Bedford is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is within the Greater Boston area, 15 miles (24 km) northwest of the city of Boston. The population of Bedford was 14,123 during fiscal year 2020.
Bedford Hills is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the Town of Bedford, Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 3,001 at the 2010 census. Two New York State prisons for women, Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women and Taconic Correctional Facility, are located in the hamlet.
The Nathan and Mary (Polly) Johnson properties are a National Historic Landmark at 17–19 and 21 Seventh Street in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Originally two structures, one dating to the 1820s and an 1857 house joined with the older one shortly after construction. They have since been restored and now house the New Bedford Historical Society. The two properties are significant for their association with leading members of the abolitionist movement in Massachusetts, and as the only surviving residence in New Bedford of Frederick Douglass. Nathan and Polly Johnson were free African-Americans who are known to have sheltered escaped slaves using the Underground Railroad from 1822 on. Both were also successful in local business; Nathan as a [caterer] and Polly as a confectioner.
The William J. Rotch Gothic Cottage is a historic cottage on 19 Irving Street in New Bedford, Massachusetts. The Gothic Revival cottage was built in 1845 to a design by noted New York City architect Alexander Jackson Davis. It was built for William J. Rotch, a member of one of New Bedford's leading whaling families. It is for these two associations that it was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2006. It is one a very few surviving Gothic cottage designs by Davis, exhibiting features not found in the others that do. The house was included in The Architecture of Country Houses, published in 1850, bringing it early fame and making it an iconic example of the style.
The Lower Highlands Historic District encompasses one of the oldest residential areas of Fall River, Massachusetts. The district is roughly bounded by Cherry, Main, Winter, and Bank Streets, and is located just east of the Downtown Fall River Historic District and directly south of the Highlands Historic District. This area was settled by 1810, has architecture tracing the city's growth as a major industrial center. The historic district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.
The North Bedford Historic District is a historic district roughly bounded by Summer, Parker, Pleasant and Kempton Streets in New Bedford, Massachusetts. It encompasses a predominantly residential neighborhood north of downtown New Bedford which was developed primarily in the mid 19th-century. It features a variety of worker housing of the period, as well as a number of higher quality houses built by businessmen. The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.
The New Bedford Gas and Edison Light Complex is a historic district at 180 MacArthur Drive in New Bedford, Massachusetts. It consists of two buildings: a power generation facility that served the New Bedford area for most of the 20th century, and a historic 19th century iron foundry building. Both are on a property once owned by NSTAR, the local electric utility, on the New Bedford waterfront. The foundry building is a utilitarian three story structure built out of granite, which was built in 1856 for the Taber & Grinnell Iron Foundry. The Cannon Power Station, in contrast, is a looming presence on the waterfront, about 390 feet (120 m) long and more than 80 feet (24 m) in height. Its initial construction was in 1916, and it was repeatedly enlarged until 1950. It was built by the New Bedford Gas & Electric Light District, and generated power for the city until 1992. In 2002 it was under consideration for use as an aquarium; but these plans failed. The complex was vacant in 2012.
The Acushnet Heights Historic District is a predominantly residential historic district in central New Bedford, Massachusetts. It encompasses a densely-built urban area about 20 acres (8.1 ha) in size, which was developed as a working-class area, beginning in the 1860s, for the many workers in the city's factories. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989. It abuts the North Bedford Historic District, which is just to the south, and includes the following separately-listed properties: the Union Street Railway Carbarn, the Bradford Smith Building, and the Dawson Building.
The Times and Olympia Buildings are a pair of historic buildings in central New Bedford, Massachusetts. The Times Building, also known as the Slocum or Evans Building, stands at 908–912 Purchase Street, and was built in 1897 to a design by Nat. C. Smith. Originally a furniture store, it was home to the New Bedford Times until the 1950s. The Olympia Building stands next door; it was designed by Mowll & Rand of Boston and built in 1921. It is a fourstory brick building, with shops on the ground floor and offices above.
The Hotel Waverly is a historic hotel at 1162-1166 Acushnet Avenue in New Bedford, Massachusetts. The 3-1/2 story hotel was designed by locally prominent architect Samuel C. Hunt and built in 1901. The Queen Anne structure was originally designed to house four residential units on the upper floors, and retail space on the ground floor. In 1911 it was repurposed into the Hotel Waverly, with the second floor converted to a cabaret space. It was renamed the Hotel Touraine in 1922, operating as such until the mid-1970s.
The Union Street Railway Carbarn, Repair Shop is a historic transit maintenance facility at 1959 Purchase Street in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Built in 1910, the carbarn was the center of the New Bedford's streetcar network, which operated from 1872 to 1947. The carbarn is a large single-story brick building, occupying nearly half of a city block. The adjacent repair shop building, a single-story brick-and-wood building, was built in 1897; it was demolished sometime between 1978 and 2003.
The Bradford Smith Building was a historic building at 1927–1941 Purchase Street in New Bedford, Massachusetts. It was a 3+1⁄2-story wood-frame structure, with a double-gabled roof and a stone-and-brick foundation. It was built in 1887 by Bradford Smith, a retired employee of the Taunton-New Bedford Copper Company, and housed retail space on the first floor and apartments above.
The Moreland Terrace Historic District is a historic district roughly bounded by Moreland Terrace, Ash, Bedford, and Page Streets in New Bedford, Massachusetts. It is a residential area that was developed in the early-to-mid 20th century, and is characterized by larger lot sizes and a higher quality of housing than surrounding areas. Most of the houses are Colonial Revival in style, with a few examples of earlier styles, as well as a few later ranch-style houses.
Buttonwood Park Historic District is a historic district on Kempton Street, Rockdale Avenue, Hawthorne Street and Brownell Avenue in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Its focal point is Buttonwood Park, a 97-acre (39 ha) municipal park planned by Charles Eliot in the 1890s, and part of its surrounding neighborhood. The neighborhood was developed in the first decades of the 20th century as a complement to the park, and contains a fine selection of Colonial Revival and Craftsman style houses. The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.
The Howland Mill Village Historic District is a historic district roughly bounded by Bolton, Winsper, Hemlock Sts., and Rockdale Avenue in New Bedford, Massachusetts. It consists of a collection of single-family mill worker housing units constructed in 1888-89 for workers at the nearby Howland Mill, and several double-decker houses built in the 1920s. The districts uniformity of style is apparent despite some exterior alterations: there are only two basic house plans. The Howland Mill Company was founded in 1886, and its mills were used in production until 1954. Most of the housing was sold off in the 1910s.
List of Registered Historic Places in New Bedford, Massachusetts.
Union Baptist Church is a historic church at 109 Court Street in New Bedford, Massachusetts, USA. It was built in 1899 to a design by Nathaniel Cannon Smith in Shingle Style architecture. The congregation was founded in 1895 by a merger of two African American congregations that had split some four decades earlier. This historical church group was a leading New Bedford institution associated with the assistance of fugitive slaves in the pre-Civil War period.
The Bedford Veterans Affairs Medical Center, also known as the Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Veterans Hospital, is a medical facility of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) at 200 Springs Road in Bedford, Massachusetts. Its campus once consisted of about 276 acres (112 ha) of land, which had by 2012 been reduced to 179 acres (72 ha). The hospital was opened in 1928 to treat neuropsychiatric patients, but now provides a wider array of medical services. Through the efforts of Congresswoman Edith Nourse Rogers, the center was expanded to offer services to women in 1947; her role led to the center being renamed in her honor by President Jimmy Carter.
The Robert C. Ingraham School is a historic school building at 80 Rivet Street in New Bedford, Massachusetts. The three story brick Romanesque Revival building was built in 1901 to a design by local architect Samuel C. Hunt, who designed several other New Bedford school buildings. It was built on a site previously owned by the Potomska Mill Company and used for mill worker housing, and was named for the first librarian of the New Bedford Free Public Library. The building served the city as an elementary school until 1977, and was used for storage until 1992. From 1992 until 2006 it housed a preschool.
The Manomet Mills are a historic textile mill complex on the north side of New Bedford, Massachusetts. They are located between Riverside Avenue and the Acushnet River, north of Manoment Street and the Whitman Mills. The complex consists of three Classical Revival brick buildings, built between 1903 and 1907. The main building, Mill No. 1, is a 54-bay three story structure that was built in 1903. It is attached to Mill No. 2 (1907), of similar size, by a single story brick structure. The third building is the Mill No. 2 Department Room (1907), a two-story brick building that was originally connected to the other two via overhead bridges, now removed. The mill complex was the main operating site of the Manoment Mill Company, which produced cotton yarn until about 1928. The buildings were sold in that year to the Delaware Rayon Company, which went bankrupt in 1954. Mill No. 2 was then used by the Acushnet Process Company for the manufacture of golf balls, while Mill No. 1 continued to be used for rayon production, a chemically intensive and environmentally hazardous process.
