Concord Massachusetts

Captain John Adams House, Concord, Massachusetts

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The house at 57 Lexington Road in Concord, around 1895-1905. Image courtesy of the Boston Public Library.

The house in 2023:

The house in these two photos was built around 1817, making it relatively young compared to its colonial-era neighbors that line the north side of Lexington Road. It is an excellent example of Federal style architecture, and it was built for Captain John Adams, a shopkeeper who lived here with his family until 1831. According to the building’s MACRIS inventory form, the house was then divided into two separate units, with each one having a series of owners throughout the rest of the 19th century.

The top photo was taken around the turn of the 20th century, when it was owned by William and Marcella Brown. It was during their ownership that the house reverted to a single-family home, but they evidently never lived in it. Instead, they used it as a rental property, with tenants who included the prominent musician and music educator Thomas Whitney Surette. Thomas and his wife Ada lived here for the rest of their lives, and eventually purchased the house in the 1920s. She died in 1937, and Thomas died in 1941.

Today, more than a century after the top photo was taken, there is now a fence and a row of hedges in front of the house, and the house appears to have been expanded in the back. Otherwise, though, the exterior of the original part of the house looks essentially unchanged since the top photo was taken, and it stands as one of the many historic homes here in the center of Concord.

John Ball House, Concord, Massachusetts

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The house at 37 Lexington Road in Concord, around 1895-1905. Image courtesy of the Boston Public Library.

The scene in 2023:

The house in these two photos was built around 1752-1753 by John Ball, a silversmith who lived in the neighboring house to the east. He does not appear to have personally lived in this house, because he sold it in 1753. According to the house’s MACRIS inventory form, the house had a series of owners during the 18th and early 19th centuries. From the mid-1750s until 1773 it was owned by Joseph Butler, a tavern keeper who later served as a militia captain at the Battle of Bunker Hill during the American Revolution. In 1773 it was purchased by Thomas Cordis. He died young, and his widow Elizabeth remarried to Jonas Lee, and they lived here in this house until her death in 1808. Jonas then remarried to Martha Abbott, and then to Rebecca Colburn. It was in 1815, while he was married to Rebecca, that Jonas Lee enlarged the house with the large wing on the right side of the house.

The Lee family sold the house in 1827, and it saw a variety of owners throughout the rest of the 19th and into the 20th centuries. The top photo was taken around the turn of the 20th century, when it was owned by the Walcott family. It would remain a private residence until 1922, when artist Elizabeth Wentworth Roberts purchased it for the Concord Art Association. She had founded the association five years earlier, and this building became its first permanent home.

More than a century later, the Concord Art Association is still headquartered here, as shown in the bottom photo. Remarkably little has changed here in this scene, aside from the removal of the historically inappropriate shutters, and even the large elm in the foreground appears to be the same one that was growing here when the top photo was taken.

Reuben Brown Saddler’s Shop, Concord, Massachusetts

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The house at 69 Lexington Road in Concord, around 1895-1905. Image courtesy of the Boston Public Library.

The scene in 2023:

These two photos show the house at 69 Lexington Road in Concord, which was discussed in more detail in a previous post. It was likely built around the 1720s, and was originally much smaller. Over the course of the 18th century it was used as a shop by several different saddlers, most notably Reuben Brown, who lived in the adjacent house just to the right of the shop. On April 19, 1775, during the first day of fighting in the American Revolution, his shop was raided by British soldiers, who helped themselves to saddles and other leather goods. They also set fire to the shop, although it was quickly extinguished.

Around the 1850s, the building was expanded and converted into a residence. During the second half of the 19th century, it was owned by George and Julia Clark, who lived in this house and operated a boarding house here and also at 77 Lexington Road. Julia died in 1899, and the top photo was probably taken around this time, likely sometime between 1895 and 1905. The house has remained a private residence since then, with few exterior changes aside from the removal of the shutters, as shown in the bottom photo.

Reuben Brown House, Concord, Massachusetts

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The house at 77 Lexington Road in Concord, around 1908. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

The house in 2023:

As explained in more detail in the previous post, this house was built sometime around the 1720s. It was originally much smaller, but it was expanded sometime around the 1780s by Reuben Brown, a saddler who lived here with his wife Polly and their eight children. Brown had his shop in the building next door at 69 Lexington Road, which was later converted into a house. He lived here until his death in 1832, and the house was later owned by his son Reuben Brown Jr. and then by George and Julia Clark. Julia ultimately sold the house to the Concord Antiquarian Society in 1886, and it was converted into a museum.

The top photo was taken around 1908, when the house was still owned by the Concord Antiquarian Society. However, the organization, which was later renamed the Concord Museum, moved to its current facility just a little to the east of here in 1930, and this house subsequently became a restaurant and an inn, before being converted back to a single-family residence in 1955. It is still standing here today, with only minor changes, including alterations to the ell on the right side, triple windows beneath the gables on the third floor, and the removal of the historically-inaccurate shutters that were on the house in the top photo.

Reuben Brown House and Saddler’s Shop, Concord, Massachusetts

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The houses at 77 and 69 Lexington Road in Concord, around 1895-1905. Image courtesy of the Boston Public Library.

The scene in 2023:

These two photos show a pair of houses on the north side of Lexington Road, just east of the town center of Concord. Although located on separate parcels now, the histories of these homes are closely connected. The house on the right, at 77 Lexington Road, was evidently built around 1720. At one point it was believed to have been constructed around 1667, but this is not supported by architectural evidence inside the house, which suggests an early 18th century date.

According to the building’s MACRIS documentation, the house’s early 18th century ownership is difficult to untangle, but it appears to have been owned by the Bulkeley family, including Colonel Joseph Bulkeley and his son John Bulkeley, before being sold to Francis Fletcher in 1725. Exactly which owner built the house is uncertain, but it appears to have been built by the time Fletcher purchased it. He then sold the property to Edward Emerson in 1737, whose widow Hannah later sold it to Henry Gould in 1750.

Gould was a saddler, and he lived in the house on the right, but he may have had his saddler’s shop in the house on the left. It was likely also built sometime around the 1720s, and historical evidence suggests that it was originally a manufacturing shop, before being converted into a residence in the 19th century. After Gould’s death, his widow sold the entire property to another saddler, Reuben Brown, who may have been Gould’s apprentice.

These buildings are perhaps best remembered for their involvement with the events of April 19, 1775, during the Battles of Lexington and Concord. During their brief occupation of the Concord town center, British soldiers looted Brown’s shop. They commandeered his chaise and used it to transport wounded soldiers, and they helped themselves to saddles, bridles, stirrups, and cartridge boxes. They also started a fire in his shop. It may have been accidental, and it was soon extinguished, but it was one of only two buildings in town that were damaged by fire on the day of the battle.

Despite having property damaged and stolen at the start of the Revolution, the war ultimately proved lucrative for Brown. He produced various leather products for the army, and by the 1780s he was able to afford a major expansion of the house, which had previously been much smaller. He and his wife Polly lived here for the rest of their lives, until her death in 1823 and his death in 1832, and their son Reuben Brown Jr. subsequently inherited the property.

The younger Reuben died in 1854, and both the house and the saddler’s shop were then purchased by George Clark, who lived here with his wife Julia. It was apparently during their ownership that the saddler’s shop on the left was converted into a residential building. The Clarks lived in the former saddler’s shop, and they operated both buildings as boarding houses. Among the people who are said to have rented rooms here include Transcendentalist author Ralph Waldo Emerson and abolitionist John Brown.

After George Clark’s death in 1871, Julia continued to run the boarding house here in both buildings, but in 1886 she sold the larger house at 77 Lexington Road to the Concord Antiquarian Society, which used the house as its museum. Julia remained in the house on the left at 69 Lexington Road until her death in 1899, and her daughter Harriet Warren subsequently inherited it.

The top photo was taken at some point around the turn of the 20th century, when the Concord Antiquarian Society was still located in the house on the right. However, in 1930 the organization moved down the street to a new, purpose-built museum building. Now known as the Concord Museum, it is still located there today.

After the museum moved out of 77 Lexington Road, the house was sold and operated as a restaurant and inn for many years, before eventually being converted back into a private residence in 1955. In the meantime, the former saddler’s shop on the left went through a variety of owners over the course of the 20th century, and remains a private residence.

Today, more than a century after the top photo was taken, this scene still looks largely the same. There have been some landscaping changes, including the retaining wall in the front yard of 77 Lexington Road, and the house itself has seen some modifications, including the triple windows on the third floor and an addition to the ell on the south side of the house. Neither of the houses still have shutters, although these were likely 19th century additions, as colonial New England houses generally did not have exterior shutters. Overall, these two homes survive as important witness houses to the events of April 19, 1775, and they are among the many historic homes that line this portion of Lexington Road.

Old Manse North Parlor, Concord, Massachusetts

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The north parlor at the Old Manse in Concord, probably around 1890-1910. Image courtesy of the Phillips Library at the Peabody Essex Museum, Frank Cousins Glass Plate Negatives Collection.

The scene in 2023:

These two photos show the parlor in the northeast corner of the first floor at the Old Manse. In contrast to the south parlor, which was used primarily by family and close friends, the north parlor was historically a more formal space for entertaining guests, and would have generally had finer decorations and furnishings.

As described in more detail in an earlier post, the Old Manse was built in 1770 as the home of William and Phebe Emerson. William was the pastor of the church in Concord, but he died only a few years later in 1776, while serving as a chaplain in the Continental Army. His successor at the church was Ezra Ripley, who would go on to serve as pastor for 63 years. Ripley also married Emerson’s widow Phebe, and they lived here in this house for the rest of their lives.

The house remained in the Ripley family and their descendants for many years, but the house is best remembered for its association with two prominent writers who lived here early in their careers. From 1834 to 1835, William and Phebe Emerson’s grandson, Ralph Waldo Emerson, lived in the house, and then from 1842 to 1845 the family rented the house to Nathaniel Hawthorne and his newlywed wife Sophia. Both Emerson and Hawthorne used the same upstairs room as their study, and they each wrote some of their earliest published works there.

The top photo shows the north parlor at some point around the turn of the 20th century, when the house was owned by Ezra and Phebe’s granddaughter Sophia Thayer. Her daughter, Sarah Ames, subsequently inherited the house, and she owned it until her death in 1939. Sarah’s husband then donated the house and all of its contents to the Trustees of Reservations, a nonprofit conservation and historic preservation organization in Massachusetts.

Today, the house is still owned by the Trustees and operated as a museum. Here in the North Parlor, the highlights include an 1864 Steinway piano, which is partially visible in the lower right corner of the second photo, and the standing desk beyond it to the right. The desk originally belonged to Ezra Ripley, and it was there that he composed over 3,000 sermons during his more than six decades of ministry at the church.