Joseph Dewey House facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Joseph Dewey House
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Joseph Dewey House
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 Location in Massachusetts
Location in the United States
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| Location | Westfield, Massachusetts |
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| Area | less than one acre |
| Built | c. 1735 |
| Architectural style | Georgian |
| NRHP reference No. | 01000746 |
| Added to NRHP | July 27, 2001 |
The Joseph Dewey House is a really old and important house in Westfield, Massachusetts. It was built around 1735, which means it's one of the few buildings left from before the American Revolution! Today, it's a special historic house museum where you can learn about life long ago. The local historical society takes care of it. This house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2001 because of its history.
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Exploring the Joseph Dewey House
What Does the House Look Like?
The Joseph Dewey House is located just south of downtown Westfield. You can find it on the west side of South Maple Street, which is also United States Route 202.
The house is made of wood and has two and a half stories. It has a pointed roof, called a gable roof, and a chimney right in the middle. The outside walls are covered with overlapping wooden boards, known as clapboard.
The front of the house has three sections, or "bays." The main door is in the middle. It has decorative flat columns, called pilasters, on each side. These columns sit on tall, paneled blocks. Above the door, there's a decorative band, or frieze, and a small triangular roof, called a gabled pediment. The windows on the first floor also have small gabled decorations above them.
Who Was Joseph Dewey?
The house was built around 1735 for Joseph Dewey. His family had lived in the Westfield area since the mid-1600s. Joseph Dewey was a local farmer. He also helped with local government and community decisions, which is known as being involved in politics.
Changes Over Time
Later in the 1700s, Joseph Dewey's grandson, Benjamin, bought the house. Benjamin added a gristmill (for grinding grain) and a sawmill (for cutting wood) to his property. He also made the house bigger and added new decorative styles, known as Federal style details.
The house stayed in the Dewey family until 1847. After that, it had several different owners. For a few years, a descendant of the Dewey family even owned it again! The mills were sold off separately. A paper company called Crane & Co. later developed the land where the mills once stood.
Saving History: The Museum Today
In 1873, Emma Jane Turner bought the property. Her family owned the house for about 100 years. In the 1970s, the house was in danger of being torn down. Luckily, the West Hampden Historical Society bought it.
They moved the house to its current spot and carefully fixed it up. They wanted to make it look like it did in its early colonial days. Now, the society runs the Joseph Dewey House as a museum. This means people can visit and learn about what life was like in the 1700s!
See also
