From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

Taunton Green Historic District

Historic district in Massachusetts, United States

Field	Value
name	Taunton Green Historic District
nrhp_type	hd
nocat	yes
image	Taunton_green.jpg
caption	Taunton Green, looking east toward Main Street
location	Taunton, Massachusetts
coordinates
locmapin	Massachusetts#USA
area	50 acre
built
architect	Multiple
architecture	Late 19th and 20th Century Revivals, Late Victorian
added	March 1, 1985
mpsub	Taunton MRA
refnum	85000547
<ref name	"nris"

The Taunton Green Historic District encompasses the core area of the historic 19th-century commercial downtown business district of Taunton, Massachusetts. It is centered on the town green, laid out in the 1740s, which now serves at the intersection between U.S. Route 44, Massachusetts Route 140, and Route 138. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

History

The early commercial center of the city of Taunton was southeast of the present center, at the confluence of the Taunton and Mill Rivers. In the 18th century early industry in the form of sawmills and gristmills developed on the Mill River. The Taunton Green was given to the town in 1743 as a militia training ground, and it is also where an early meetinghouse was built. Originally 88 acre in size, it is now much reduced by the surrounding development. Early commercial buildings were mostly of wood-frame construction, of which a few survive.

Taunton Green has historically the gathering place for troops headed to war. Monuments stand on the Green to honor soldiers of all the wars in which local citizens have participated.

"Tauntonians" gathered on the Green on October 21, 1774, to raise the Taunton Flag with its distinctive "Liberty and Union" motto. The flag was hoisted on a 112-foot liberty pole in defiance of King George III. The flag flies on the Green to the present day.

A fire in 1859 destroyed many buildings east of the green, and inaugurated more significant growth of brick buildings in the following decades.

Since 1914 the Green has been the site of the city's annual holiday light display which attracts visitors from throughout the area, giving Taunton the nickname of "The Christmas City."

In July 2004, the historic Templar's Hall (c. 1850) and Cohannet Block (1870) (commonly referred to as the Seeley Building) located on the corner of Taunton Green and Weir Street were destroyed by an arsonist.

Description

The historic district is centered on the roughly square green, and includes most of the buildings facing the green on the flanking streets. It excludes the Bristol County Courthouse Complex, which is located on the north side of the green. It extends for a short way along Broadway to the north and Main Street to the east.

Monuments on the Green honor soldiers of all the wars in which local citizens have participated. Among them is The Hiker, one of fifty copies of a statue by Theo Alice Ruggles Kitson. It commemorates the American soldiers who fought in the Spanish–American War, the Boxer Rebellion and the Philippine–American War. The statue was cast by the Gorham Manufacturing Company in nearby Providence, Rhode Island.

Contributing properties

(partial listing)

Taunton Green (historic town common)
J.R. Tallman & Co, Inc. (1913), 11-12 Court Street
Crocker Building (1898), 4 Court Street
Boys & Girls Club of Taunton (1913), 31 Court Street
43 Taunton Green (1831), current facade added in 1893
Dunbar Block (c. 1830), 44-49 Taunton Green
Union Block (1860), 1-37 Main Street
Bank Blocks (c. 1855), 4, 5 & 9 Taunton Green
Taylor Building (1889), 10-14 Taunton Green
Jones Block (1874), 5-29 Broadway
Donovan Building (c. 1900), 28 Broadway

Properties with separate NRHP Listings

United States Post Office (1932), 37 Taunton Green

Gallery

Image:Taunton Green, Taunton, MA.jpg|Taunton Green in c. 1905 Image:Bristol County Courthouse B&W.jpg|Historic view of Taunton Green with Bristol County Superior Courthouse in the distance File:The Christmas City.jpg|Annual holiday light display on Taunton Green File:Taunton Green Statue.jpg|World War I memorial on Taunton Green File:Crocker Building Taunton.jpg|Crocker Building File:Dunbar Block Taunton.jpg|Dunbar Block File:Donovan Block Taunton.jpg|Donovan Block File:Jones Block Taunton.jpg|Jones Block File:Taylor Block Taunton.jpg|Taylor Block File:Union Block Taunton.jpg|Union Block File:Flag of Taunton, Massachusetts.jpg|The flag of Taunton flies beneath the flag of the United States over Taunton Green

References

{{NRISref. 2008a
"MACRIS inventory record for Taunton Green Historic District". Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
[http://www.tauntongazette.com/archive/x270973186/Christmas-display-planning-begins Taunton Daily Gazette article, October 20, 2008]
(June 2018)
''Walking Tours Taunton, Massachusetts; a guide to historic properties'', Taunton Historic District Commission, 1998
(1 May 2016). "Massachusetts Town Greens: A History of the State's Common Centers". Rowman & Littlefield.

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

historic-districts-in-bristol-county,-massachusetts taunton,-massachusetts national-register-of-historic-places-in-taunton,-massachusetts 1830-establishments-in-massachusetts historic-districts-on-the-national-register-of-historic-places-in-massachusetts

Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about Taunton Green Historic District — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report