Mattoon Street. If you live in Amherst and have had to schlep your kids back and forth to school and athletic events, you’ve driven it countless times. But ever wondered where the name comes from?
Born and bred in Amherst, Ebenezer Mattoon (1755-1843) fought in the Revolutionary War, rising to the rank of major. Returning home, he married a Dickinson, taught school, farmed and served in an astounding array of public functions. Justice of the Peace. County Sheriff. Massachusetts Legislature. State Militia. U.S. Congress. He’s buried in West Cemetery.
As remarkable as the man himself is the fact that the house he resided in still stands almost 250 years later. 58 South East St., a little worn around the edges, but much as it was when built in the early 1780s. The Mattoon House is one of 22 historic properties — the culmination of over three years of study and deliberation by the Amherst Local Historic District Commission (LHDC) — in a proposed East Amherst Local Historic District (LHD) coming to Town Council for approval.
Before the railroad arrived in the mid-1800s, East Amherst was the town’s civic, commercial, and industrial center. In 1986, the area, comprised of 49 properties, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, a mostly honorific designation. Few 18th-century buildings survive in Amherst. Two of the earliest, the Noah Dickinson House (circa 1754) and the Daniel Kellogg House (1758), are within the proposed LHD boundaries, as well as the Dickinson-Baggs Tavern (1772), where conspirators plotted Daniel Shay’s doomed rebellion. Other notable structures include the Second Congregational Church (1839), now a synagogue, and the Smith House East (1815), a well-preserved example of multiple workers’ housing. According to Elizabeth Sharpe, co-director of Historic Northampton and member of the Amherst LHDC, these properties are especially noteworthy for being in their original configuration, a rarity.
Currently, at best, historic structures can go under the wrecking ball after a one-year demolition delay. An LHD designation prevents demolition without adequate review or means of recourse. Proposed changes to exterior architectural features visible from a public way are reviewed by the commission. In Amherst, LHDs don’t mandate maintenance of properties or dictate paint color. And they don’t supersede zoning, inhibit infill or ADUs by right.
That’s not to say LHDs prevent all demolition within a district. Recently, a 200-year-old property in poor condition and deemed not to be either architecturally or historically noteworthy, was approved for demolition. A new house was erected within a year, without complaint by either district residents or the developer. An ADU is being built on the same property. Both the house and ADU, incidentally, are student rentals.
Maybe it’s because I grew up in the suburbs, a place with scant history and character, but it’s inexplicable to me that some members of our governing bodies place little value in recognizing and preserving our distinctive, collective past. The LHDC has been tarred as elitist and obstructionist. We’re told historic preservation prevents affordable housing — pretty rich considering most new construction in Amherst is luxury housing for students.
Look, we all want the money, but do we really have to throw out the baby with the bathwater?
This isn’t NIMBYism. None of the commission’s members live within or have any interest in the proposed LHD. The study was initiated at the suggestion of the town manager, who expressed concerns about the increasing vulnerability of some of Amherst’s oldest existing structures.
Trying to balance the master plan’s dual goals of growth and historic preservation, our original proposal was whittled down to a core group of properties most representative of the entire National Register District. Exhibiting varied but contemporaneous architectural styles, the 22 properties are situated in a compressed area, basically around one intersection.
Because of its association with Amherst College, UMass and Emily Dickinson, Amherst is fortunate to have a nationally and internationally known brand. History is a major part of our appeal. Charm, uniqueness — the “cool” factor — attract prospective residents and visitors alike. An LHD at such an important location — the gateway to our new elementary school — is very much in the economic interests of Amherst. This is a small pocket of properties, surely not an impediment to town-wide growth.
Life will go on if the proposed LHD, modest and old as it is, isn’t ultimately approved. But the character and fabric of our town will be irreversibly diminished. Our living, and ever-evolving, history is what makes this place this place and not like every other place.
Steve Bloom is vice chair of the Amherst Local Historic District Commission.
