Wayland Center Historic District facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Wayland Center Historic District
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Wayland Depot 1881
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 Location in Massachusetts
Location in the United States
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| Location | Wayland, Massachusetts |
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| Area | 21 acres (8.5 ha) |
| Architect | Multiple |
| Architectural style | Colonial Revival, Greek Revival, Federal |
| NRHP reference No. | 74000378 |
| Added to NRHP | September 6, 1974 |
The Wayland Center Historic District is a special area in Wayland, Massachusetts. It's like a time capsule, showing what a village looked like in the 1800s. This district is where two main roads meet: United States Route 20 and Massachusetts Route 27. It has fifteen old buildings that are very well kept. Because it's so well-preserved, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. This means it's an important historical site!
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Exploring Wayland's Historic Center
The Wayland Center Historic District is a cool place to visit. It shows how towns grew in the 1800s. Most of the buildings here are from that time. They give us a peek into the past.
How Wayland Center Began
Wayland started as part of Sudbury in the 1600s. It became its own town called East Sudbury in 1780. Later, in 1835, its name changed to Wayland. The center of the town, where the historic district is now, really started to grow around 1814-1815.
This was when a new town meetinghouse was built. A meetinghouse was like a community center and church. This new building replaced an older one from 1726. The old building's materials were even used to build a new town hall! That town hall later became a house in 1888.
Both the 1815 meetinghouse and the old town hall are great examples of the Federal style. This was a popular building style back then. The church bell for the meetinghouse was even made by Paul Revere's company!
Buildings in the District
The historic district is mostly found where Routes 20 and 27 cross. It also stretches north and south along Route 27. There are sixteen buildings in total. These buildings include homes and important town buildings. You can also see two old barns from the 1800s.
Most of these buildings are one or two stories tall. They are made of wood. The current town hall is the only building not made of wood. Most of the buildings were built before 1850. They show off either the Federal or Greek Revival styles.
Special Buildings to See
Two buildings stand out because they were built a bit later. One is the train station from 1881. This station was very important. It helped Wayland become a "commuter suburb" of Boston. This means people could live in Wayland and easily travel to Boston for work.
Another special building is the old post office from 1897. It's built in the Colonial Revival style. This style brought back ideas from older colonial buildings.
