New Bedford Historic District

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New Bedford Historic District
North Water Street, New Bedford, MA.jpg
View along North Water Street, 2008
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Location New Bedford, Massachusetts
Coordinates 41°38′7″N70°55′27″W / 41.63528°N 70.92417°W / 41.63528; -70.92417
Area19.6 acres (7.9 ha) [1]
Built1790
Architect Russell Warren, Robert Mills, others
Architectural style Greek Revival, Federal
NRHP reference No. 66000773
Significant dates
Added to NRHPNovember 13, 1966 [2]
Designated NHLDNovember 13, 1966 [3]

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.

Contents

Most of its buildings were erected between 1790 and 1855 by Russell Warren and other builders working in the Federal and Greek Revival architectural styles. Many of them reflect the legacy of whaling in the city's development. The district was designated a National Historic Landmark (NHL) and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1966. [1] [3] [2] Later it was recognized as a local historic district and protected by local zoning. One building within it, the U.S. Customhouse, is the oldest such facility currently in use and has been independently recognized as an NHL. Since 1996 the district has also been a part of New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park.

Geography

The district is bounded by Front Street on the east, Elm Street on the north, Acushnet Avenue and the Central New Bedford Historic District on the west, and Commercial Street on the south. This area includes 11 city blocks and part of a twelfth. On these 19.6 acres (7.9 ha) are 20 buildings, mostly historic but with some modern intrusions, mainly parking lots, a gas station and newer additions to the New Bedford Whaling Museum. Cobblestone paving and gas lamps have been added since the historic district was designated, in order to recreate the neighborhood's 19th-century appearance. [1] The majority of the buildings are commercial in design and use, but there are some houses, and some mixed-use structures. [1] [4]

Map showing district boundaries New Bedford Historic District map 3.png
Map showing district boundaries

Just east of the district is the John F. Kennedy Expressway (MA 18), [1] a limited-access highway which has become a barrier between the district and the neighboring waterfront, is still in use. Local preservationists have supported a plan to redesign the highway and restore access to the waterfront that spurred the area's original development. The city received a $16.3 million grant to make this possible. [5]

History

Rise as whaling center

New Bedford's potential as a whaling port was seen by Joseph Rotch, who moved to the recently settled area in 1765. He and Joseph Russell, a local landowner who is generally regarded as the city's founder, saw that it had a deep harbor that could receive seagoing vessels at docks. Nantucket, then the center of the American whaling industry, did not. Rotch and Russell attracted shipbuilders to the area, and soon one of their ships, the Dartmouth, sailed from the city's docks. In 1767, it carried the first load of New Bedford whale oil to London. By the time of the Revolution, there were 50 ships in the local fleet. [6]

In 1778, the British Army burned the city in retaliation for the acts of local privateers. The fire destroyed 34 ships, 76 shops, 26 storehouses and 11 homes. After independence, the city concentrated on rebuilding its major industry, and in 1791, the Rebecca set sail, becoming the first American whaler to harvest oil from the Pacific. Two decades later, the War of 1812 again took a toll on the industry, which recovered again and by 1823, New Bedford's fleet equalled Nantucket's in tonnage. Four years later the city's whaling industry had surpassed the island's in barrels produced. [7]

As the city prospered in the following years, much of the historic district was built. In the 1830s, Robert Mills designed the U.S. Customhouse, where whaling captains filed necessary paperwork and paid their tariffs and duties. Joseph Rotch's grandson William, by then a wealthy man, built his mansion, now the Rotch-Jones-Duff House and Garden Museum, further inland. The Seamen's Bethel, built in 1832, became the traditional spot for sailors' religious services before departing for the deep oceans, [8] such as the one described in Herman Melville's classic 1851 novel Moby-Dick , which begins in New Bedford. [9]

By 1840, New Bedford, connected to the growing railroad network, had displaced Nantucket as the country's top whaling port. The streets grew busier and the houses grander. Early in Moby-Dick, Melville, who had lived there a decade earlier, describes the city at the height of its prosperity:

But think not that this famous town has only harpooneers, cannibals, and bumpkins to show her visitors. Not at all. Still New Bedford is a queer place. Had it not been for us whalemen, that tract of land would this day perhaps have been in as howling condition as the coast of Labrador. As it is, parts of her back country are enough to frighten one, they look so bony. The town itself is perhaps the dearest place to live in, in all New England. It is a land of oil, true enough: but not like Canaan; a land, also, of corn and wine. The streets do not run with milk; nor in the spring-time do they pave them with fresh eggs. Yet, in spite of this, nowhere in all America will you find more patrician-like houses; parks and gardens more opulent, than in New Bedford. Whence came they? how planted upon this once scraggy scoria of a country? ... Go and gaze upon the iron emblematical harpoons round yonder lofty mansion, and your question will be answered. Yes; all these brave houses and flowery gardens came from the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans. One and all, they were harpooned and dragged up hither from the bottom of the sea. Can Herr Alexander perform a feat like that?

In New Bedford, fathers, they say, give whales for dowers to their daughters, and portion off their nieces with a few porpoises a-piece. You must go to New Bedford to see a brilliant wedding; for, they say, they have reservoirs of oil in every house, and every night recklessly burn their lengths in spermaceti candles.

In summer time, the town is sweet to see; full of fine maples — long avenues of green and gold. And in August, high in air, the beautiful and bountiful horse-chestnuts, candelabra-wise, proffer the passer-by their tapering upright cones of congregated blossoms. So omnipotent is art; which in many a district of New Bedford has superinduced bright terraces of flowers upon the barren refuse rocks thrown aside at creation's final day. [10]

The New Bedford Institute for Savings (NBIS), now used as the National Park Service's visitors' center, was built in 1853. [11]

North Water Street in early 1960s, prior to creation of historic district North Water Street, New Bedford, MA, early 1960s.png
North Water Street in early 1960s, prior to creation of historic district

Decline and historic preservation era

The whaling industry peaked in 1857, when New Bedford accounted for half the U.S. fleet. Growing competition from the new petroleum industry, and the impact of the Civil War, ensured that it would not recover as it had in the past. The Bethel was rebuilt after an 1867 fire, with a new exterior and an added tower. The NBIS building became a local courthouse, and the center of commercial activity in New Bedford moved west, where it has remained, as textiles became the city's dominant industry. The whaling museum was established in one of the old buildings in 1907. But ships lost at sea were not replaced as they had been before, and in 1927, the John R. Mantra made the last whaling voyage from the city and the last in American history. [7] [12]

Some of the old whaling buildings were torn down to make way for new construction in the 20th century, or deteriorated. But the customs house remained in use, as did many of the buildings in its neighborhood. In the mid-1950s director John Huston came to town with Gregory Peck to film a scene from his adaptation of Moby-Dick in front of the Seamen's Bethel. Although it was the only scene in the film actually shot in the city, it sparked a resurgence of tourist interest when it was released. [13]

National Historic Landmark designation plaque on William Street New Bedford Historic District NHL plaque.jpg
National Historic Landmark designation plaque on William Street

Citizens of New Bedford became interested in preserving and protecting the remnants of the city's whaling past. They formed the Waterfront Historic Area League (WHALE) in 1962. [14] In 1966, the waterfront area was among the earliest National Historic Landmarks designated by the Secretary of the Interior. Five years later, in 1971, WHALE succeeded in getting today's historic district designated as the Bedford Landing Waterfront Historic District. The city later enacted zoning regulations to preserve its character. [1]

Thirty years later, Congress passed legislation creating New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park, commemorating the city's past. [15] It included the entire historic district within its boundaries, and the park service chose the old NBIS building as its visitors' center. In 2008, WHALE turned over the neighboring Corson Building, built 1875-84, to the Park Service, which it had renovated after a 1997 fire. Plans call for it to be used for educational purposes related to the park, with a 60-seat theater, archival space, seminar room, and similar features. [16]

Significant contributing properties

Several of the district's properties are notable. Two have been added to the National Register in their own right, and one has further been designated a National Historic Landmark.

Preservation

The City of New Bedford maintains the historic character of the district through its zoning, a condition of the state historic-district designation. [4] WHALE has also been active in applying for grants and raising money to restore individual properties within the district. [19]

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Moby-Dick</i> 1851 novel by Herman Melville

Moby-Dick; or, The Whale is an 1851 novel by American writer Herman Melville. The book is the sailor Ishmael's narrative of the maniacal quest of Ahab, captain of the whaling ship Pequod, for vengeance against Moby Dick, the giant white sperm whale that bit off his leg on the ship's previous voyage. A contribution to the literature of the American Renaissance, Moby-Dick was published to mixed reviews, was a commercial failure, and was out of print at the time of the author's death in 1891. Its reputation as a Great American Novel was established only in the 20th century, after the 1919 centennial of its author's birth. William Faulkner said he wished he had written the book himself, and D. H. Lawrence called it "one of the strangest and most wonderful books in the world" and "the greatest book of the sea ever written". Its opening sentence, "Call me Ishmael", is among world literature's most famous.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nantucket</span> Island, town, and county in Massachusetts, United States

Nantucket is an island about 30 miles (48 km) south from Cape Cod. Together with the small islands of Tuckernuck and Muskeget, it constitutes the Town and County of Nantucket, a combined county/town government in the state of Massachusetts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Bedford, Massachusetts</span> City in Massachusetts, United States

New Bedford is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. It is located on the Acushnet River in what is known as the South Coast region. Up through the 17th century, the area was the territory of the Wampanoag Native American people. English colonists bought the land on which New Bedford would later be built from the Wampanoag in 1652, and the original colonial settlement that would later become the city was founded by English Quakers in the late 17th century. The town of New Bedford itself was officially incorporated in 1787.

<i>Charles W. Morgan</i> (ship) American whaling ship built in 1841

Charles W. Morgan is an American whaling ship built in 1841 that was active during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Ships of this type were used to harvest the blubber of whales for whale oil which was commonly used in lamps. Charles W. Morgan has served as a museum ship since the 1940s and is now an exhibit at the Mystic Seaport museum in Mystic, Connecticut. She is the world's oldest surviving (non-wrecked) merchant vessel, the only surviving wooden whaling ship from the 19th century American merchant fleet, and second to the USS Constitution, the oldest seaworthy vessel in the world. The Morgan was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1966.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scrimshaw</span> Engravings and carvings done in bone or ivory, created by sailors

Scrimshaw is scrollwork, engravings, and carvings done in bone or ivory. Typically it refers to the artwork created by whalers, engraved on the byproducts of whales, such as bones or cartilage. It is most commonly made out of the bones and teeth of sperm whales, the baleen of other whales, and the tusks of walruses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park</span> US National Historical Park in Massachusetts

New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park is a United States National Historical Park in New Bedford, Massachusetts, and is maintained by the National Park Service (NPS). The park commemorates the heritage of the world's preeminent whaling port during the nineteenth century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Bedford Whaling Museum</span> Museum in New Bedford, MA

The New Bedford Whaling Museum is a museum in New Bedford, Massachusetts, United States that focuses on the history, science, art, and culture of the international whaling industry, and the colonial region of Old Dartmouth in the South Coast of Massachusetts. The museum is governed by the Old Dartmouth Historical Society (ODHS), which was established in 1903 "to create and foster an interest in the history of Old Dartmouth." Since then, the museum has expanded its scope to include programming that addresses global issues "including the consequences of natural resource exhaustion, the diversification of industry, and tolerance in a multicultural society." Its collections include over 750,000 items, including 3,000 pieces of scrimshaw and 2,500 logbooks from whaling ships, both of which are the largest collections in the world, as well as five complete whale skeletons. The museum's complex consists of several contiguous buildings housing 20 exhibit galleries and occupying an entire city block within the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park, although operated independently.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seamen's Bethel</span> United States historic place

The Seamen's Bethel is a chapel in New Bedford, Massachusetts, United States, located at 15 Johnny Cake Hill.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nantucket Historic District</span> Historic district in Massachusetts, United States

The Nantucket Historic District is a National Historic Landmark District that encompasses the entire island of Nantucket, Massachusetts. The original December 13, 1966 listing on the National Register of Historic Places included only the historic downtown core and the village of Siasconset, but was expanded in 1975 to include the entire island, as well as the islands of Tuckernuck and Muskeget. At over 30,000 acres, it is the largest conventional historic National Historic Landmark District by area in the contiguous United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rotch–Jones–Duff House and Garden Museum</span> Historic house in Massachusetts, United States

The William Rotch Jr. House, now the Rotch–Jones–Duff House and Garden Museum, is a National Historic Landmark at 396 County Street in New Bedford, Massachusetts, in the United States. The three families whose names are attached to it were all closely tied to the city's nineteenth-century dominance of the whaling industry. Because of this, the house is part of the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William J. Rotch Gothic Cottage</span> Historic house in Massachusetts, United States

The William J. Rotch Gothic Cottage is a historic cottage on 19 Irving Street in New Bedford, Massachusetts. The Gothic Revival cottage was built in 1845 to a design by noted New York City architect Alexander Jackson Davis. It was built for William J. Rotch, a member of one of New Bedford's leading whaling families. It is for these two associations that it was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2006. It is one a very few surviving Gothic cottage designs by Davis, exhibiting features not found in the others that do. The house was included in The Architecture of Country Houses, published in 1850, bringing it early fame and making it an iconic example of the style.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Third District Courthouse</span> United States historic place

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Bedford Historic District</span> Historic district in Massachusetts, United States

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-century. 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central New Bedford Historic District</span> Historic district in Massachusetts, United States

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.

List of Registered Historic Places in New Bedford, Massachusetts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Waterfront Historic Area League</span> Non-profit historic preservation organization

The Waterfront Historic Area LeaguE, also known as WHALE, is a non-profit historic preservation organization located in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Its mission is: "to promote the value and reuse of greater New Bedford's historic structures through preservation, education and advocacy". The organization often promotes its cause with the words of one of its founders, Sarah Delano. Delano said, "if you bulldoze your heritage, you become just anywhere".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Customhouse (New Bedford, Massachusetts)</span> United States historic place

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.

The following is a timeline of the history of New Bedford, Massachusetts, United States.

Father Mapple is a fictional character in Herman Melville's novel Moby-Dick (1851). A former whaler, he has become a preacher in the New Bedford Whaleman's Chapel. Ishmael, the narrator of the novel, hears Mapple's sermon on the subject of Jonah, who was swallowed by a whale but did not turn against God.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nantucket during the American Revolutionary War era</span>

The citizens of Nantucket during the American Revolutionary War era relied on whaling, industries that supported whaling, and the trade in oil that resulted from that industry. Because most of this trade was with England, the leading citizens of Nantucket chose to be neutral during the American Revolutionary War, siding neither with those who supported revolution nor with the British Crown, in order to maintain the viability of the island's economy. The Quaker culture of pacifism was a secondary cause of the island's non-participation in revolutionary activities.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Polly M. Rettig and S. S. Bradford (January 30, 1975). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: New Bedford Historic District" (pdf). National Park Service: 2.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help) and Accompanying 16 photos, historic and from 1964 and undated  (32 KB)
  2. 1 2 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
  3. 1 2 "New Bedford Historic District". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Archived from the original on June 6, 2011. Retrieved July 10, 2008.
  4. 1 2 Anusczyk, Donna (November 4, 2001). "New Bedford Neighborhoods". The Standard-Times . Ottaway Community Newspapers . Retrieved July 18, 2008. The Bedford Landing-Waterfront District, the only state designated local historic district with imposed zoning regulations ... It consists of about 20 acres (81,000 m2) containing 20 buildings architecturally significant, built from 1810 to 1855, typically characterizing a New England sea port. Several Federal and Greek Revival buildings add a distinct character to the area with shops on the ground floor, and living quarters above. This picturesque neighborhood is within the confines of the New Bedford Whaling National Historic Park, established by Congress in 1996, which encompasses the cobblestone area of downtown. These restored cobblestone streets with gas-lamp style lighting recapture a 19th century atmosphere.
  5. ↑ "Redesign of Route 18". Projects. Waterfront Historic Area League. Archived from the original on May 12, 2008. Retrieved July 18, 2008.
  6. ↑ Rettig and Bradford, 3.
  7. 1 2 Rettig and Bradford, 6.
  8. ↑ Rettig and Bradford, 4.
  9. ↑ Melville, Ch. 7-9 ("The Chapel", "The Pulpit" and "The Sermon"), pp. 37–48.
  10. ↑ , Melville, Chapter 6, "The Street", 36–7.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 Rettig and Bradford, 5.
  12. ↑ Mawar, 339–40.
  13. ↑ "The Seamen's Bethel". New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park. National Park Service. April 2, 2008. Retrieved July 17, 2008. When the movie was released, it was hugely successful and one result was that Americans wanted to visit New Bedford ...
  14. ↑ "About Us-History". Waterfront Historic Area League. Archived from the original on May 12, 2008. Retrieved July 18, 2008.
  15. ↑ 16 U.S.C. ch. 1,subch. LIX-BB
  16. ↑ "Corson Building Progress". New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park. National Park Service. May 1, 2008. Retrieved July 18, 2008.
  17. ↑ "Port Of Entry-New Bedford". U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Archived from the original on September 1, 2009. Retrieved July 18, 2008.
  18. ↑ "New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park". National Park Service. July 2, 2008. Retrieved July 18, 2008.
  19. ↑ "Past Projects". WHALE. 2008. Archived from the original on September 10, 2007. Retrieved July 18, 2008.

Bibliography

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