Stone Building

Last updated
Ellen Stone Building
L1000075.jpg
Ellen Stone Building in 2015
USA Massachusetts location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location Lexington, Massachusetts
Coordinates 42°25′46″N71°12′26″W / 42.42944°N 71.20722°W / 42.42944; -71.20722
Built1833
Architect Isaac Melvin; Curtiss Capell
Architectural style Greek Revival
NRHP reference No. 76000252 [1]
Added to NRHPApril 30, 1976

The Ellen Stone Building, built in 1833, is an historic Greek Revival style building located at 735 Massachusetts Avenue in Lexington, Massachusetts. It was originally a meeting hall and lyceum for East Lexington, which had its own civic identity and, later, its own church, the neighboring Follen Community Church. Notable speakers at the Lyceum included Ralph Waldo Emerson, Charles Sumner, Wendell Phillips, Theodore Parker, Lucy Stone, Josiah Quincy Jr. and possibly Henry David Thoreau. Emerson notably served as a minister in the building for three years prior to the building of Follen Community Church.

Contents

The building was deeded to the Trustees of the Cary Memorial Library for $2,000 in 1891, by Ellen Stone, granddaughter of Eli Robbins, who built it, and it was named after her. [2] After her death in 1944, she bequeathed $2,000 to the Town for a fund to aid needy and deserving girls in pursuit of education. The East Lexington branch library which had been established in 1883, occupied it until the building was closed for repairs in 2007. [3]

In 1945 a demolition permit was issued for the building followed by several attempts to find a new site on which to locate it. [4] Ultimately it was renovated as the East Branch of Cary Memorial Library in 1947.

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.

Current status

A non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, The Lexington Lyceum Advocates, was incorporated on March 3, 2023, to promote the restoration of the building and to return it to use as a modern-day lyceum as recommended in the 2022 Stone Building Feasibility/Re-Use Committee report. [5]

On March 29, 2023, Lexington Town Meeting approved $400k to fund a design study to explore restoration of the building. [6]

In August 2020, the Lexington Select Board revived the proposal for the Ad Hoc Stone Building Feasibility/Re-Use Committee to find a purpose for this historic building after being unused for 13 years. [7]

In February 2009, the Cary Memorial Library Board of Trustees announced their decision to use the Stone Building as a Lexington Heritage Center [8] which never came to fruition.

In August, 2007, the building suffered damage from burst pipes, and was closed for repairs. [9] The East Lexington Library never reopened.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boston Public Library</span> Library in Massachusetts, US

The Boston Public Library is a municipal public library system in Boston, Massachusetts, founded in 1848. The Boston Public Library is also Massachusetts' Library for the Commonwealth, meaning all adult residents of the state are entitled to borrowing and research privileges, and the library receives state funding. The Boston Public Library contains approximately 24 million items, making it the third-largest public library in the United States behind the federal Library of Congress and New York Public Library, which is also privately endowed. In 2014, the library held more than 10,000 programs, all free to the public, and lent 3.7 million materials.

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

Lexington is a suburban town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, located 10 miles (16 km) from Downtown Boston. The population was 34,454 as of the 2020 census. The area was originally inhabited by Native Americans, and was first settled by Europeans c. 1642 as a farming community. Lexington is well known as the site of the first shots of the American Revolutionary War, in the Battle of Lexington on April 19, 1775, where the "Shot heard 'round the world" took place. It is home to Minute Man National Historical Park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jefferson Market Library</span> United States historic place

The Jefferson Market Branch of the New York Public Library, once known as the Jefferson Market Courthouse, is a National Historic Landmark located at 425 Avenue of the Americas, on the southwest corner of West 10th Street, in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, New York City, on a triangular plot formed by Greenwich Avenue and West 10th Street. It was originally built as the Third Judicial District Courthouse from 1874 to 1877, and was designed by architect Frederick Clarke Withers of the firm of Vaux and Withers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Crane Public Library</span> United States historic place

The Thomas Crane Public Library (TCPL) is a city library in Quincy, Massachusetts. It is noted for its architecture. It was funded by the Crane family as a memorial to Thomas Crane, a wealthy stone contractor who got his start in the Quincy quarries. The Thomas Crane Library has the second largest municipal collection in Massachusetts after the Boston Public Library.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Follen</span> German poet, patriot, professor, and abolitionist

Charles (Karl) Theodor Christian Friedrich Follen was a German poet and patriot, who later moved to the United States and became the first professor of German at Harvard University, a Unitarian minister, and a radical abolitionist. He was fired by Harvard for his abolitionist statements.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Follen Church Society-Unitarian Universalist</span> Historic church in Massachusetts, United States

Follen Church is a historic Unitarian Universalist congregation located at 755 Massachusetts Avenue in Lexington, Massachusetts, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lyndeborough Center Historic District</span> Historic district in New Hampshire, United States

The Lyndeborough Center Historic District, located in the town of Lyndeborough, New Hampshire, United States, consists of three structures: the Town Pound, Town Hall, and Congregational Church. The district was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. In 2010, by town meeting vote, this district became part of a larger, officially zoned local historic district.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Main (Bethany College)</span> United States historic place

Old Main, Bethany College is a historic building group on the Bethany College campus in Bethany, West Virginia.

This is an incomplete list of historic properties and districts at United States colleges and universities that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). This includes National Historic Landmarks (NHLs) and other National Register of Historic Places listings. It includes listings at current and former educational institutions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grand Army of the Republic Hall (Aurora, Illinois)</span> United States historic place

The Grand Army of the Republic Hall is an historic building located at 23 East Downer Place on Stolp Island in Aurora, Illinois, in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wright Memorial Library</span> United States historic place

Wright Memorial Library, more commonly known as the "Wright Building," is a historic library at 147 St. George Street in Duxbury, Massachusetts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frederic C. Adams Public Library</span> United States historic place

The Frederic C. Adams Public Library is a historic library building at 33 Summer Street in Kingston, Massachusetts. Designed by Joseph Everett Chandler (1864–1945), a major proponent of the Colonial Revival style, the library was built in 1898 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2001. The building ceased operation as a public library in December 1994, when the town opened the new Kingston Public Library at 6 Green Street.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">War Memorial Plaza</span> Square in Baltimore

War Memorial Plaza is a public square, small park and space in Downtown Baltimore between City Hall and the War Memorial Building, between Holliday Street on the west, East Fayette Street on the south, North Gay Street on the east, and East Lexington Street on the north.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boston Public Library, McKim Building</span> United States historic place

The McKim Building is the main branch of the Boston Public Library at Copley Square in Boston, Massachusetts. The building, described upon its 1895 opening as a "palace for the people", contains the library's research collection, exhibition rooms, and administrative offices. The building includes lavish decorations, a children's room, and a central courtyard surrounded by an arcaded gallery in the manner of a Renaissance cloister. The library regularly displays its rare works, often in exhibits that will combine works on paper, rare books, and works of art. Several galleries in the third floor of the McKim building are maintained for exhibits.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cary Memorial Library</span> Public library in Lexington, Massachusetts

The Cary Memorial Library (est.1869) is the main branch of the public library in Lexington, Massachusetts. It is located at 1874 Massachusetts Avenue in the town center.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacob Sears Memorial Library</span> United States historic place

The Jacob Sears Library is one of the five public libraries of Dennis, Massachusetts. It is located at 23 Center Street in East Dennis, in a building funded by a bequest from Jacob Sears, a longtime East Dennis resident. The Shingle style structure was built in 1895 to a design by the Boston firm of Rand & Taylor. The library building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gloucester Lyceum</span>

The Gloucester Lyceum (1830-1872) of Gloucester, Massachusetts, was an association for "the improvement of its members in useful knowledge, and the advancement of popular education." It incorporated in 1831.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kilham & Hopkins</span>

Kilham & Hopkins was an architectural firm in Boston, Massachusetts formed in 1899 or 1900 by its founding members, Walter Harrington Kilham and James Cleveland Hopkins. The firm later became Kilham, Hopkins & Greeley after William Roger Greeley joined the firm in 1916, and Kilham Hopkins Greeley and Brodie after Walter S. (Steve) Brodie joined the firm in 1945.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dedham Public Library</span> Public library system in Massachusetts, US

The Dedham Public Library is a public library system in Massachusetts established in 1872. It is part of the Minuteman Library Network.

References

  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
  2. History of Cary Memorial Library Archived 2010-06-15 at the Wayback Machine
  3. East Branch of Cary Memorial Library
  4. "Str_Error_Page_Title".
  5. "Select Board Seeks Volunteers for Ad Hoc Stone Building Feasibility/Re-Use Committee".
  6. "2023 Annual Town Meeting".
  7. "Select Board Seeks Volunteers for Ad Hoc Stone Building Feasibility/Re-Use Committee".
  8. Cary Memorial Library press release accessed September 19, 2011
  9. Lexington weighs new role for Stone Building