Bedford is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population of Bedford was 14,161 at the 2022 United States census.
Wamsutta Mills is a former textile manufacturing company and current brand for bedding and other household products. Founded by Thomas Bennett, Jr. on the banks of the Acushnet River in New Bedford, Massachusetts in 1846 and opened in 1848, Wamsutta Mills was named after Wamsutta, the son of a Native American chief who negotiated an early alliance with the English settlers of the Plymouth Colony. It was the first of many textile mills in New Bedford, and gradually led to cotton textile manufacturing overtaking whaling as the town's principal industry by the 1870s.
The Swain School of Design (1881–1988) was an independent tuition-free non-profit school of higher learning in New Bedford, Massachusetts. It first defined its mission as a "school of design" for the "application of art to the industries" in 1902, making it the 12th oldest art school in the United States. By then, the 19th-century whaling capital of the world was already in a textile boom, one that required designers. In response, Swain's trustees developed a meticulous program of study. In the first year, students would train for 40 hours a week in "Pure Design" to prepare them for a second year in "Historic Design." Applied skills spanned a panoply of techniques, involving the design of picture frames, book and magazine covers, illuminations, lettering, stained glass, metalwork, architectural moldings and the "application of ornament to prints." Within a generation, that foresight had made New Bedford, with nearly 70 mills and 41,000 mill workers, the richest city per capita in the U.S.
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.
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; but these plans failed. The complex was vacant in 2012.
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.
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.
The Times and Olympia Buildings are a pair of historic buildings in central New Bedford, Massachusetts. The Times Building, also known as the Slocum or Evans Building, stands at 908–912 Purchase Street, and was built in 1897 to a design by Nat. C. Smith. Originally a furniture store, it was home to the New Bedford Times until the 1950s. The Olympia Building stands next door; it was designed by Mowll & Rand of Boston and built in 1921. It is a four-story brick building, with shops on the ground floor and offices above.
The Thompson Street School is a historic school building at 58 Crapo Street in New Bedford, Massachusetts. The 2+1⁄2-story school was built in 1884 to a design by Brownell & Murkland, and features a distinctive blend of Queen Anne, Stick, and Romanesque styling. It was built during a period of rapid growth in the area, and was named for James D. Thompson, a prominent locally-born military leader and politician. It was converted for use as a community center in 1976.
The Hotel Waverly is a historic hotel at 1162-1166 Acushnet Avenue in New Bedford, Massachusetts. The 3+1⁄2-story hotel was designed by locally prominent architect Samuel C. Hunt and built in 1901. The Queen Anne structure was originally designed to house four residential units on the upper floors, and retail space on the ground floor. In 1911 it was repurposed into the Hotel Waverly, with the second floor converted to a cabaret space. It was renamed the Hotel Touraine in 1922, operating as such until the mid-1970s.
The Whitman Mills are a historic mill complex on the banks of the Acushnet River north of central New Bedford, Massachusetts. The mill yard is bounded by Riverside Street, Manomnet Street, Coffin Street, and the river. It is just one of a group of mill complexes developed by William Whitman in the area around the turn of the 20th century. This particular grouping, including two large mills, an office, and several outbuildings, was built between 1896 and 1917, with most of those original buildings still standing. The mills operated until 1932, when the Whitman Company went bankrupt. The complex was nearly demolished in the 1950s, but has since been subdivided and occupied by a succession of smaller businesses.
Fairhaven High School is a public high school in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, United States. The main school building nicknamed "The Castle on the Hill" was built in 1905 and the current addition was added in 1996. The school is the only high school the Fairhaven Public Schools district. It is one of two high schools taking in Acushnet students, along with New Bedford High School of New Bedford Public Schools.
The Thomas Donaghy School is a historic school building at 68 South Street in New Bedford, Massachusetts. It is a two-story brick structure, roughly rectangular in shape, with a truncated hip roof pierced by hip roof dormers. Sections project on the eastern and western facades of the building. The Romanesque Revival-style school was designed by locally prominent architect Samuel C. Hunt, and built in 1905. It is the city's oldest surviving "modern" school building.
The District #2 Schoolhouse, known locally as the Garfield School and also known as Brunswick District No. 2 School, located in Brunswick, New York, United States, is a two-room schoolhouse built and opened in 1881. It hosted local students until the consolidation of Brunswick (Brittonkill) Central School District in the mid-1950s. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1988, becoming the first building in the Town of Brunswick to be added to the Register. It is the current home of the Brunswick Historical Society.
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.
Nathaniel Cannon Smith (1866–1943), professionally known as Nat. C. Smith, was an American painter and architect of New Bedford, Massachusetts.
The Head of the River Historic District is a historic district encompassing a village area at the head of navigation of the Acushnet River, which separates Acushnet and New Bedford, Massachusetts. The village is centered at the junction of Tarkin Hill Road, River Road, and Mill Road in New Bedford, and Main Street in Acushnet. The area went through two significant periods of development: the first was in the late 18th and early 19th century, and the second was in the early 20th century. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009.
The Manomet Mills are a historic textile mill complex on the north side of New Bedford, Massachusetts. They are located between Riverside Avenue and the Acushnet River, north of Manoment Street and the Whitman Mills. The complex consists of three Classical Revival brick buildings, built between 1903 and 1907. The main building, Mill No. 1, is a 54-bay, three-story structure that was built in 1903. It is attached to Mill No. 2 (1907), of similar size, by a single-story brick structure. The third building is the Mill No. 2 Department Room (1907), a two-story brick building that was originally connected to the other two via overhead bridges, now removed. The mill complex was the main operating site of the Manoment Mill Company, which produced cotton yarn until about 1928. The buildings were sold in that year to the Delaware Rayon Company, which went bankrupt in 1954. Mill No. 2 was then used by the Acushnet Process Company for the manufacture of golf balls, while Mill No. 1 continued to be used for rayon production, a chemically intensive and environmentally hazardous process.
The Bedford Town Hall is located at 70 Bedford Center Road in Bedford, New Hampshire. Built in 1910, it is a prominent early work of Chase R. Whitcher, a noted architect of northern New England in the early 20th century. The building is the third town hall to stand on this site, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.
The Asbury Historic District is a 288-acre (117 ha) historic district encompassing the community of Asbury in Franklin Township of Warren County, New Jersey. It is bounded by County Route 632, County Route 643, Maple Avenue, Kitchen Road, and School Street and extends along the Musconetcong River into Bethlehem Township of Hunterdon County. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 19, 1993 for its significance in architecture, industry, religion, community development, politics/government, and commerce. The district includes 141 contributing buildings, a contributing structure, two contributing sites, and four contributing objects.
