Newton Street School

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]

Newton School
Newton Street School is located in Massachusetts
Newton Street School
Newton Street School is located in the United States
Newton Street School
Location70 Shelburne Rd.,
Greenfield, Massachusetts
Coordinates42°35′08″N 72°36′50″W
Built1915 (1915)
ArchitectWilliam H. McLean
Architectural styleRenaissance
NRHP reference No.88001907[1]
Added to NRHPOctober 27, 1988

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 William H. McLean of Boston, an architect known for 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. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
  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". The Greenfield Recorder. Retrieved Oct 17, 2015. 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.
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