Massachusetts History

William Sever House // 1755

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The William Sever House is an architecturally and historically significant residence in the town center of Kingston, Massachusetts. A prosperous merchant, owner of ships involved in coastal and international trade and member of the colony’s House of Representatives, William Sever (1729-1809) was prepared to erect a home of appropriate status when he married his cousin, Sarah Warren, in 1755. Sever joined his father Nicholas Sever’s commercial shipping business after graduating from Harvard College in 1745 and in 1754, was elected to the Massachusetts Bay Colony’s House of Representatives. In 1769, Squire Sever was elected to the Governor’s Council, a position he held until 1774 when he joined the Provincial Congress. Due to his experience and seniority, Sever was appointed to head the Congress and was declared “President of Massachusetts” and endowed with the governor’s executive powers. After his death in 1809, the house remained in the Sever family for generations, including as a summer residence for James W. Sever, the namesake of Sever Hall at Harvard University. The residence is well-preserved and showcases the telescoping nature of some of these early Colonial-era properties, with the main house adjoined by a barn and carriage house and diminutive ells and was thoroughly documented in the 1930s through the Historic American Buildings Survey, with detailed drawings, plans, and photographs of the exterior and interior spaces. 

Reed Community Center // 1926

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Tucked away behind the 1898 Adams Library in Kingston, Massachusetts, this shingled building has important significance to the community and is about to celebrate its 100th birthday. The Reed Community House began in 1926, when Edgar Reed (1852-1930), donated funds to the town for the construction of a community house to be built adjacent to a public playground site behind the town’s library. Edgar was a descendant of Jesse Reed, a successful Kingston inventor and tack-maker. Jesse Reed had worked in Maiden prior to coming to Kingston where he invented a ship-steering device, a luggage winch, freeze-proof water pumps, and other improvements for looms and weaving methods. The Reed family was one of several Kingston families that had relocated to Worcester, but kept close ties to their hometown. The Reed Community House was designed by Sidney Lincoln Rhodes of Worcester in the Colonial Revival style. The best part of the building is the north elevation, facing the playgrounds as the two-story portico looks over the fields. During the 1930s, the community house was used for a nursery school holding between 48 to 60 preschoolers. The Red Cross also used the building during World War II for some of its programs including first aid classes. The building continues to be an important community facility to the present day and is the home to the Kingston Recreation Department. 

Frederic C. Adams Library // 1898

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Built in 1898 in the heart of Kingston’s village center, the Frederic C. Adams Library was designed by renowned architect Joseph Everett Chandler and is one of the finest Colonial Revival style libraries in New England. Chandler, famed for his dedication to historic forms, created a one-and-a-half-story masonry gem, complete with a gabled roof, dentilled cornice, and a grand four-column Corinthian portico at the entry. The building’s story began with a bequest from Frederic  C. Adams, a Kingston native whose $5,000 gift in 1874 helped break ground on a dedicated library. Its elegant Colonial Revival look recessed panel windows, stone keystones, and symbolic half-round arches, echoes America’s early architectural traditions with a refined late‑19th‑century flourish. The library was eventually outgrown, and relocated across the street, to a contemporary building. After an award‑winning restoration, the building reopened in 2012 as the Adams Center, now housing Kingston’s Local History Collections in a climate‑controlled room and hosting community events upstairs. The Contemporary addition, paired with the restoration work all by Spencer Preservation Group, blends old with new in a pleasing way. 

Surprise Hose Company Fire Station // 1888

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The Kingston Fire Department was officially established in 1887, and previous to this, the town had generally relied on individual action and volunteers to provide fire protection for the Town and its many buildings. In 1888, the town of Kingston purchased this building, a storage facility constructed in 1860 on Main Street, with the aim to convert the building into a hose hose. Soon after purchasing the structure, funding was set aside to renovate the building, adding a hose tower at the rear of the building, shingle siding, and double doors to make the Hose House more equipped for the fire department. The local fire department, known as the Surprise Hose Company operated here until 1940, when a new, modern facility was built, leaving this structure for storage and hose drying. The building was restored in recent decades and is now a landmark on the town’s Main Street.

General John Thomas House // c.1761

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The General John Thomas House at 156 Main Street in Kingston, Massachusetts, is significant as a pre-Revolution Georgian style residence and for its connections with a notable Patriot. General John Thomas (1724-1776) was born in Marshfield and later studied medicine, completing his studies in 1746 at the age of 22. He practiced medicine until being appointed in March 1746, as assistant surgeon by Governor William Shirley in Samuel Waldo’s regiment. Liking military service, in 1747 he traded his post as surgeon for that of a lieutenant. By the time of the French and Indian War he had risen to colonel in the militia. After the war, he married Hannah Thomas in 1761 and either built or moved into this house in Kingston, where he practiced medicine. In the years leading up to the American Revolution, John Thomas was a Brigadier, and briefly resigned from the ranks, disappointed that while four major generals were named, he was not on the list. Congress was then trying to name no more than one major general from each state, and Artemas Ward was given preference. George Washington implored him to remain, and John Thomas returned to service. The Congress resolved that he would be given precedence over all other brigadiers in the army. On the night of March 4, 1776, he led his division to fortify the Dorchester Heights, overlooking the south harbor at Boston, by using cannon that Henry Knox had brought from Fort Ticonderoga. From that position, he threatened the British fleet and the British were forced to withdraw, evacuating Boston on March 17. Thomas was finally named a major general. Soon after, Thomas was assigned to command in Canada and take charge of the Canadian invasion. He joined the army besieging Quebec and remained there until he died of Smallpox in June 1776, not living long enough to see a free America. The John Thomas House is a lasting and important physical vestige of his legacy.

First Parish Church, Kingston // 1851

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The original Congregational Church of Kingston was part of the established, tax-supported church of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and was built in 1718, after present-day Kingston established itself as Plymouth’s North Parish. The church was replaced in 1798 with a more substantial building with two steeples. In 1833, when the separation of church and state was finalized in the Commonwealth, two new religious societies formed in Kingston and established churches. The 1798 church, which had been built as the only church in town, was now too large for its diminished population and suffering from structural difficulties. In the spring of 1851, the 1798 church was taken down, and the present church, the third on the site, was constructed. The church blends Greek Revival and Italianate styles, both popular for ecclesiastical buildings of its time, and the structure looks much like it did when built 175 years ago. The congregation here is Universal Unitarian.

Holmes-Stetson House // 1841

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Built the same year as the Old Kingston Town House in Kingston, Massachusetts, this handsome Greek Revival style house sits on the town’s Main Street and has ties to two of the communities oldest and most significant families. The house was constructed in 1841 with matching side porches for Horace Holmes (1809-1855), a merchant and son of Joseph Holmes, a wealthy ship owner and builder. Horace operated a store near his home until his death in 1855. The property was later purchased by Captain Charles Stetson, a master mariner. The couple’s weath soon allowed them to sell this older residence and they built a “modern” Italianate style house at the rear garden (now 20 Green Street) to reside in. After successive ownership, the Greek Revival style house was converted to a store, but has since been reverted back to a residence, retaining much of its original fabric.

Old Kingston Town House // 1841

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Overlooking the town green in Kingston, Massachusetts, this stately Greek Revival home was once the original town house for the community, containing meeting hall, town offices and even a jail cell! Before we go into that further, it is helpful to learn about history first. Present-day Kingston was within the tribal homeland of the Wampanoag people, who in the decades prior to the arrival of the Mayflower, saw their populations decimated from a rapidly spreading pandemics due to earlier contacts with Europeans. Originally part of Plymouth, Kingston was first settled by Europeans shortly after the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock in 1620. In 1717, residents in the northern part of Plymouth petitioned the General Court to be set off from Plymouth as a separate township or a precinct. They were allowed to become the north precinct of Plymouth on the condition that they maintain a suitable minister. The northern precinct was wealthier and led to present-day Kingston incorporating as its own town in 1726, following a tax dispute. Early town meetings were held in the parish church until the separation of church and state necessitated a new town hall. The town hall here was built in 1841. As the town grew the building was re-oriented southward and enlarged in 1871 from plans by architect Luther Briggs. Further alterations were made to the building in 1935 under the guidance of the architectural firm of J. Williams Beal & Sons. In the early 2000s, space, parking, and accessibility concerns led the Town of Kingston to sell the 1841 Town House, which was purchased by private owners and converted to a residence. Inside, remnants of the old town house include old signs, office doors for city departments, former vaults converted to closets, and even a jail cell in the basement. Talk about a unique adaptive reuse!

Captain John Stacey House // 1731

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In 1731, Captain John Stacey, a merchant and shipowner in Marblehead, had this gambrel-roofed house built on family land. Due to its orientation from the main street, a passageway allowed access to the rear of the property where other buildings were constructed by the family. By 1850, the house was jointly owned by Hawkes and Brown, with Mr. Hawkes operating a store in the first floor corner room. Eventually, by 1912, Brown had bought the whole building and moved his meat market into the store in this building. The property was later purchased and restored by Donald Mackenze Stacey (1916-1998), a contractor and descendant of the home’s original owner, John Stacey. Donald was a veteran of the U.S. Navy and served in World War II, before moving back to Marblehead and worked in the building trade. In town, he restored antique clocks, furniture, and buildings, including the Old Town House and Abbott Hall, the current town hall. 

Rev. Samuel Dana House // c.1809

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The Reverend Samuel Dana (1778-1864) was appointed the minister of the Old North Congregational Church in Marblehead in 1801, and remained in his position for 36 years. During his rectorship, he started a Sunday School, the congregation built chapel on Pearl Street in 1819 and the Old North Church stone church in 1825. Before all of these accomplishments, he had this stately Federal style mansion built on Washington Street, a short walk to his place of worship. The house appears to have been built shortly after his marriage to Henrietta Bridge in 1808. The house and its design rivals many of the Salem Federal period houses, and stands three stories with five bays and a center entry. A Doric portico shelters the door which is surmounted by a fanlight transom and sidelights.