Middleborough Historical Museum

Last updated
Middleborough Historical Museum
Mill House 1, c. 1820 - Middleborough Historical Museum - Middleborough, MA - DSC04097.jpg
Middleborough Historical Museum
Established1961 (1961) [1]
Location18 Jackson Street
Middleborough, Massachusetts
Coordinates 41°53′34″N70°54′23″W / 41.8929°N 70.9063°W / 41.8929; -70.9063 Coordinates: 41°53′34″N70°54′23″W / 41.8929°N 70.9063°W / 41.8929; -70.9063
Type Local museum
OwnerMiddleborough Historical Association
Website middleboroughhistoricalassociation.org

The Middleborough Historical Museum is a museum located at 18 Jackson Street, Middleborough, Massachusetts, and maintained by the Middleborough Historical Association. It is sometimes known as the Tom Thumb Museum for its extensive holdings of personal items from General Tom Thumb and his wife Lavinia Warren, who lived in the nearby Tom Thumb House. [1] The museum was founded in 1961, and currently comprises 7 buildings as follows:

BuildingExteriorContents
Mill House #1, c. 1820 Mill House 1, c. 1820 - Middleborough Historical Museum - Middleborough, MA - DSC04097.jpg Entry, General and Mrs. Tom Thumb Collection, Art Gallery, Furniture Room
Mill House #2, c. 1820 Mill House 2, c. 1820 - Middleborough Historical Museum - Middleborough, MA - DSC03965.jpg P. H. Peirce General Store, Deborah Samson Military Room, Toy Room, Kitchen, other rooms depicting social life
Blacksmith Shop, recent construction Blacksmith shop, recent construction - Middleborough Historical Museum - Middleborough, MA - DSC03954.jpg Wheelwright, Agricultural Tools, Ice Harvesting, Charcoaling, Cranberry Industry
Judge Wood Law Office, 1794 Judge Wood Law Office, 1794 - Middleborough Historical Museum - Middleborough, MA - DSC03956.jpg Early Law Office, Lawrence B. Romaine Memorial Library
Whistle House, c. 1800s Whistle House, c. 1800s - Middleborough Historical Museum - Middleborough, MA - DSC03960.jpg 1854 Hand Tub Fire Engine, 1934 Maxim Motors Fire Engine
Carriage House, recent construction Carriage House, recent construction - Middleborough Historical Museum - Middleborough, MA - DSC03962.jpg Transportation Vehicles, Antique Signs
Sproat Tavern Necessary Sproat Tavern Necessary (outhouse), c. 1700 - Middleborough Historical Museum - Middleborough, MA - DSC03951.jpg Five Seat Outhouse

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Middleborough, Massachusetts</span> Town in Massachusetts, United States

Middleborough is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 24,245 at the 2020 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">P. T. Barnum</span> American showman and politician (1810–1891)

Phineas Taylor Barnum was an American showman, businessman, and politician, remembered for promoting celebrated hoaxes and founding the Barnum & Bailey Circus (1871–2017) with James Anthony Bailey. He was also an author, publisher, and philanthropist, though he said of himself: "I am a showman by profession ... and all the gilding shall make nothing else of me." According to his critics, his personal aim was "to put money in his own coffers". He is widely credited with coining the adage "There's a sucker born every minute", although no evidence has been collected of him saying this.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Box Hill South, Victoria</span> Suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Box Hill South is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 14 km east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Whitehorse local government area. Box Hill South recorded a population of 8,491 at the 2021 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laburnum railway station</span> Railway station in Melbourne, Australia

Laburnum railway station is located on the Lilydale and Belgrave lines in Victoria, Australia. It serves the eastern Melbourne suburb of Blackburn, and opened on 13 July 1958.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">General Tom Thumb</span> American circus performer (1838–1883)

Charles Sherwood Stratton, better known by his stage name "General Tom Thumb", was an American dwarf who achieved great fame as a performer under circus pioneer P. T. Barnum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cephas Thompson</span> American painter

Cephas Thompson was a successful, largely self-taught, early nineteenth-century itinerant portrait painter in the United States. He was born, died, and lived most of his life in Middleborough, Massachusetts, but traveled extensively down the Atlantic coast and lived far from home for months at a time while pursuing his career as a portraitist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lavinia Warren</span> American circus performer (1841–1919)

Mercy Lavinia Warren Stratton was an American proportionate dwarf, who was a circus performer and the wife of Charles Sherwood Stratton. She was known as a performer and for her appearance in one silent film, The Lilliputians Courtship (1915).

<i>Tom Thumb</i> (locomotive) 1830 American-built steam locomotive

Tom Thumb was the first American-built steam locomotive to operate on a common-carrier railroad. It was designed and constructed by Peter Cooper in 1829 to convince owners of the newly formed Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) to use steam engines; it was not intended to enter revenue service. It is especially remembered as a participant in a perhaps mythical race with a horse-drawn car, which the horse won after Tom Thumb suffered a mechanical failure. However, the demonstration was successful, and the railroad committed to the use of steam locomotion and held trials in the following year for a working engine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Colony Lines</span> MBTA Commuter Rail lines

The Old Colony Lines are a pair of branches of the MBTA Commuter Rail system, connecting downtown Boston, Massachusetts with the South Shore and cranberry-farming country to the south and southeast. The two branches operate concurrently for 10 miles (16 km) via the Old Colony Mainline from South Station to Braintree station. The Middleborough/Lakeville Line then winds south through Holbrook, Brockton, Bridgewater, Middleborough, and Lakeville via the Middleborough Main Line and Cape Main Line. The Kingston Line heads southeast to serve Weymouth, Abington, Whitman, Hanson, Halifax, and Kingston by way of the Plymouth branch. Limited service to Plymouth was provided prior to April 2021 but was cut due to low ridership and budget constraints.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barnum Museum</span> History Museum in Connecticut, U.S.

The Barnum Museum is a museum at 820 Main Street in Bridgeport, Connecticut, United States. It has an extensive collection related to P. T. Barnum and the history of Bridgeport, and is housed in a historic building on the National Register of Historic Places.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Montello station</span>

Montello station is an MBTA Commuter Rail station in Brockton, Massachusetts. It serves the Middleborough/Lakeville Line. Located north of downtown Brockton, it has two full-length high-level platforms serving the line's two tracks, and is fully accessible.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Middleborough/Lakeville station</span> Commuter rail station in Lakeville, Massachusetts

Middleborough/Lakeville station is an MBTA Commuter Rail station in Lakeville, Massachusetts, just south of the Middleborough border. It is the southern terminus of the Middleborough/Lakeville Line; it is also an intermediate stop for seasonal CapeFlyer service to Cape Cod. Middleborough/Lakeville has a single full-length high-level side platform serving the line's single track.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Thumb House (Middleborough, Massachusetts)</span> Historic house in Massachusetts, United States

The Tom Thumb House is a historic house in Middleborough, Massachusetts. The 212 story wood-frame house was built in the 1870s as a summer home for the dwarf entertainer Charles Stratton, best known by his stage name, General Tom Thumb. It has Second Empire architecture, including a mansard roof, paired brackets in the cornice, and paired columns supporting the porch. The interior was built to meet the needs of the 3-foot-4-inch (102 cm) Stratton and his wife Lavinia, who was also a proportionate dwarf (midget,) however, few of its miniaturized features have survived.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minnie Warren</span> American entertainer (1849–1878)

Huldah Pierce Warren Bump, better known as Minnie Warren, was an American proportionate dwarf and an entertainer associated with P. T. Barnum. Her sister Lavinia Warren was married to General Tom Thumb. They were very well known in 1860s America and their meeting with Abraham Lincoln was covered in the press.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Commodore Nutt</span> American entertainer (1848 – 1881)

George Washington Morrison Nutt, better known by his stage name Commodore Nutt, was an American dwarf and an entertainer associated with P. T. Barnum. In 1861, Nutt was touring New England with a circus when Barnum hired him to appear at the American Museum in New York City. Barnum gave Nutt the stage name Commodore Nutt, a wardrobe that included naval uniforms, and a miniature carriage in the shape of an English walnut. Nutt became one of the Museum's major attractions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Count Primo Magri</span>

Count Primo Magri (1849–1920) and Count Rosebud were the stage names of a 19th-century Italian dwarf who married Lavinia Warren, the widow of General Tom Thumb on Easter Monday, April 6, 1885, at the Church of the Holy Trinity in New York City.

Tom Thumb House may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edmund Newell</span>

Edmund Newell, better known as General Grant Jr. or Major Edward Newell, was a 19th-century dwarf who gained fame as an associate of P. T. Barnum. He was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Edmund S. Newell and Sarah Ellen Jimmerson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nemasket Hill Cemetery</span>

Nemasket Hill Cemetery is a cemetery located in Middleborough, Massachusetts. It was set aside as a burial ground in 1662, and is the oldest in Middleborough. The oldest engraved headstone here is that of Elizabeth Vaughan, who died on June 24, 1693.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Middleborough station</span> Rail station in Middleborough, Massachusetts, US

Middleborough station is an under-construction MBTA Commuter Rail station in Middleborough, Massachusetts. It is expected to open in late 2023 as part of the South Coast Rail project, replacing Middleborough/Lakeville station for regular service. The station will have a single side platform located inside the wye between the Middleborough Main Line and the Middleboro Secondary.

References

  1. 1 2 "Jackson Street Museum in Middleboro opening July 6". The Taunton Daily Gazette. 29 June 2011. Retrieved 18 May 2023.

Sources