Meetinghouse Common District

The Meetinghouse Common District is a historic district on Summer, South Common, and Main Streets in Lynnfield, Massachusetts surrounding the town common.

Meetinghouse Common District
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. Historic district
Old Meeting House
Location	Lynnfield, Massachusetts
Coordinates	42°32′21″N 71°3′1″W
Built	1714[1]
Architectural style	Greek Revival, Colonial
NRHP reference No.	76000260 [2]
Added to NRHP	November 21, 1976[3]

It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.

History

The Old Meeting House, which is at the heart of the Meetinghouse Common District, is the second oldest Puritan Congregationalist meeting house still standing in Massachusetts, after the Old Ship Meeting House in Hingham built in 1681.[4] At the time the idea of building the Meeting House was conceived, the tract of land that is now Lynnfield was a part of Lynn, and it was referred to as Lynn Farms.[5] On January 16, 1711/12 the inhabitants of Lynn Farms petitioned to become the second precinct of Lynn because it was too far of a distance to travel to the first Church that had been built on Lynn Common.[6] In 1714 the residents of the second precinct agreed upon purchasing the parcel of land that is now Lynnfield's Town Common and erecting the Meeting House.[7]

Out of a desire to perpetually honor and maintain the Old Meeting House and to preserve the colonial character of the community the Town of Lynnfield established the Lynnfield Historical Commission in 1967.[8] At that time the prime objective of the commission was to officially register the Lynnfield, Massachusetts, Meeting House Common District in the National Register of Historic Places, and on November 21, 1976 it was finally granted.[9] In addition to the Meeting House, fifteen nearby religious, civic, commercial and residential buildings and sites are included in the historic district.

See also

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Essex County, Massachusetts

References

1. Wainwright, Paul. “Lynnfield, Massachusetts (1714).” Colonial Meetinghouses of New England. 2011. http://www.colonialmeetinghouses.com/mh_lynnfield.shtml
2. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
3. Town of Lynnfield, Massachusetts. Annual Report 2007. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-02-04. Retrieved 2015-02-04.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
4. Paul Wainwright and Peter Benes, “Index,” A Space for Faith: The Colonial Meetinghouses of New England. Portsmouth: Jetty House/Peter E. Randall Publisher. 2009. 112.
5. In an excerpt from Lynn Farms Precinct book, Book I, as found in Thomas B. Wellman, History of the Town of Lynnfield, Mass. 1635-1895, Reprint by Reprint by Lynnfield Heritage Associates, Canaan: Phoenix Publishing, 1977 [1895] 61-62.
6. Nathan M. Hawkes, “The Meeting-House of the Second Church in Lynn,” Hearths and homes of old Lynn, with studies in local history. Lynn: Thomas P. Nichols and Sons. 1907. 111.
7. “Parcel Deed,” In Hawkes, 112.
8. Lynnfield Heritage Associates, Lynnfield A Heritage Preserved: 1895-1976, Marcia Wilson Wiswall, Editor. Canaan: Phoenix Publishing, 1977, 252.
9. Lynnfield Heritage Associates, 262.