National Register of Historic Places

First Baptist Church of Northborough

Northborough, Worcester County, Massachusetts
Listed
April 11, 2016
Type
Building
Period
Industrial
Ref No.
16000157

About this property

The First Baptist Church of Northborough is a historic former church building at 52 Main Street. It is presently home to the Northborough Historical Society offices and museum. Built in 1860, it is a good local example of religious Italianate architecture, despite having lost its tower in the New England Hurricane of 1938. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016. The former First Baptist Church stands in Northborough's town center, at the southeast corner of Main and School Streets. It is a 1+1⁄2-story wood-frame structure, with a gabled roof and clapboard siding. The building's corners are quoined, and an entablature encircles the building below the gables. Its front facade is three bays wide, the center one projecting forward and upward into the pedimented gable. The flanking bays have narrow round-arch windows, with a similar one above the recessed entry in the projecting central section. The sides are also three bays, with long rectangular sash windows. The church was built in 1860 for a Baptist congregation formed in 1827. It was their second sanctuary, the congregation having outgrown the first, this building was constructed on the site of the first one. A series of horse sheds were added at the rear in 1837, and were later adapted to house automobiles. The church's original steeple was blown off by the New England Hurricane of 1938, and was not rebuilt. The congregation having declined in size, it merged in 1948 with an Evangelical congregation to form Trinity Chapel. This building was put up for sale by the congregation in 1959, and was acquired by the historical society the following year. National Register of Historic Places listings in Worcester County, Massachusetts

Location

52 Main St.
Northborough, Worcester County, Massachusetts
42.31949, -71.63870

Categories

ARCHITECTURERELIGIONSOCIAL HISTORY
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

Lyman School for Boys
Listed
2 mi
Westborough State Hospital
Listed
2.2 mi
Maples Cottage
Industrial
2.4 mi
Fisher, Nathan, House
Industrial
2.5 mi
Lothrop, Joseph, House
Industrial
2.6 mi

Nearby Battles

Raid on Marlborough 1704
1704Colonial
5 mi

Questions about this property

When was First Baptist Church of Northborough listed on the National Register?

First Baptist Church of Northborough was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 11, 2016.

What type of historic resource is First Baptist Church of Northborough?

First Baptist Church of Northborough is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for First Baptist Church of Northborough?

The period of significance for First Baptist Church of Northborough is recorded as the industrial era.

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