HomeMy WebLinkAbouttheodore-parker-birthplaceFORM C - MONUMENTS
4 fi 908
Town Lexington
Spring_Street (next to 187 Spring Street)
Theodore Parker Birthplace
L Owner Parker Family
Owner warren W. Fox (owner of 187
Spring Street)
nstructed 1865
dicated November 17, 1865
Smith, A.B., "Kite End," 1891.
A Date Proc. Lex. Hist. Soc. 11(1900) :102
r or Sculptor
al or group responsible for monument
than owner
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uvi�vrriviv: zxcejuem [iooa r•aar lieterioratea Moved* Altered
IMPORTANCE of monument to area: Great Moderate None
MONUMENT endangered by:
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LOCATION OF INSCRIPTION: Plaque on wall, house, post; base of monument; other
ENTIRE INSCRIPTION on monument: Birth Place of Theodore Parker 1810
DESCRIPTION**
Foundation: Pedestal Base None Material
Material: Bronze Stone Marble Granite Wood Other
Setting (surroundings) Front lawn of residence; on busy street across from other residences.
Size (approximate) 3 -feet by 3 -feet by 4 -feet
Indicate location of monument on map below Recorder Clancy S. seasholes
nFor Lexington Historical Commission
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(Name of Organization)
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hoto Date Received
If the monument has been moved, indicate the
original location on the reverse side.
** Describe the monument on the reverse side.
GIVE A BRIEF DESCRIPTION C SUBJECT MATTER A?N'D/OR-DELF 'N OF MONUMENT
The monument is a simple marker with the inscription cited on the obverse
of this form carved in relief on the face.
GIVE A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF HISTORIC IMPORTANCE OF MONUMENT. (Refer to the
theme circled on front of form. What happened? Who was important? Comment)
Theodore Parker (1810--1860) is one of Lexington's most famous residents,
though he only lived there during his youth. He became nationally famous as a
Unitarian minister and transcendentalist, a social reformer, and an abolitionist.
This monument marks the site of the first Parker homestead, built about 1710 and_
taken down in 1843; at least part of the foundation (perhaps the chimney
footings) is about three feet beneath ground surface under or near this monument
(see 187 Spring Street and Parker Homestead Historic Archeologic Site forms.
REFERENCE: (Where was this information obtained? What book, records, etc.)
Commager, Henry S. Theodore Parker: Yankee Crusader. Boston: Little Brown and
Company, 1936.
Hudson, Charles. History of the Town of Lexington II, p. 516. Boston: Houghton
Mifflin Company, 1913.
Lexington Historical Society. Lexington. A Handbook of its Points of Interest
pp. 35-36. Boston: W.B. Clarke and Company, 1891.
Smith, A. Bradford. "Kite End" (1891). Proceedings of the Lexington Historical
Society 11(1900):101-103.
Weiss, John. Life and Correspondence of Theodore Parker. New York: D. Appleton
and Company, 1864; reprint Freeport, New York: Books for Libraries Press,
1969.
Reprint 10/82