Sheep Pasture Gate Lodge // 1894

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As members of the Ames family in the mid-to-late 19th century built their many grand estates and civic buildings in their hometown of Easton, Massachusetts, Frederick L. Ames (1835-1893) was purchasing farmland at the edge of the village before his death. Upon Frederick Ames’ death in 1893, the contiguous parcels passed to his heirs with the vast majority of that land going to his widow, Rebecca, and his eldest daughter Mary. The expansive property was later acquired by Mary’s brother, Oliver Ames III (1864-1929) and his wife, Elise West, who developed the property into their country estate. Oliver and Elise hired the Boston-based architectural firm of Rotch & Tilden, in 1891 to design an impressive mansion and gate lodge off Main Street with landscaping designed by the great landscape architect, Frederick Law Olmsted, who was often hired for Ames Family buildings. Known as the Sheep Pasture, the rustic estate operated somewhat as a gentleman’s farm, with various barns and outbuildings constructed to house farm animals and equipment that were tended to by hired help. The Gate Lodge was built by 1894 and housed attendants who carefully screened visitors to the main residence. The large Tudor Revival mansion was demolished in 1946 after the death of Elise (Oliver and Elise’s only son, Oliver Ames Jr., was killed by a German sniper during WWI), but their daughter, Elise Ames Parker, sought to preserve the various outbuildings on the property, including the Gate Lodge on Main Street. Elise Ames Parker deeded the property to the non-profit group, Natural Resources Trust of Easton in 1967, who preserve the open space and buildings as the Sheep Pasture, and rent the Gate Lodge to tenants.

Morse Thread Mill // 1894

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On Central Street, where Queset Brook dams into Morse Pond, the Morse Thread Mill in Easton, Massachusetts, is a stellar example of late 19th century industrial architecture executed in brick. This site was long-owned by members of the Morse family, beginning in the 1830s when Edward James Whiting Morse (1809-1865) erected a wooden thread mill, creating a small industrial village in South Easton. His heirs inherited the family business and oversaw steady growth until a fire in 1894 destroyed the old mill. They rebuilt in fire-proof brick that same year and remained in operation for a few years until 1900 when Alfred B. Morse, the grandson of Edward, sold the business to a larger manufacturing firm. This 1894 brick factory was later used by the Easton Machine Company, who manufactured machinery and the Morse Automobile from 1902-1914, the work of Alfred. After later industrial use, the building sold to a developer who converted the building to a residence and office in the 1990s, maintaining its unique charm and significance to the community.

The Rockery, North Easton // 1885

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What may appear at first glance to be an overgrown pile of boulders and vegetation on a small triangular parklet in the village of North Easton, Massachusetts, is actually a significant landscape feature designed through the partnership of the country’s most prominent architect, Henry Hobson Richardson, and landscape architect, Frederick Law Olmsted. Beginning in 1877, the wealthy Ames family, led by Frederick Lothrop Ames, commissioned elite architect, H. H. Richardson, to design a town library, the Ames Free Library. Years later in 1879, the children of Congressman Oakes Ames, hired Richardson to design another building immediately south of the library, to serve as the town hall, named Oakes Ames Memorial Hall. After these structures were completed, landscape architect, Frederick Law Olmsted, the designer of New York’s Central Park and Boston’s Emerald Necklace parks, was hired to landscape the site surrounding the Memorial Hall. Richardson had mentioned the desire to create a continuous site here, which would flow into the triangular parcel south of his two landmark buildings. For this small site, Olmsted designed the Rockery, built as a Civil War memorial to the town’s dead and a small landscape as a cairn, drawing from the ancient symbolism of the cairn as a memorial or burial marker.

Queset Lodge // 1854

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Tucked away behind the Ames Free Library in Easton, Massachusetts, you will find one of the most stately examples of Gothic Revival architecture in New England. The house is known as Queset Lodge, and it was completed in 1854 for Oakes Angier Ames, of the wealthy Ames Family. Oakes Ames was an owner of the Ames Shovel Works nearby, which made the family multi-millionaires and have the ability to generously gift buildings to their hometown. The original picturesque Gothic Cottage was built in a style that had been advocated by Andrew Jackson Downing in his publication, The Architecture of Country Houses (1850). In 1873, Oakes Ames hired his family member, John Ames Mitchell, to design the rear addition, effectively doubling the size of the stone mansion. Mitchell also added the copper-clad chimneys and hired landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, to design the grounds and gardens. After his death in 1899, the home was occupied by his son, famous theatrical producer Winthrop Ames, and his wife. The family would eventually gift the property to the Town of Easton, which is today used as an extension of the Public Library!

Ames Gymnasium // 1902

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Most people know about the philanthropic gifts of buildings from members of the Ames Family to the community of Easton; like the Ames Memorial Building, Ames Library, Unity Church, town offices, railroad station, and multiple schools, but less know about this charming early 20th century building, the Ames Gymnasium. Located on Barrows Street in North Easton Village, this building was constructed in 1902 at the behest of local philanthropist and suffragist, Anna C. Ames (1840-1917), as the Ames Gymnasium for use by the Oliver Ames High School named after her deceased husband, Oliver. Anna Ames financed the construction of the gymnasium building, which included a large central gymnasium, three small rooms at the rear for music instructors, and a larger room for band rehearsals. Ames also financed the electrification of the nearby high school, funded by her late husband. For the construction of the Gymnasium building, Anna Ames engaged the noted Boston architect, Guy Lowell (1870-1927), a specialist in the Colonial Revival style. After Anna’s death in 1917, her cousin, Mary Shreve Ames Frothingham and her husband Louis A. Frothingham, purchased the Gymnasium from Anna’s estate in 1921 to function as a headquarters for the Red Cross and the American Legion, converting it to a public hall. The building remains in use by the town for some committee meetings and events.

Ames Shovel Works Stable & Offices // 1897

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The former Ames Shovel Works comprises an area of roughly eight acres in the middle of the village of North Easton, Massachusetts, and it was here that the Ames Family and the village became known for incredible wealth and amazing architecture. The firm was started by Oliver Ames (1779-1863), who moved to Easton and began manufacturing shovels. After a fire destroyed many of the original wooden shops in 1852, O. Ames & Co., now run by Oliver Ames’s sons, Oakes and Oliver, Jr., opted to rebuild in fireproof granite for the new buildings. The company saw rapid growth in the second half of the 19th century, and by 1879, the company is said to have produced 60 percent of all the shovels in the world. Ames shovels were bought as America was expanding westward with its products used to move dirt for the transcontinental railroad and the Panama Canal. After a fire destroyed the company’s old barn/stable in 1887, the company held horses and oxen in a nearby structure until 1897, when this handsome stable building was constructed. The new, elaborate barn is designed in the English half-timbered style, with its proximity to the Ames family’s fancy residences Main Street, likely leading to its distinctive architectural appearance. In 1928, the stable was converted to company offices and after the company closed following WWII, it was rented until a massive rehabilitation of the site into housing, was completed in 2014. The stable building was converted into seven condominium units by PCA Architects, who preserved the stately exterior and modified the interiors to meet the new residential use.

I could not locate the architect of the 1897 building, so if anyone knows, please share!

Ames Shovel Works // 1852

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The former Ames Shovel Works comprises an area of roughly eight acres in the middle of the village of North Easton, Massachusetts, and it was here that the Ames Family and the village became known for incredible wealth and amazing architecture. The firm was started by Oliver Ames (1779-1863), who moved to Easton and began manufacturing shovels. After a fire destroyed many of the original wooden shops in 1852, O. Ames & Co., now run by Oliver Ames’s sons, Oakes and Oliver, Jr., opted to rebuild in fireproof granite for the new buildings. The company saw rapid growth in the second half of the 19th century, and by 1879, the company is said to have produced 60 percent of all the shovels in the world. Ames shovels were bought as America was expanding westward with its products used to move dirt for the transcontinental railroad and the Panama Canal. After WWII, North Easton, like many other industrial villages, saw disinvestment and industry change. Production in Easton wound down by the early 1950s, and the sturdy stone buildings sat neglected for decades, with only a few serving commercial tenants. Instead of letting them be demolished, the town and local preservationists rallied behind a plan to save them. In late 2013, the Ames Shovel Works was rehabilitated and converted to a mixed-income apartment community. The project by PCA Architects, restored these significant stone buildings and provide much-needed housing, where residents live inside the walls where the shovels that helped build a nation were made.

Keith-Dean House // 1717

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Built as early as 1717, the Keith-Dean House on Bay Road is thought to be the oldest extant house in the town of Easton, Massachusetts. Its original owner, Josiah Keith (1678-1754) settled in present-day Easton and purchased 108-acres of land, building his house on the site that year. It was used as an inn as early as 1724. In 1735, Josiah property to his nephew, Eleazer Keith (1703-1794), who farmed here until around 1771, when the property was acquired by James Dean (1717-1803). Besides his wife and children, another person occupied this dwelling, a Cate Dean, an enslaved person who was just eleven years old when she was “purchased” by Mr. Dean for 30 pounds. Cate Dean was legally free since 1783, when the State Supreme Court ruled that slavery was illegal in Massachusetts, but Cate remained in bondage at the home until the death of her enslaver in 1803. In Dean’s will she received a bed, bedding and a sheep worth five dollars. She died at 49 in 1809 at the home of Edward Johnson and is buried in the Williams Cemetery on Prospect Street, seemingly in an unmarked grave. The Colonial cape style house is oriented to the south and has its prominent saltbox roof visible from the street. The property was largely renovated in the early 19th century with the addition of ells and twin chimneys, but it retains its unique Georgian character. The property is lovingly preserved and maintained by its current owners and it operates as the Josiah Keith House Museum and Inn. It is one of the oldest inns in the country.

Unity Church Parsonage // 1878

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Built next to its earlier neighbor, the Unity Church in Easton, Massachusetts, the church parsonage stands as an architectural companion building of a similar style and materials to create a special composition. For the parsonage, the Ames Family hired Boston architects, William Robert Ware and Henry Van Brunt, who designed this residence in an early interpretation of the Queen Anne style, with asymmetrical form, steeply pitched roofs, decorative bays and ornate porches with turned posts. Completed in 1878, the Parsonage was the last gift to the town by Oliver Ames Jr., who died in 1877, and funded the church and lived nearby at his mansion, Unity Close. The Unity Church Parsonage remains in a great state of preservation by the congregation.

Unity Church of North Easton // 1875

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The stunning Unity Church of North Easton, Massachusetts, was built on a slight knoll near the Village Cemetery, where many members of the generous Ames Family are buried. The Ames Family were famous for building an industrial empire out of Easton, where the Ames Shovel Works helped produce shovels that allowed the westward expansion of the United States. The family’s deep commitment to Unitarianism is felt from their funding and designing of the Unity Church, its parsonage, and lavish stained glass windows inside. Unity Church was built in 1875 on land set aside by Oliver Ames Jr., who lived next door in a large mansion. He hired his nephew, John Ames Mitchell, who was educated at Harvard College, and studied architecture at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. The Victorian Gothic style church is constructed of stone and presents a cruciform plan with an attached side chapel. Gothic trim is used throughout the building and frame multiple stained glass windows designed by John LaFarge (1835 -1910), which are Angel of Help (1886) and Figure of Wisdom (1901). The interior of the church was remodeled in 1895 by Henry Vaughan, a prominent Gothic Revival architect.

North Easton Fire Station // 1905

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In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the village of North Easton, Massachusetts saw immense growth, largely due to the Ames Family, who operated a massive factory and funded many civic buildings for the community. The town previously operated a volunteer fire station, but due to the growth and significance of the buildings in town, a modern fire station and propert fire department was needed. In 1904, Mary S. Ames (later Mrs. Louis Frothingham) donated land for the purposes of building a fire station across from the Ames Shovel Works. The fire station, completed in 1905, remained active until 1968, when the town’s modern firehouse that could accommodate larger fire apparatus, was constructed. In 1991, the former fire station became the home of the Children’s Museum in Easton, which it maintains the building to this day.

North Easton Savings Bank and Post Office // 1904

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Located across the street from the iconic Oakes Ames Memorial Hall and the Ames Free Library, the North Easton Savings Bank and Post Office building perfectly compliments the Richardsonian Romanesque enclave found in the village, but it was not designed by the renowned architect whom the style is named after. The building was constructed in 1904 from plans by the firm of Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge, a Boston-based firm that grew out of Henry Hobson Richardson’s practice after his death in 1886. For this building, which served as a bank and local post office, the firm employed many of the hallmarks of the Richardsonian Romanesque style, just in a refined, less elaborate style. The building has walls of rough-faced granite ashlar blocks with brownstone trim and engaged columns. The three-bay front façade contains the centered entrance, recessed within a wide brownstone arch in the signature Richardsonian manner. The bank moved out of the building in the 1960s, and the building has served as professional offices ever-since, and is a contributing resource in the iconic enclave of buildings in North Easton.

Oliver Ames High School // 1895

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Not far from and predating the North Easton Grammar School, the Oliver Ames High School in Easton, Massachusetts, is one of many civic buildings gifted to the community by members of the Ames Family. In 1893, Oliver Ames (1831-1895), a grandson of the Ames Shovel Works founder Oliver Ames, and son of Oakes Ames, offered to fund the construction of a new high school building if the town would pay the cost of digging its foundation and grading the site. They accepted. Oliver Ames hired Boston architect, Carl Fehmer, to design the school in Easton, after he had a positive experience with him as consulting architect to the Commonwealth for the extension to the Massachusetts State House years prior while serving as Governor. The refined Colonial Revival school building features a central pavilion with an entrance set within an ornate stone architrave with a Classical entablature with central pediment. The high school was outgrown and for years, became the town’s middle school until a consolidated school was built elsewhere. In the 1990s, the town sold the Oliver Ames High School to a developer, along with preservation restrictions, with the structure converted to apartments. A great example of adaptive reuse!

Oliver Ames Jr. House // 1864

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Located on Main Street in Easton, Massachusetts, this stately Italianate style mansion stands as a reminder of the wealth and status of the Ames Family in the 19th and 20th centuries. The residence was built in 1864 for Oliver Ames Jr. (1807-1877), who along with his brother, entered into the family business of Oliver Ames & Sons, shovel manufacturers. It was a prosperous time to be in the shovel business, as the nation was experiencing a dramatic expansion of canals, railroads, and other major infrastructure, all of which were built by men swinging shovels. From this, Oliver Ames also served as president of Union Pacific Railroad while the railroad was busy building the First transcontinental railroad in North America, making him an immense fortune. For his residence in his hometown, Oliver Ames hired the Boston architect, George Snell, to design this mansion, which was called Unity Close by its owner. Square in plan, the residence features a symmetrical facade, elaborate window hoods, bracketed cornice, and a hipped roof capped by a belvedere.

North Easton Grammar School // 1916

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Built in 1916, the North Easton Grammar School was a gift to the inhabitants of the town of Easton by three of the children of Frederick Lothrop Ames (1835-1893) and Rebecca Caroline Blair Ames, in memory of their parents. The gift to the town was made to alleviate overcrowding in the village’s existing schools and consolidate them in a handsome, modern school building. For the new school, the Ames heirs hired architects, Charles Munroe Baker and Stanley Brampton Parker, who formed an architectural office in the early 20th century. The two-and-a-half-story red brick school building is rectangular in plan and is capped by a hipped roof. Sited upon a rise on the town’s Main Street, its grandiose scale and design showcases the wealth and influence the Ames Family had on this small town. Eventually, the town schools consolidated into larger, Modern buildings and the former North Easton Grammar School was converted to professional offices.