fitchburg-hometown
(Here is a challenge for your minds' eye.  Picture if you can...)

Although Fitchburg got its roots during the middle 1700's when farmers
tilled the land and millers were taming the river, very few houses from this
period remain.  Indeed, there is no section or neighborhood where there is a
concentration of early houses.

(See the 1764 map pointed to from http://www.iii.net/users/kjones/fhs.html)

Amoung the oldest houses which predate the town of Fitchburg's incorporation
are the Reuben Gibson saltbox at 715 Pearl Hill Rd. and the old Elijah
Garfield homestead, ca 1752 which sits at the corner of Pearl and East Sts.
Approximately twenty other central-chimneyed houses remain in the city, but
as their locations are scattered fairly evenly, it serves no purpose to
mention them all here.  However, it might be interesting to note that only
one or two families still occupy the houses built by their forebears.  The
Marshall Farm on Marshall Road has remained in the same family since it was
built in 1780, and the Marshall family is still raising apples there as they
have through nine generations.

As farming lost ground over the years to make way for manufacturing, so
people moved closer to town, giving us the neighborhoods which characterize
our city today.  Most of the homes along Mechanic St. were built during the
Federal Period (1800-1850).  The architectural lines were rather simple, but
the homes were evenly proportioned, lending them an impressive and dignified
air.  No.'s 21 and 33 Mechanic St. are typical examples.  Other
neighborhoods soon developed both east and west of Mechanic St. in the
vicinity of the Upper Common.  On the southwest slope of Prospect Hill,
between Prospect and Chestnut Sts. numerous examples of Federal ARchitecture
abound.  Some of them are well hidden by other buildings, such as 10 School
St. and 9 Chestnut St. but searching them out heightens the joy of
discovering them.

(Here the book has a pen and ink drawing of a center chimney salt box house
with the caption "For nearly two centuries, this house has stood watch over
the Fifth Mass Turnpike.")

Again the neighborhood between Main and the High School developed during the
first half of the 19th century.  Greek Revival architecture, born of the
Federal Period, peppers this area with a splendid marriage of classical art
and Yankee practicality.  Structural lines retained much of their earlier
proportions, but decorations such as pillars, elegant impedimentation and
the widespread use of brick introduced a new style of design.  The imposing
mansion at 120 Prichard St. is Greek Revival at its best.  The section of
Pleasant St. behind the High School is an almost perfect example of this
period's residences both plain and lavish.

A  small portion of the South Side, from Cross St up Hales's Hill is a
reminder that the town's growth during this period was not confined to the
north side of the river.  Nearly every home on Cross and Payson Sts. was
built before the Civil War.

Industry's growth during the Victorian era necessitated the expansion of
residential areas.  Mt. Vernon St. has a greater quantity of Victorian homes
than it has of any other style.  With one or two exceptions, every home its
entire length from Crescent to Hawes sts. was constructed between 1860 and
1890.  The mansard roof was popular, though short-lived, and had its hayday
during this time.  Originally developed in Paris as a way to  circumvent the
height restriction clause in that city's strict building code, the modern
technique soon caught on in the states. On the corner of Mt. Vernon and
Crescent Sts. is a rather ornate mansard roof home with delicately carved
posts supporting the porch.  With the introduction of the lathe, wood could
be turned on a machine, producing intricately carved designs without the
painstaking effort required of manual labor.  Many buildings on Mt. Vernon
St. have ornate porches, balconies and turrets, attesting to the increase of
Fitchburg's well-to-do.  No's 44 and 73 Mt Vernon St show us how
artistically residences were designed back then.  Highland Ave. has another
attractive collection of Victorian-era homes.  The so-called Queen Anne
Revival style was developed in the 1870's and 1880's by American architects
as an answer to the Gothic Rivival rage which was enveloping the country.
The large stone and shingle house on the corner of Highland Ave and Orange
St. bears this out very well.  With its tower and unusual design, it gives
us the appearance of an old fortress.  This grandiose style is also carried
out to a different extent at No.'s 43 and 108 Hightland Ave.

(enjoy)