New Bedford Gas and Edison Light Complex

Last updated
New Bedford Gas and Edison Light Complex

New Bedford Gas and Edison Light Complex, New Bedford MA.jpg

New Bedford Gas and Edison Light Complex
USA Massachusetts location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location New Bedford, Massachusetts
Coordinates 41°37′49″N70°55′16″W / 41.63028°N 70.92111°W / 41.63028; -70.92111 Coordinates: 41°37′49″N70°55′16″W / 41.63028°N 70.92111°W / 41.63028; -70.92111
Area 5.8 acres (2.3 ha)
Built 1856
Architect Stone and Webster; Durfee, William and Sons
Architectural style Classical Revival, Moderne
NRHP reference #

02000633

[1]
Added to NRHP June 3, 2002

The New Bedford Gas and Edison Light Complex is a historic district at 180 MacArthur Drive in New Bedford, Massachusetts. It consists of two buildings: a power generation facility that served the New Bedford area for most of the 20th century, and a historic 19th century iron foundry building. Both are on a property once owned by NSTAR, the local electric utility, on the New Bedford waterfront. The foundry building is a utilitarian three story structure built out of granite, which was built in 1856 for the Taber & Grinnell Iron Foundry. The Cannon Power Station, in contrast, is a looming presence on the waterfront, about 390 feet (120 m) long and more than 80 feet (24 m) in height. Its initial construction was in 1916, and it was repeatedly enlarged until 1950. It was built by the New Bedford Gas & Electric Light District, and generated power for the city until 1992. In 2002 it was under consideration for use as an aquarium; [2] but these plans failed. The complex was vacant in 2012. [3]

New Bedford, Massachusetts City in Massachusetts, United States

New Bedford is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 95,072, making it the sixth-largest city in Massachusetts. New Bedford is nicknamed "The Whaling City" because during the 19th century, the city was one of the most important whaling ports in the world, along with Nantucket, Massachusetts and New London, Connecticut. The city, along with Fall River and Taunton, make up the three largest cities in the South Coast region of Massachusetts and is known for its fishing fleet and accompanying seafood producing industries as well as having a high concentration of Luso Americans.

NSTAR was a utility company that provided retail electricity and natural gas to 1.4 million customers in eastern and central Massachusetts, including the Boston urban area. NSTAR became a subsidiary of Northeast Utilities in April 2012. In February 2015, Northeast Utilities and all of its operating companies became one large company known as Eversource Energy.

Aquarium transparent tank of water for fish and water-dwelling species

An aquarium is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aquatic reptiles such as turtles, and aquatic plants. The term "aquarium", coined by English naturalist Philip Henry Gosse, combines the Latin root aqua, meaning water, with the suffix -arium, meaning "a place for relating to". The aquarium principle was fully developed in 1850 by the chemist Robert Warington, who explained that plants added to water in a container would give off enough oxygen to support animals, so long as the numbers of animals did not grow too large. The aquarium craze was launched in early Victorian England by Gosse, who created and stocked the first public aquarium at the London Zoo in 1853, and published the first manual, The Aquarium: An Unveiling of the Wonders of the Deep Sea in 1854. An aquarium is a water-filled tank in which fish swim about. Small aquariums are kept in the home by hobbyists. There are larger public aquariums in many cities. This kind of aquarium is a building with fish and other aquatic animals in large tanks. A large aquarium may have otters, turtles, dolphins, and other sea animals. Most aquarium tanks also have plants.

The complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002. [1]

National Register of Historic Places federal list of historic sites in the United States

The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance. A property listed in the National Register, or located within a National Register Historic District, may qualify for tax incentives derived from the total value of expenses incurred preserving the property.

See also

List of Registered Historic Places in New Bedford, Massachusetts.

Related Research Articles

Wamsutta Mills Textile manufacturing company

Wamsutta Mills was a textile manufacturing company located in New Bedford, Massachusetts, a port which was known as a center of the whaling industry. The company was named after Wamsutta, the son of a Native American chief who negotiated an early alliance with the English settlers of the Plymouth Colony in the 17th century. Wamsutta Company's textile mill was founded by Thomas Bennett, Jr. on the banks of the Acushnet River in 1846 and opened in 1848. It was the first of many textile mills that gradually came to overtake whaling as the principal employer in New Bedford. Other mills in the area soon sprang up. By the 1870s, cotton textile manufacture was more important to the local economy than whaling. Wamsutta Mills became well known for producing fine quality shirtings, sheetings and other fine cotton products. The Wamsutta brand continues to this day.

Butler Flats Light lighthouse in Massachusetts, United States

Butler Flats Light is a sparkplug lighthouse located in the outer harbor of New Bedford, Massachusetts, at the mouth of the Acushnet River. Built in 1898 by the United States Lighthouse Board, it is the only known caisson lighthouse designed by a marine architect. The light was added to the National Register of Historic Places as Butler Flats Light Station on June 15, 1987. Automated in 1978, it is now operated by the city as a private aid to navigation.

New Bedford Historic District

The New Bedford Historic District is a National Historic Landmark District in New Bedford, Massachusetts, United States, west of the community's waterfront. During the 19th century, when the city was the center of the American whaling industry, this was its downtown. After its decline in the early and mid-20th century, through the efforts of local activist groups the district has since been preserved and restored to appear much as it was during that period.

Mount Clare (Maryland) human settlement in Maryland, United States of America

Mount Clare, also known as Mount Clare Mansion and generally known today as the Mount Clare Museum House, is the oldest Colonial-era structure in the City of Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A. The Georgian style of architecture plantation house exhibits a somewhat altered five-part plan. It was built on a Carroll family plantation beginning in 1763 by barrister Charles Carroll the Barrister, (1723–1783), a descendant of the last Gaelic Lords of Éile in Ireland and a distant relative of the much better-known Charles Carroll of Carrollton, (1737–1832), longest living signer of the Declaration of Independence and the richest man in America in his later years, also the layer of the First Stone of the new Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, just a short distance away in 1828.

Old Third District Courthouse

The Old Third District Courthouse in New Bedford, Massachusetts, United States, is located at the corner of Second and William streets. It was built in 1853 by Russell Warren in the Greek Revival architectural style, as the home of the New Bedford Institute for Savings, a local bank. After the bank moved, the Bristol County courts came in. They, too, eventually outgrew it and moved elsewhere in the city. Since the creation of New Bedford Whaling National Historic Park in 1996, it has been used by the National Park Service (NPS) as the park's visitor center.

North Bedford Historic District

The North Bedford Historic District is a historic district roughly bounded by Summer, Parker, Pleasant and Kempton Streets in New Bedford, Massachusetts. It encompasses a predominantly residential neighborhood north of downtown New Bedford which was developed primarily in the mid 19th-cnetury. It features a variety of worker housing of the period, as well as a number of higher quality houses built by businessmen. The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

Acushnet Heights Historic District

The Acushnet Heights Historic District is a predominantly residential historic district in central New Bedford, Massachusetts. It encompasses a densely-built urban area about 20 acres (8.1 ha) in size, which was developed as a working-class area, beginning in the 1860s, for the many workers in the city's factories. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989. It abuts the North Bedford Historic District, which is just to the south, and includes the following separately-listed properties: the Union Street Railway Carbarn, the Bradford Smith Building, and the Dawson Building.

Central New Bedford Historic District

The Central New Bedford Historic District is one of nine historic districts in New Bedford, Massachusetts, United States. The district encompasses the city's central business district, built up during the time in the late 19th century when textiles had replaced whaling as the city's main industry. It is a 29-acre (12 ha) rectangular area bounded by Acushnet Avenue and the older New Bedford Historic District on the east, School Street to the south, Middle Street on the north and 6th Street in the west. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.

Merrills Wharf Historic District

The Merrill's Wharf Historic District is a historic district encompassing a portion of the waterfront area of New Bedford, Massachusetts. It encompasses two wharves just to the south of State Pier: the Steamboat Pier and the adjacent Coal Packet Pier. Also included is the stone counting house built by Edward Merrill, the last surviving stone waterfront structure from New Bedford's heyday as a whaling center.

Johnson Manufacturing Company

The Johnson Manufacturing Company was a historic mill complex at 65 Brown Street in North Adams, Massachusetts. Developed beginning in 1872 and enlarged through the early 20th century, it was at the time of its 1985 listing on the National Register of Historic Places a well-preserved example of late 19th century industrial architecture, used for the production of textiles for many years. The complex was demolished in 2007.

Derby Wharf Light lighthouse in Massachusetts, United States

Derby Wharf Light Station is a historic lighthouse on Derby Wharf in Salem, Massachusetts that is within the Salem Maritime National Historic Site.

Waltham Gas and Electric Company Generating Plant

The Waltham Gas and Electric Company Generating Plant is a historic power company generator building at 96 Pine Street in Waltham, Massachusetts. Built c. 1900–1909, this large concrete-and-stone building is an essentially unaltered early power generation plant, although all of its window openings have been filled with concrete. It originally housed a steam power generator, and was sold by Waltham Gas and Electric to Boston Edison, who converted it to an electrical substation in 1917, a role it continues to fulfill.

Waltham Gas Light Company

The Waltham Gas Light Company was a historic industrial facility located at 2 Cooper Street in Waltham, Massachusetts. It was one of the oldest industrial complexes on the South Side of the city, with brick buildings dating to 1854-55, not long after the founding of the company. The Waltham Gas Light Company was founded in 1853 to provide natural gas for "illumination, fuel, and power" to the area. In 1886 the company added an electrical generation plant to the property, which lay in an area roughly bounded by the Charles River, the Boston & Maine railroad right-of-way, and Cooper Street, which now serves an access to the municipal parking garage just west of the company property. The company shut down in 1909, transferring its electrical business to Boston Edison, which still operates an electrical substation in a nearby former company building. The other company buildings were converted to other manufacturing uses, and were demolished in 2007.

Quincy Electric Light and Power Company Station

The Quincy Electric Light and Power Company Station is a historic power station at 76 Field Street in Quincy, Massachusetts. Built in 1902, it is a well-preserved example of industrial Colonial Revival architecture executed in brick. It housed a coal-fired plant until 1920, and now serves as a local power substation. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.

Crompton Loom Works building in Massachusetts, United States

The Crompton Loom Works is an historic industrial complex of the Crompton Corporation at 132-142 Green Street in Worcester, Massachusetts. The factory manufactured looms for textile factories. With its original portion dating to 1860, the complex is one of the oldest surviving industrial sites in the city. The facility was established by George Crompton, whose father William had invented the first power loom for weaving fancy fabrics. The younger Crompton's business would become of the most significant employers in the city, and his innovative looms would revolutionize the textile industry. Crompton and his successors would operate the loom manufacturing works at Green Street well into the 1960s. The manufacturing capabilities on the site were applied to producing can packaging machines and bowling pinsetters. Capabilities at the Green Street facility included machining, drop hammer forging, a cast iron foundry, wood working. and pattern making, along with a materials testing lab.. The building has subsequently been adapted to other uses. The complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, and included as part of the Blackstone Canal Historic District in 1995.

United States Customhouse (New Bedford, Massachusetts) National Historic Landmark in New Bedford, Massachusetts

The United States Customhouse is a historic and active custom house at 2nd and William Streets in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Architect Robert Mills designed the custom house in 1834 in a Greek Revival style. It has been used by the U.S. Customs Service ever since, and today serves as a port of entry.

Dry Dock Complex (Detroit, Michigan)

The Dry Dock Complex consists of six interconnected buildings located at 1801–1803 Atwater Street in Detroit, Michigan, as well as the remains of a nearby dry dock at 1900 Atwater Street. The 1801-1803 Atwater complex is also known as the Globe Trading Company Building. The complex is significant as a historic maritime manufacturing facility. The earliest structure, an 1892 machine shop, is also significant as an early example of an industrial building entirely supported by its steel frame, but using traditional brick and standard windows to infill the curtain walls. The complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009. In 2012, the Department of Natural Resources received funding for historic redevelopment of the complex, along the city's east riverfront promenade.

Saratoga Gas, Electric Light and Power Company Complex

The former Saratoga Gas, Electric Light and Power Company Complex is located near the northern boundary of Saratoga Springs, New York, United States. It is a seven-acre parcel with two brick buildings on it. In the 1880s it became the thriving resort city's first power station.

Paul Smiths Electric Light and Power and Railroad Company Complex

Paul Smith's Electric Light and Power and Railroad Company Complex is a national historic district located at Saranac Lake in Franklin County, New York. It contains two contributing buildings and two contributing structures. The powerhouse was built in 1908-1909 and is a one-story, single room brick building on a stone foundation measuring 40 feet by 55 feet. The office building was built in 1927 and is a three-story steel and masonry building with a terra cotta exterior. It is three bays wide by four bays deep. The Main Street Bridge is a concrete slab bridge built between 1924 and 1931. The Lake Flower Dam and Power Flume was built between 1936 and 1938 with Works Progress Administration assistance.

Stairs Station Hydroelectric Power Plant Historic District

The Stairs Station Hydroelectric Power Plant was built in 1894-1895 in Big Cottonwood Canyon, about 8 miles (13 km) southeast of Salt Lake City, Utah. The plant comprises the powerhouse, switchyard, penstocks, and a pipeline. A dam next to the site is associated with the Granite Power Plant farther downstream, and is part of neither historic district. The powerhouse is the only remaining building associated with the plant. It is an example of an intact high-head generating plant from the late 19th century.

References