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Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form.
FORM C − OBJECT
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Photograph
Topographic or Assessor's Map
Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
49/3 Boston
North
AC,
AG,
B
903
Town: Lexington
Place (neighborhood or village): Lexington Green
Address or Location: Massachusetts Avenue
Name: Meetinghouses Marker
Ownership: __x__ Public ____ Private
Type of Object (check one):
___ statue
___ bust
___ group composition
___ religious shrine
_x__ monument
___ milestone
___ marker
___ boundary marker
___other (specify)
Date of Construction: 1884
Source: Historic Monuments & Tablets Erected by the Town
Designer/Sculptor: NA
Materials: granite
Alterations (with dates):
Condition: good
Moved: _x_ no ___ yes Date
Acreage: 2.54 acres (entire Green)
Setting: the Green
Recorded by: Lisa Mausolf
Organization: Lexington Historical Commission
Date (month / year): Oct. 2009
INVENTORY FORM C CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON MASS AVE.
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
B 903
___ Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.
If checked, you must attach a completed National Register Criteria Statement form.
DESIGN ASSESSMENT
Describe the design features of the object and evaluate in terms of other similar types of objects within the community.
The monument consists of a single block of red Jonesboro granite resting on a base of Fox Island granite, representing a
reading desk with a closed, polished book upon it. It is located on the site of the first three meetinghouses built in Lexington. It
was oriented to face south to reflect the fact that the pulpit in at least two of the meetinghouses faced south. The closed book
indicates that the civic and religious history of 150 years enacting on this spot is complete. Sunken polished panels on the front
and rear provide a chronology of the three meetinghouses and the names of the pastors.
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE
Explain the history of the object and how it relates to the development of the community.
This monument was one of several erected by a historical committee on monuments established by Town Meeting in March
1884. A total of $1500 was appropriated for the project and this at $345, was the costliest of the memorials erected at that time.
The others include the Stone Cannon at 1475 Massachusetts Avenue, the Hayward Well Monument, the Bluff Monument and
the Battle Line Boulder on the Green.
ENTIRE INSCRIPTION (if applicable):
SITE OF THE FIRST THREE MEETING
HOUSES IN LEXINGTON
I. BUILT 1692 WHEN THE TOWN WAS A
PARISH OF CAMBRIDGE
II. BUILT 1713 ON THE INCORPORATION OF
LEXINGTON
III. BUILT 1794. BURNED 1846. THIS SPOT IS
THUS IDENTIFIED WITH THE TOWN’S
HISTORY FOR 150 YEARS
PASTORATES
BENJAMIN ESTABROOK 1692-1697
JOHN HANCOCK 1698-1752
JONAS CLARKE 1755-1805
AVERY WILLIAMS 1807-1815
CHARLES BRIGGS 1819-1835
WILLIAM G. SWETT 1836-1839
JASON WHITMAN 1845-1846
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES:
Historic Monuments and Tablets Erected by the Town of Lexington 1884. Lexington: 1884, p. 13-14.
Hudson, Charles. History of the Town of Lexington from its first settlement to 1868 (Revised and Continued to 1912 by the
Lexington Historical Society). Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1913, vol. 1, p. 504
INVENTORY FORM C CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON MASS AVE.
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 2
B 903