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Home My Public Portal AboutMainSt_2814, BRE.186Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form.12/12 FORM B  BUILDING MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Photograph Locus Map N Recorded by: Eric Dray, Preservation Consultant, for Organization: Brewster Historical Commission Date (month / year): November, 2017 Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number 90-197 Dennis A,G BRE.186 Town/City: BREWSTER Place:(neighborhood or village): East Brewster Address: 2814 Main Street Historic Name: Hopkin's Store and Post Office Uses:Present: Residential Original: Commercial Date of Construction: ca. 1827 Source:Deyo, History of Barnstable County, Massachusetts: 1620-1890 Style/Form: Vernacular gable-front Architect/Builder: Unknown Exterior Material: Foundation: Fieldstone Wall/Trim: Wood clapboard, wood shingles/ Wood Roof: Asphalt shingles Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Cottage (early-mid 20th c.) Major Alterations (with dates): New windows, front entrance relocated, decorative elements added Condition: Good Moved: no yes Date: [1920-1930] Acreage: 0.25 acres Setting: This property is located in East Brewster on the south side of Main Street. The surrounding area is developed with a mix of historic and contemporary residential and commercial buildings. This house is set relatively close to the street on its small, level parcel. The parcel is informally landscaped with lawn dotted with mature deciduous trees and shrubbery, and a rail fence spans across the front property line. INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET BREWSTER 2814 MAIN STREET MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 1 A, G BRE.186 Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked, you must attach a completed National Register Criteria Statement form. Use as much space as necessary to complete the following entries, allowing text to flow onto additional continuation sheets. ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION: Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings within the community. As can be seen from the attached historic view (see Photo 3), this building began as a 2½ -story, gable-front store with a center entrance under a shallow-pitched canopy. According to the 1980 version of this Form B, the shop was built ca. 1830 and is identified as Greek Revival in style. However, other than the 6/6 windows and gable-front form seen in the historic photo, the building appears to have been a vernacular building that did not employ the ornament popular during the Greek Revival period. The building was moved and converted to a house sometime in the early-20th century. In its current form and location, the house rests on a fieldstone foundation. The front elevation is clad in wood clapboard, the remaining elevations are clad in wood shingles, and the building has plain cornerboards. The roof is clad in asphalt shingles and has a projecting box cornice with modern decorative vergeboards in the gable peak. The front entrance is off-centered under an open porch with a hipped roof supported by turned posts. The doors and windows are all replacement; fenestration now consists of 2/1 double-hung windows and a large multi-pane picture window centered on the front elevation. The property includes a one-story cottage with shallow-pitched roofs which was in place by 1957. HISTORICAL NARRATIVE Discuss the history of the building. Explain its associations with local (or state) history. Include uses of the building, and the role(s) the owners/occupants played within the community. (This Historical Narrative is adapted and expanded from the 1979 version of this Form B) Deed research and other records trace ownership of this former store back to George W. Higgins (b. ca. 1800). George Higgins was originally from Orleans. In 1822, he married Abigail Crosby, a sister of Roland Crosby who owned the property that bordered this parcel to the east. Simeon Deyo states in his History of Barnstable County, Massachusetts: 1620-1890 that “George W. Higgins of Orleans came to the village before 1827 and commenced business as a trader.” This refers to the store that was originally located to the west of his house on the north side of Main Street, 2821 Main Street, BRE.35 (see Photo 3). Simeon Deyo provided further history on who operated the store: He [George Higgins] sold out and went west. He was succeeded by Mrs. Cynthia Norway [She was originally a Linnell and married John Norway from Malaga, Spain]. Joseph Foster [a sea captain] was her successor in 1862. He died in 1877. The store in 1878 was sold to Reuben Chapman, who in partnership with his brother, Joseph C., carries on business as Chapman Brothers, dealers in dry goods, groceries and hardware. The post office was established here in 1826, with George W. Higgins as postmaster. He held the office for more than thirty years, and was succeeded by Mrs. Cynthia Norway in 1857. Her successor in 1862 was Joseph Foster; but he dying in 1877, his widow, Emiline Foster, succeeded him. She was succeeded in 1886 by Joseph Chapman…. According to title records, in 1864, George and Abigail Higgins sold this parcel, at that time three acres including the store, to Nathan Crosby (Book 98/ Page 302). Nathan Crosby (1793-1882) had married Catherine Nickerson (d. 1885) of Chatham in 1819. They had five children, Ann P., Albert, Emeline, Catherine A. N., and Nathan A. (who died young). In 1879, Crosby conveyed the “two story building near the grist mill formerly occupied for a grocery store” to Reuben Chapman (Book 132/ Page 413). Chapman lived down the street to the east. This deed reserved the right for Joseph Foster, who had married Emeline in 1851, and his heirs to occupy the southwest corner of the store “to use in transacting the business of his Post Office.”In 1912, Reuben Chapman conveyed his interest in the store to Joseph and Emeline Foster’s daughter, Emeline Hamlin (Book 315/ Page 107). INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET BREWSTER 2814 MAIN STREET MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 2 A, G BRE.186 In 1897, Alpheus Mayo sold a ¼ acre parcel of land on which this house would later be located to Irving Cowen (Book 227/ Page 299). Irving (1864-1940) was a painter (1900 US Census) and later was the manager of the Sea Pines School of Personality (1940 US Census). He and his wife Hattie had six children, and he conveyed this parcel to their son George I. Cowen in 1920 (Book 375/ Page 26). George is listed as renting a house in the 1920 Census and owning a house on Main Street as of the 1930 US Census. This may indicate that the house was moved and/or converted into this house sometime between 1920 and 1930. George Cowen (1890-1955) worked as a painter in the automobile industry. In 1957, he recorded a plan of the property showing the house and outbuilding. The property appears to have stayed in the extended Cowen family until 1991 when Lawren Cowen of Dennis conveyed this property to Virginia King, also of Dennis (Book 7471/ Page 181). This parcel is located within the Old King’s Highway Regional Historic District adopted in 1973. BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES 1858 Map, Map of Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, & Nantucket, Walling, Henry. 1880 Map, Atlas of Barnstable County, Boston, MA: George H. Walker & Co., 1880. 1910 Map, Atlas of Barnstable County, Boston, MA: Walker Litho. & Publishing Co., 1910. Barnstable County Registry of Deeds Deyo, Simeon L., ed., History of Barnstable County, Massachusetts: 1620-1890, New York: H. W. Blake & Co., 1890. www.ancestry.com - Vital records, US Census (1900, 1920, 1930, 1940) Brewster Assessor sketch. INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET BREWSTER 2814 MAIN STREET MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 3 A, G BRE.186 Photo 2. View looking south. Photo 3. View of store in prior location, 2821 Main Street, BRE.35 to the right.