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ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE (Describe important architectural features and evaluate in terms of other buildings within the community.) Although altered and enlarged many times, the earliest portions of this house appear to date from the first half of the eighteenth century. very likely, the house was originally two rooms over two rooms with central chimney and comprised the southernmost rooms of the current house, except for the sunporch. Evidences of an early Second Period construction date include an inch- wide quarter-round chamfer on beam cases in the right hand chamber, and a (see Continuation Sheet) HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE (Explain the role owners played in local or state history and how the building relates to the development of the community.) According to an antiquarian account, this house was originally owned by Joshua Underwood. This does not readily accord with a construction date in the first half of the eighteenth century, however, for Joshua Underwood was born in 1725, married in 1766, and died in 1775. Perhaps the house was originally built by his father Joseph (1681-at least 1749) , but more research is necessary to establish the original ownership of this important house. In any case, it does seem reasonably clear that c. 1760 Joshua Underwood sold the house to Josiah Smith (1724-1764) , the ancestor of many of the Smiths in what came to be known as the "Smith's end" part of Lexington, and the brother of Hezekiah Smith on Allen Street, then just a continuation of Blossom Street and part of a major road in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries between Lexington and Boston (see Allen Street area and 56 Allen Street forms) . T is �jith w s a} selpgtman f9r f've. eaxs b tween 1l771 and 1777-and an .issse lrfrom �7Q on �� s e se°rv�e�1�inrt�ies�eogo�ution apnePaasyaJshoemaker.� Many of these characteristics were also true of his son Josiah (1753-1826) , who bought the farm after his father's death: the second Josiah also fought in the Revolution; was a selectman for four years between 1601 and 1806 and an assessor twice; and was a shoemaker with four to six employees. (His shop, an old schoolhouse, was apparently taken down c. 1886.) In 1817 his son Elias (1792-1878) bought the farm, suggesting a possible date for the Federal "modernization" of the interior. Elias Smith, the brother of "Fifer Si" at (see Continuation Sheet) BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES (name of publication, author, date and publisher) Hudson, Charles. History of the Town of Lexington, II, np. 635, 639, 643-644, 646. Boston: Houghton rlifflin Company, 1913. Smith, A. Bradford. "Kite End" (1891) . Proceedings of the Lexington Historical Society II(1900) :112-114. 1689 map 1906 map 1887 Directory 1906 Directory 10M - 7/82