

[x] Contributing to a potential historic district [] Potential historic district

Criteria: [x] A [] B [x] C [] D

Criteria Considerations: [] A [] B [] C [] D [] E [] F [] G

Statement of Significance by _~F_o~r~be~s •....

/.....
S~c=h_u~le~r~ _
The criteria that are checked in the above sections must be justified here.

The large workers' housing block at 68 Elm Street is individually eligible for the National Register
for Criteria A and C. It is the largest surviving tenement block in Marlborough and is associated
with the development of the shoe industry, specifically that of S. Herbert Howe. Although there
have been some alterations the block demonstrates the building form of the period with six
surviving ridge chimneys, six pediment dormers, and heavy projecting Italianate doorhoods. The
property retains integrity of location, design, setting, workmanship, feeling, and association.
 ,
FORM A - AREA Assessor's Sheets USGS Quad Area Lc:UC,f Form Numbers ill Area

Massachusetts Historical Commission I 67, 68 [ Marlborough II AI( J 1225-1229 ]

80 Boylston Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02116

J
"fTown Marlborough

~ i Place (neighborhood or village)

•Name of Area Elm Street area

Present Use residential, commercial

• Construction Dates or Period 1850's through

early 20th century
[ Overall COndition----- _
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-tj rl.:l.f.,
fair

<-» Tt Major Intrusions and Alterations much visible

(;L w- ST1k,.sm--
.
e Ctst t;"0\€A ~
building alteration; a few 20th-C. houses inter-
spersed; two large modern officetindustiaJ
buildings set back from road.
Sketch Map Acreage ca 5 acres
Draw a map of the area indicating properties within
it. Number each property for which individual Recorded by ADne Forbes, consultant
inventory forms have been completed. Label streets
including route numbers, if any. Attach a separate Organization Marlborough Historical Comm.
sheet if space is not sufficient here. Indicate North.
Date (month/day/year) 7/27195

Streets included:

Elm Street: #s 245 to 314

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Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form (\4ll.t~S
, X ~ ht-n US~)'\
AREA FORM

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION [] see continuation sheet

Describe architectural, structural and landscape features and evaluate in terms of other areas within the
community.

A cluster of nearly twenty late-nineteenth-century houses lines the section of Elm Street that lies just
west of the former "West Village". All are relatively modest vernacular types and styles, and most are
altered to at least some degree. One of the earliest, the little gable-end Madden House at 314 Elm
is one of the best-preserved. This is a typical bracketed cottage of about 1870, with a later
I
wraparound porch on turned posts. Most of the other gable-ends are quite altered. #245, however, I

retains its clapboard siding, and many of its 2-over-2- and 2-over-l-sash windows. #265, probably built •
in the early 1890's, has kept its glass-and-panel door and Queen Anne bracketed porch on lathe-
turned posts.

Although the late-Victorian gable-end is the main house form here, other building types are
represented as well. There are a few examples of the side-gabled house, best exemplified by the two-
story, three-bay house at #311. #288 Elm Street is a rare example in this part of Marlborough of a
little "extended farmhouse", with attached bam. One of the better-preserved buildings in the area,
it retains its clapboards, much of its simply-molded architectural trim, and 2-over-2-sash windows.

(
,/

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE r] see continuation sheet

Explain historical development of the area. Discuss how this area relates to the historical development of
the community.

In the middle of the nineteenth century, parts of the large farms of the Brigham, Rice, and Russell
families that included land on this short section of Elm Street were beginning to be divided into
smaller parcels, some of which were operated as farms of a few acres in size. By 1856 the line of
Winter Street, formerly a lane leading south to the Lake Williams area, (see Area Form #Al) had
been laid out, with two small houses, both belonging to members of the Howe family, flanking the end
of it. Four more houses had been built in the area by 1875, and several more by 1889. By that time
most of the owners and occupants of these residences worked in the nearby shoe factories. Their Irish
and French surnames, which included Madden, Shay, Fortier, Paradis, and Gasseau, indicate that they
were probably first- or second-generation Irish or French-Canadian Americans, the two main ethnic
groups that made up the bulk of Marlborough's late-nineteenth-century shoe factory employees.

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES [ ] see continuation sheet

Maps, birdseye views, and atlases: 1856-7, 1871, 1875, 1878, 1889, 1900.
Marlborough directories and tax valuations.

[] Recommended as a National Register District. If checked, you must attach a completed

National Register Criteria Statement form.
INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Community Property

Marlborough Elm Street Area

Massachusetts Historical Commission
80 Boylston Street Area(s) Form Nos.
Boston, Massachusetts 02116 AI< 1225-1229

AREA DATA SHEET

NOTE: Although the inventory includes the entire area shown on the Area Sketch Map, only
resources which are mentioned in text of the Area Form have been given inventory numbers and are
listed on the Area Data Sheet. As a rule, these represent the most historically or architecturally
significant resources in the area. There are more altered early properties located within the area,
however. (See Area Sketch Map for their locations.)

Approximate
MHC# Parcel # Street Address Historic Narne Date Style/type

1225 68-11 245 Elm Street late 19th C. gable-and-wing

house

1226 68-14 265 Elm Street ca. 1890's gable-end-and-

wing house

1227 68-66 288 Elm Street Shay/Fox? House ca. 1870 "extended
farmhouse"

1228 67-58 311 Elm Street late 19th C. 2-5t01)', side-

gabled house

1229 67-49 314 Elm Street Madden House ca. 1870 gable-end
cottage

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INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Community Property

Marlborough Elm Street Area

Massachusetts Historical Commission

80 Boylston Street Area(s) Form Nos.
Boston, Massachusetts 02116 AK 1225-1229