Newton Street School

Newton School
Location 70 Shelburne Rd.,
Greenfield, Massachusetts
Coordinates 42°35′08″N 72°36′50″W / 42.5855°N 72.6138°W / 42.5855; -72.6138Coordinates: 42°35′08″N 72°36′50″W / 42.5855°N 72.6138°W / 42.5855; -72.6138
Built 1915 (1915)
Architect McClean, H.L.
Architectural style Renaissance
NRHP reference # 88001907[1]
Added to NRHP October 27, 1988

The Newton School is a historic school at 70 Shelburne Road in Greenfield, Massachusetts. Built in 1915, it is one of the first graded elementary schools in western Massachusetts to feature a single-story plan and a large playground, presaging trends in those areas of school design. The school was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.[1]

Description and history

The Newton School is located west of downtown Greenfield, at the northwest corner of Shelburne Road and Massachusetts Route 2A. The U-shaped brick building features a shallow slate roof, and a brick gable over the main entrance. The corners of the building have stone insets decorated with an open book design.[2]

The school was built in 1915, during Greenfield's greatest period of economic and population growth. It was designed by H.L. McLean, about whom little is known; his practice is known to have included other school designs. The school remained in active use until 1968, at which time it was closed and the building was leased to a community organization. It was reopened in 1988, as its surrounding residential areas had seen significant growth.[3]

A 1915 annual town report refers to the school as Westside, a reference to the location on the west side of the Green River.[4]

With the help of the Greenfield Recreation Department, Kaboom!, families and community members, Newton School built a new playground in October 2015 featuring playground instruments, unique to its community.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 National Park Service (2008-04-15). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
  2. ↑ "MACRIS inventory record for Newton Street School". Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Retrieved 2013-12-21.
  3. ↑ "NRHP nomination for Newton Street School". National Archive. Retrieved 2018-08-20.
  4. ↑ Curtis, Chris (Aug 7, 2015). "Newton School turns to alumni to help it turn 100". Local historian Peter S. Miller is partially responsible for the Newton School name, having opposed an effort to change it to the Catherine Carney School in 1990 in honor of a long-time teacher. The school is named for James Newton, who owned the land and a sawmill nearby in the 1880s. Solon Street is named for his son, Solon Newton. The Greenfield Recorder. Retrieved Oct 17, 2015. line feed character in |work= at position 336 (help)
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