National Register of Historic Places

District No. 4 School

Petersham, Worcester County, Massachusetts
Listed
October 10, 2016
Type
Building
Period
Industrial
Ref No.
16000713

About this property

The District No. 4 School, also known as the First East School or Ledgeville School, is an historic school building at 191 East Road in Petersham, Massachusetts. Built in 1846, it is one of the town's older surviving district school buildings, and now serves as a local community hall. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016. The District No. 4 School is located in a rural area of eastern Petersham, on the north side of East Road a short way west of its junction with Quaker Drive. It is a single-story wood frame structure, with a gable roof, clapboarded exterior, and a stone foundation. The street-facing facade houses a single door, which provides access to the building. The side walls each have three windows. Trim consists of simple pilasters at the corners, and an entry surround with pilasters, transom window, and paneled entablature. A vertically oriented flagpole is attached above the door. The town of Petersham, incorporated in 1754, established a district school system consisting of thirteen districts. The present district 4 schoolhouse was built in 1846, and is one of three school buildings from the 1840s to survive in the town. It was built on a site that had a schoolhouse on it since at least 1788, and was formally deeded to the local district in 1800. The present school was built as a replacement of a building constructed in 1803. District schools were formally abolished in Massachusetts in 1866, but this school remained open until 1943, the last in the town to be closed. The school building had a long history of use for local community functions, which continued after its educational functions ended. It is now managed by the Ledgeville Association as a community resource. National Register of Historic Places listings in Worcester County, Massachusetts

Location

191 East St.
Petersham, Worcester County, Massachusetts
42.48777, -72.12863

Categories

ARCHITECTURECOMMUNITY PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENTEDUCATION
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Nearby Historic Sites

Petersham Common Historic District
Listed
2.9 mi
Prescott Town House
Industrial
2.9 mi
Holland-Towne House
Industrial
3 mi
Searles Hill Cemetery
Listed
3.2 mi
Gay Farm
Industrial
3.3 mi

Questions about this property

When was District No. 4 School listed on the National Register?

District No. 4 School was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 10, 2016.

What type of historic resource is District No. 4 School?

District No. 4 School is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for District No. 4 School?

The period of significance for District No. 4 School is recorded as the industrial era.

Can I research the history near District No. 4 School?

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