Welcome to our Explore the Art of the Common (10/2/2021) self-guided walking tour! This tour will take about 30 minutes to walk to about a dozen locations on and around the Centre Common including a walk to the Edgell Grove Cemetery gates.
Today’s event grew out of a vision for a program that would bring attention to a painting currently on exhibit at the Framingham History Center – Captain Daniel Bell’s 1808 watercolor of the Centre Common (see above). This painting was chosen by the community as one of ten artifacts to be featured in Framingham’s Top 10 exhibit. Bell’s watercolor inspired the History Center to create an outdoor art experience – an en plein air – that would reinterpret Framingham’s Centre Common today. The History Center run this event last year on a smaller scale due to COVID-19 but wanted to bring it back as a fully envisioned event.
This watercolor shows an incredible level of detail and I encourage you to view it in-person at the Edgell Memorial Library at the end of this tour and to check out the online version which features information on the different buildings.
Before you move on, let’s talk about the Common and how it grew.
Centre Common
This Common was established around Framingham’s second meeting house, which was moved from present-day Buckminster Square in the 1730s. The Common is the geographical center of town which may be why Framingham’s meeting houses gravitated here over the years. The last of those gathering places, the Village Hall (1834) anchors the Common. The land around the meeting house remained largely undeveloped until after the Revolutionary War. Most New England town commons remained wooded and unkempt until the mid-1800s, putting Framingham Centre ahead of its time.
With the development of the Boston-Worcester Turnpike (Route 9) in the early 19th century, the area grew into a commercial hub. Framingham Centre was the half way point between Boston and Worcester and up to 17 stagecoaches a day stopped here during the toll road’s existence. When the railroad built its line through South Framingham in 1834, commerce on the Common moved to downtown leaving the area nearly untouched by commercial development.
Long recognized as a unique part of Framingham, the common is included in two local historic districts — the Centre Common Historic District, and the Jonathan Maynard Historic District. It is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Two years ago the Massachusetts Cultural Council designated the common and its surroundings as a cultural district – The Framingham Centre Common Cultural District.
Walk toward the Village Hall on the Common to where the gravel path meets the parking lot for the next stop.
Village Hall on the Common, 2 Oak Street
The Village Hall is also on the National Register of Historic Places. It was constructed in 1834 and was the last meeting house on the Common. It originally housed town offices including a post office, two schoolrooms, Framingham’s first library, and town meeting government. In thrifty Yankee fashion, no space was wasted, and the town fire engine was stored in the basement! In the late 1800s Town Meeting outgrew the Village Hall and met in various public halls in downtown Framingham, until the Memorial Building, our current town hall, was built in 1928. Today it is managed and operated by the Framingham History Center, as an event venue with all the modern conveniences for weddings, bar and bat mitzvahs, and other family celebrations for up to 180 guests.
Now turn and walk towards the white house next to the brick building across the street (stay on the Common for this stop.)
Wheeler House, 18 Vernon Street
Please note this is a private residence
This is the Captain Eliphalet Wheeler House. Captain Wheeler returned from the War of 1812 ready to settle down and built this imposing Federal style home on two acres of land on the west side of the Common.
The Wheeler family was prominent in Framingham. Brothers Benjamin, Abner and Eliphalet were proprietors of the Saxon Factory Company – a woolen mill that would later come to be known as the Saxonville Mills. Benjamin and Abner were involved in the construction of the Worcester turnpike (now Rt. 9) and brought the town’s 1796 hotel/tavern, which stood around the corner from this house, back to life.
The town eventually bought property from the Wheelers’ to make additions to the Common in the early 1800s.
Please use the crosswalk to cross the street to view the Jonathan Maynard Building at 14 Vernon Street.
Jonathan Maynard Building, 14 Vernon Street
Built as an elementary school in 1915, this building is named after an early prominent Framingham citizen. Jonathan Maynard (1752-1835) fought in the Revolutionary War, most notably at the Battle of Bunker Hill. After the war, he contributed many years of public service, acting as town clerk, justice of the peace, Framingham’s first postmaster, and eventually its state senator.
The building was modeled after Independence Hall in Philadelphia hearkening back to Maynard’s revolutionary story. Pop quiz! What two famous documents were signed at Independence Hall? Answer: The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
Today, the building is home to the Danforth Museum at Framingham State University. When the Danforth was forced to move from their former space on Union Ave in 2016 after the building closed, they purchased this building. The move was challenging and thankfully they merged with Framingham State University in 2018.
The Danforth’s permanent collection focuses on American art from the 19th century to the present day. Its art school is part of Framingham State University’s Department of Continuing Education and they offer studio art classes and workshops for all ages and levels of ability. Their permanent exhibition is open today, free of charge, if you would like to stop in.
Walk a little ways to get a little closer to our next stop, the Old Academy .
Old Academy Building, 16 Vernon Street
The Old Academy replaced what was called the Brick School in 1837. The Brick School opened in 1792 as part of Ben Franklin’s Academy movement. This was based on the philosophy that America’s greatness as a new republic would depend on a liberal education available to its middle classes. In Daniel Bell’s painting, it is the yellow brick schoolhouse on the left. (show image) The Academy was a private school through 1852, when it became a public elementary school.
When the town’s student population outgrew the space in 1915, the school moved to the Jonathan Maynard Building next door. The town leased the Academy for $1 a year to the then Framingham Historical and Natural History Society. As one newspaper reported “It seems entirely fitting that this old building be guarded by the historical society and that [their collection] finds a permanent home in this place of many memories.”
Today, the building houses the Framingham History Center’s archives, research library, and curatorial offices.
Take a short walk down the sidewalk on Grove Street to the Edgell Grove Cemetery gates. The sidewalk does not go all the way so please mind the cars and curb.
Edgell Grove Cemetery, 53 Grove Street
The Edgell Grove Cemetery has a beautiful chapel with stain glass windows and a starry night ceiling that is open today if you’d hop off the tour to check it out.
In the mid-nineteenth century, cemeteries became the new term for burial grounds. The American movement of the rural cemetery was inspired by English gardens which preserved the beauty of the landscape and symbolized an eternal resting place.
In 1846, Framingham’s Colonel Moses Edgell sold his Grove Street land to a committee seeking for a new place for a cemetery. The consecration of Edgell Grove was held on Friday October 13, 1848. Today Edgell Grove Cemetery consists of about 50 acres and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Its gravel roads and general simplicity are its greatest assets. It was designed to unite and shape the rolling landscapes into a country cemetery for the living and a reminder of the pastoral landscapes of Framingham Centre.
There are several special sections of cemetery of note – one is an area for children that died too young, another for a large number of the town’s military, and several ornate family plots. The History Center has hosted several Halloween tours on the grounds so if you are interested in learning more about the luminaries here, they are most likely planning one for 2022.
Now make your way back to the Common. (Stand on the Common, looking toward Vernon House and Scott Hall).
Vernon House, 20 Vernon Street
Before its conversion to a nursing home, this 1850 building was the residence of some locally important individuals, among them Charles Russell Train. It was substantially remodeled to its present Colonial Revival-style appearance following a fire in the 1890s.
Charles Train was a U.S. Congressman during the Civil War. After meeting his friend and neighbor General George Gordon on the streets of Washington D.C. following a series of skirmishes chasing General Lee, Train petitioned President Lincoln to join Gordon’s unit. His wish was granted and Train ended up as a messenger for Gordon. His second battle was the single bloodiest day of the war – the Battle of Antietam.
This residence became a nursing home in 1950, when the Framingham Home for Aged Men and Women relocated here. The name has since changed to Vernon House and it is currently a group home run by Advocates.
Next door is Scott Hall, the parish hall for First Parish but its history goes much farther back. Move to get a better angle of the building.
Nuttingholm/Scott Hall
This was once the site of a beautiful Italianate mansion owned by Wallace Nutting. (show image) Nutting was a minister, photographer, furniture maker, preservationist, and the father of the Colonial Revival movement. He purchased the residence and garden in 1912 and named it Nuttingholm. Nutting owned a factory in downtown Framingham where he produced prints and furniture meant to evoke “old New England.”
His photographs included pastoral scenes, gardens, and replicas of colonial interiors (many taken inside historic homes in Framingham), often with women performing domestic work. These photographs were all hand-colored in his downtown studio and were sold in a variety of sizes to fit all budgets. These became must-have decorative items for the growing American middle class. His style influenced design, art, and architecture for half a century. By 1925 it was estimated that there was one Nutting print in every American home.
Sadly Nuttingholm was razed in 1964.
First Parish Church, 24 Vernon Street
Let’s walk a little closer to our next stop: First Parish church. This church is the fifth First Parish building in its history. The first dates back to 1701 when it was located at the Old Burying Ground near Buckminster Square. The second meeting house as previously mentioned moved here to the Common in the 1730s. A big shift occurred in 1830 when the congregation split over a doctrinal disagreement. The more progressive Unitarian members stayed at First Parish, while the more conservative worshipers went on to form another stop on this tour, the Plymouth Church.
The current façade was styled after the London church St. Martin-in-the-Fields and the building was completed in 1927 after a lightning strike and subsequent fire destroyed the previous meeting house. Its spire is 117 feet tall and the tower bell is made of recast iron from the Paul Revere foundry. The Federal architectural style we see today was chosen to more closely match other buildings in the area.
Now move to the edge of the Common to look at Plymouth Church without crossing the street.
Plymouth Church, 87 Edgell Road
As we just discussed Plymouth Church also dates back to 1701 because it used to be a single church with First Parish until 1830 when the congregation split. From 1830 to 1967 the church on this site was known as the Hollis Evangelical Congregational church. Also notable about the building is the fact that the Framingham Anti-Slavery Society formed here in 1837.
The present brick building was built in 1968 to replace the previous 1830 wooden structure and given a new name: Plymouth Church. The famous patriotic Civil War song The Battle Hymn of the Republic by abolitionist Julia Ward Howe was first sung in public at this church in 1862 in honor of George Washington’s birthday.
Now we’ll walk towards the end of the Common to our last stop, the Edgell Memorial Library.
Edgell Memorial Library, 3 Oak Street
The Edgell Memorial Library was constructed in 1872 as a monument to Civil War soldiers and the Town’s first free standing library. The building is a testament to a spirit of civic engagement and public service as its design and much of the material for its construction was donated by townspeople. It is a tribute to its time with its locally cut granite and stone façade.
In 1963, when a new library was built behind it, some wanted to demolish the building for parking space. However citizens and the Historical Society stepped in to save it. The Edgell Memorial Library now represents one of the few remaining examples of the Victorian Gothic style of architecture in the area.
Did you know Framingham was the first town in Massachusetts to establish a volunteer regiment to fight in the Civil War? And they sent more soldiers per capita to the war than any other town. By the end of the war, Framingham had contributed 530 volunteers, nearly one-third more than what was required by the War Department’s quotas. The lives of 52 men were lost, and the statue of the soldier represents not one man, but all those Framingham men who went to war.
The library is now home to the History Center and houses the museum’s costume collection, Dennison Mfg. Co. archives, staff offices, and rotating exhibit space.
We invite you to go inside and view the 1808 View of the Centre Common painting and the rest of the Top 10 exhibit (open 1-4pm on Saturday, October 2, 2021).