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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
48/276A
Boston
North
D 910
Town: Lexington
Place (neighborhood or village): Munroe Tavern Historic
District
Address or Location: 1475 Massachusetts Avenue
Name: Stone Cannon
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: E.G. Porter (designer)
Materials: granite
Alterations (with dates):
loss of gilding on letters
Condition: good
Moved: _x_ no ___ yes Date
Acreage: 3.85 acres (entire parcel)
Setting: front lawn of former Muzzey High School
(now Senior Center & Senior Housing)
Recorded by: Lisa Mausolf
Organization: Lexington Historical Commission
Date (month / year): Sept. 2009
INVENTORY FORM C CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 1475 Mass. Ave.
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
D 910
___ Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.
If checked, you must attach a completed National Register Criteria Statement form.
Use as much space as necessary to complete the following entries, allowing text to flow onto additional continuation sheets.
DESIGN ASSESSMENT
Describe the design features of the object and evaluate in terms of other similar types of objects within the community.
Carved out of granite, this monument is a replica of a Revolutionary War field piece. It is approximately four feet high and five
feet long. The granite has a rough finish except for a polished granite panel set between the two stone wheels. The lettering on
the inscription was originally gilded but this finish wore off long ago.
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE
Explain the history of the object and how it relates to the development of the community.
At town meeting in March 1884 a committee on historical monuments and tablets was formed in order to mark with suitable
monuments and tablets the places of greatest historic interest in the town. The sum of fifteen hundred dollars was appropriated
for the project. Four principal monuments were erected (including this cannon) as well as three memorial stones and nine
memorial tablets, eight of wood and one of slate.
The stone cannon was erected to mark the spot where British General Earl Percy came to the relief of his fleeing army on April
19, 1775. According to historic accounts, one of his field pieces was planted near this site and the other on the high ground
above the Munroe Tavern.
According to the town history, the stone cannon was designed by Edward Griffin Porter (1837-1900), a prominent member of the
committee whose work it was to mark historic sites at Lexington. The monument cost $156.40 exclusive of the foundation, the
lettering and the gilding of the letters. The monument was originally sited in the front yard of the Town Hall/High School. The
present building was constructed in 1902 on the same site.
ENTIRE INSCRIPTION (if applicable):
NEAR THIS SPOT
EARL PERCY
WITH REINFORCEMENT
PLANTED A FIELD PIECE
TO COVER THE RETREAT
OF THE
BRITISH TROOPS
APRIL 19 1775
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES:
Guide Book of Lexington and Concord. O.G. Seeley, 1901.
Historic Monuments and Tablets Erected by the Town of Lexington, 1884.
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. 2, p. 544.
INVENTORY FORM C CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 1475 Mass. Ave.
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 2
D 910