Jump to content

Wikipedia:WikiProject National Register of Historic Places/NRIS information issues/Massachusetts

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Shortcut

This is a subpage of Wikipedia:WikiProject National Register of Historic Places/NRIS information issues, split out because that page is too large. See that page for an explanation of how this page works.

Property names

[edit]
  • One among three church properties nationwide mispelled with "Epsicopal" in the name, where it should be as "Episcopal":
  1. 84002213 St. Thomas Epsicopal Church, in Taunton, MA

doncram (talk) 09:50, 2 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

submitted in batch01:2-4, reported by NRHP_RT to be fixing in NRIS as of 3/4/2009. doncram (talk) 23:23, 4 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
submitted in batch01:17, reported by NRHP_RT to be fixing in NRIS as of 3/4/2009. doncram (talk) 23:23, 4 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
batch03:43
batch03:44 Insitiute should be changed to Institute.
batch03:45 Cambidge should be changed to Cambridge.
batch03:46
batch03:47
  • Levi F. Warren Jr. High School, which both my brothers attended but from which I was spared by our move to Florida, is listed by NPS as Warren, Levi, Jr., High School). This assumes that it is a high school name for Levi F. Warren, Jr., but in reality it was a junior high school name for Levi F. Warren, The F by the way was always used in the school's name. clariosophic (talk) 20:55, 11 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I copied this in from discussion at wt:NRHP about Jr., Sr., III punctuation. The correction needed, I think, is to revise NRIS to read "Levi F. Warren Junior High School". Spelling out "Junior" seems to me to clarify that it is a Junior High School. Certainly drop the comma before Junior, and add the needed F. doncram (talk) 00:28, 13 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
  • The names for a whole batch of items covered in one MPS were given names in NRIS that include all or most of the MPS name. Perhaps the State of Massachusetts or individual nominator who prepared all these made the same systematic error in including all or most of the MPS name as part of title of the property. But it seems that the NRHP places covered should each have their own name, not including the MPS phrase. These are:
03000746 	Blue Hills Reservation Parkways-Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston
03000748 	Breakheart Reservation Parkways-Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston
03000381 	Fellsmere Park Parkways, Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston
04001429 	Fresh Pond Parkway--Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston
03001470 	Hull Shore Drive, Nantasket Avenue, Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston MPS
03000380 	Lynn Fells Parkway, Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston
04001572 	Morton Street, Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston
05001529 	Mystic Valley Parkway, Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston MPS
05001529 	Mystic Valley Parkway, Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston MPS
05001529 	Mystic Valley Parkway, Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston MPS
05001529 	Mystic Valley Parkway, Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston MPS
03000747 	Nahant Beach Boulevard-Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston
08000693 	Old Harbor Reservation Parkways, Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston
07001241 	Revere Beach Parkway--Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston
05001509 	Stony Brook Reservation Parkways, Metropolitan Park System of Great Boston MPS
04001430 	Truman Parkway--Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston
04001432 	VFW Parkway, Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston
05001528 	West Roxbury Parkway, Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston
03001469 	Winthrop Shore Dr., Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston
03001471 	Winthrop Parkway, Metropolitan Parkway System of Greater Boston
Note the last one above names the MPS differently, using "Parkway" rather than "Park" in the name, which seems like a further small error in that case. Wikipedia articles corresponding to many/most of the above are:
  1. Blue Hills Reservation Parkways-Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston
  2. Breakheart Reservation Parkways-Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston
  3. Fells Connector Parkways, Metropolitan System of Greater Boston
  4. Fellsmere Park Parkways, Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston
  5. Fresh Pond Parkway--Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston
  6. Lynn Fells Parkway, Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston
  7. Morton Street, Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston
  8. Mystic Valley Parkway, Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston MPS
  9. Nahant Beach Boulevard-Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston
  10. Neponset Valley Parkway, Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston
  11. Old Harbor Reservation Parkways, Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston not yet created
  12. Revere Beach Parkway--Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston
  13. Stony Brook Reservation Parkways, Metropolitan Park System of Great Boston MPS
  14. Truman Parkway--Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston
  15. VFW Parkway, Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston
  16. West Roxbury Parkway, Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston
  17. Winthrop Parkway, Metropolitan Parkway System of Greater Boston
  18. Winthrop Shore Dr., Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston
Noted by several persons in implementing wikipedia articles with shorter/different names for these NRHP places. doncram (talk) 00:03, 15 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]
  • Adams National Historic Site was listed on the National Register in 1966 at refnum 660000051 but the site was renamed "Adams National Historical Park" on November 2, 1998. See [1], which spells it out but actually doesn't say the name changed. Even better is [2], which gives more detail and even this statement:

    REFERENCES TO THE HISTORIC SITE.—Any reference in any law (other than this Act), regulation, document, record, map, or other paper of the United States to the Adams National Historic Site shall be considered to be a reference to the historical park.

Noted by Sswonk and more info provided by (User:Jameslwoodward.
I checked the National Register announcements in weeks following the November 2, 1998 date and find no name change announced in the National Register.
The original National Register name still shows in NRIS and in mirror sites such as this one.
It appears this should be renamed in the National Register to "Adams National Historical Park". doncram (talk) 16:05, 15 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Demolished but still listed

[edit]

In Quincy, Massachusetts, while taking photos of about 100 NRHP sites, User:Sswonk and I have come across the following on the ground and in conversation with the Librarian at the Quincy Historical Society, which has the complete Mass Historical Commission report on each site, including a plot map that shows the exact location of the lot on the street. The copyright status of these is uncertain, so I have not uploaded them. Some of the information on them is available [here.]

Town location issue

[edit]
batch04:19
  • Sudbury Aqueduct Linear District is a 16 mile long strip running through 7 municipalities in 3 counties of eastern Massachusetts. The article originally covered only one town. I have just revamped the text to cover all 7. What do I do with the infobox? Elkman has multiple infoboxes, but there are 2 for Natick (East and West) and none for Needham and Boston. clariosophic (talk) 13:58, 6 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
  • Brookwood Farm Although some of Brookwood Farm's fields are in Milton, all of the buildings, including the separately listed Old Barn are in Canton. It is listed on "Hillside Avenue". The actual name of the street in Milton is "Hillside Street", but the street changes name at the Milton-Canton border, so the mailing address of the farm would be "Blue Hill River Road, Canton, MA". Both the Bing and Google maps show the names of the street in the two towns clearly. The town boundary runs NW-SE along the tree lined road to the east of the given coords. Jameslwoodward (talk) 15:57, 2 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for noting that there are some issues with this one. I see that it is listed in NRIS in just Milton. I wonder if there has been a street name change or if there were typos in NRIS database data entry. Obtaining the NRHP nomination/inventory documents might clarify a lot here, such as whether the NRHP-listed part is all in one town or not. I checked the online-available Blue Hills and Neponset River Reservations MRA, now linked from the Brookwood Farm infobox, but find no information about the place in that document. The document is annotated to indicate it is a partial inventory only. doncram (talk) 16:57, 2 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I recognize that local expertise is not a citable source, but I live immediately east of Brookwood Farm -- it's our neighbor on two sides. I noted it while making a list for a possible photography project on what looks like it might be a beautiful long weekend ... eight NRHPs missing photos within walking distance.
For the town name part of the issue, it is in both towns, but if you were to list it in only one, Canton would be the choice for the reasons I mentioned above. As for "Hillside Street" versus "Hillside Avenue", it's probably just carelessness on the part of the originator -- note that Old Barn which is part of the Farm, is shown correctly as Hillside Street. And, of course, the Massachusetts predilection for changing street names at town boundaries strikes home here, so if the location gets changed to Canton, the street becomes Blue Hill River Road. Jim . . . . Jameslwoodward (talk) 18:14, 2 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I didn't fully understand this at first. The suggested correction for NRIS is to give "Canton" as the location for Old Barn, replacing "Milton". And to give both "Canton and Milton" as the town location for Brookwood Farm, if it is verified that the NRHP-listed part of the Farm is in both towns. It is known by Jameslwoodward that the current farm property is in fact in both towns. doncram (talk) 23:48, 8 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Actually the Elkman system shows it in Arlington, MA, Medford, MA, Somerville, MA, and Winchester, MA. There are four separate entries in the elkman "who has" output, if u search on "Mystic Valley", all with the same refnum. You can then click on any one of four infoboxes, which would just show one town name within it, and you would have to manually edit the infobox to include mention of the other towns. But that means that NRIS lists it in four towns. doncram (talk) 23:44, 23 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, just noted that -- Elkman, or my connection, was slow and only Medford came up quickly and I went off to dinner before seeing the others. . . . . Jim . . . . Jameslwoodward (talk • contribs) 11:50, 24 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]
  • Having messed up Mystic Valley Parkway, I should be reluctant to comment on another roadway, but I'm pretty sure this is right -- I double checked Elkman's tool. NRIS shows Nahant Beach Boulevard as located in Lynn, but a look at the USGS topo suggests that at least 98% of it, probably all of it, is in Nahant -- the border between the two is at the mainland end of the isthmus that connects Nahant to the rest of the state and on which the road runs. . . . . Jim . . . . Jameslwoodward (talk • contribs) 15:26, 28 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]
  • And another roadway: Blue Hills Reservation Parkways, not to be confused with Blue Hills Parkway,the former is in the Blue Hills Reservation while the latter ends at the Reservation. National Register of Historic Places listings in Norfolk County, Massachusetts calls out "Parts of Blue Hill Rd., Chickatawbut Rd., Hillside St., Uniquity Rd., Wampatuck Rd., and Green St". Elkman does not produce that list, but shows Braintree as the only town in which it is located.
  • Chickatawbut Rd. is in Milton and Quincy, with maybe 400 feet in Braintree, so showing Braintree is correct, but not sufficient.
  • Hillside Street is entirely in Milton
  • Uniquity Rd. (sic, should be Unquity) is entirely in Milton
  • Green Street is in Milton and Canton
  • Wampatuck Rd. is entirely in Quincy
  • Blue Hill Road is a question. Although there are three different Blue Hill XX in the Reservation, none of them is Blue Hill Road:
    • Blue Hill River Road is a border of the Reservation in Canton.
    • Blue Hill Street is a different border of the Reservation in Milton.
    • Blue Hill Avenue runs through the Reservation in Milton and Canton.

So, we should probably show all of Braintree, Canton, Quincy, and Milton as the towns.... . . . . Jim . . . . Jameslwoodward (talk • contribs) 22:12, 28 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I had noticed this too just now and have changed the infobox in the article. A check of all the parkway listings is probably needed. I had also noticed that Charles River Reservation Parkways is messed up. It is shown as being only in Boston but is listed in Middlesex County. --Polaron | Talk 22:44, 28 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, I've just stumbled across West Roxbury Parkway, Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston -- same problem, shown in Brookline, but obviously in West Roxbury (part of Boston) and maybe more. How'd you like to take on the task of looking at all of them? (or, at least let's not both do an investigation....) . . . . Jim . . . . Jameslwoodward (talk • contribs) 00:09, 29 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, I think I can manage that. I've done a few already although I'll probably not touch the list articles as somehow I keep getting reverted for trying to make corrections. In any case, I'll check and correct location information in all the individual parkway articles. You can probably just make sure I get all of it right once I'm done. --Polaron | Talk 15:10, 29 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you, Doncram, I should have done this. I should add that "East Milton" is a neighborhood, not a town (in Massachusetts there are no unincorporated areas, so finding what City or Town something is in is not a matter of opinion, but one of looking at any map.) The Post Office for all of Milton, (itself an NRHP site), is in the neighborhood of East Milton and the Zip Code 02186, which covers the whole town, appears with that name in some databases. That's probably where this came from. . . . . Jim . . . . Jameslwoodward (talk • contribs) 15:52, 13 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for clarifying. So the NPS NHL webpage is just wrong for stating that it is located in East Milton, which is a neigbhorhood not a town, and the observatory is not located in that neighborhood. In Jameslwoodward's original edit summary it was noted: "Subject is about as far west in Milton as you can get". doncram (talk) 16:02, 13 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]
This is OTT, but I couldn't resist -- Milton's southwestern town boundary (with Canton) actually runs across the peak of the mountain, which, according to the USGS topo, is about twenty feet west of the subject.. . . . Jim . . . . Jameslwoodward (talk • contribs) 16:12, 13 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I like OTT. The 2004 Community Development plan for the town linked from http://www.townofmilton.org/Public_Documents/MiltonMA_BComm/PB/documents includes maps such as page 66 which show the a densely settled area at top right which is the East Milton neighborhood (although not labelled), far away from southwest corner where the observatory is. doncram (talk) 16:24, 15 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I didn't actually see the play on words until just now.. . . . Jim . . . . Jameslwoodward (talk • contribs) 17:31, 15 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]
  • Parkways

As Polaron had pointed out (see User talk:Polaron for a fuller discussion), various of the parkways in the Boston area that extend through more than one jurisdiction are shown incorrectly on our listings and/or on NRIS. Here is the summary of all of them; note that several do not require NRIS correction:

Name missing from Wikipedia list of NRHP sites current NRIS location NRIS should be Comment
Alewife Brook Parkway Somerville (done) Cambridge Cambridge and Somerville
Blue Hills Parkway Boston (done) Boston and Milton OK maybe a few feet in Boston, maybe nothing
Fells Connector Parkway Medford (done) Malden and Medford OK
Lynn Fells Parkway Essex County Melrose, Saugus OK
Revere Beach Parkway Suffolk County (Chelsea), Malden Chelsea Chelsea, Malden, Revere
Stony Brook Reservation Parkways Norfolk County (Dedham) Boston Boston, Dedham short distance in Dedham
Truman Parkway Milton (done) Boston Boston, Milton
VFW Parkway Brookline Boston Boston, Brookline 1,500 feet in Brookline
West Roxbury Parkway Boston (done) Brookline Boston, Brookline Mostly in Boston

Coordinates issues

[edit]

(doncram not submitting these, as Massachusetts coords may be corrected by a different means)

The original nomination form - prior to the adoption of UTM coordinates by the NRHP - gives four corner point coordinates for the property, all beginning 41 deg. 57 min. north and 70 deg. 3 min west. This defines a large polygon off Bound Brook Island Road. The actual House (part of a complex of buildings known in the Massachusetts State Register as the "Atwood-Higgins Complex Historic District", rather than the Historic Name used by the NRHP, the Thomas Atwood House). The house is at 41°57′16.39″N 70°3′32.6″W computed from Google Earth against maps in the 1973 nomination file at the Massachusetts Historical Commission. RDescartes61 (talk) 19:16, 13 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Address issues

[edit]
  • Old Harbor Reservation Parkways, Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston are shown as "William J. Day Boulevard, Columbia Rd. between Farragut Rd and Kosciuszko Cir., and Old Colony Ave. between Pacuska Ave." There is no Pacuska Ave. in Boston. There is a Pacuska Circle. If you go to 42°19′41″N 71°03′00″W / 42.328°N 71.05°W / 42.328; -71.05 on Google satellite maps with labels, you will see a large roughly oval area with half a dozen baseball diamonds and other fields. The circle at its northwest corner is Pacuska Circle (there's a plaque in its center). There is a statue of Kosciuszko in the center of the circle at the southwest corner. So, the location should read, "William J. Day Boulevard, Columbia Rd. between Farragut Rd and Kosciuszko Cir., and Old Colony Ave. between Pacuska Circle and Kosciuszko Circle." Or, since Old Colony Avenue doesn't actually go to Kosciusko Circle -- it ends just west of it, at a lower level, you could say "...and Old Colony Ave. from Pacuska Circle to its southern end." The point of the restrictions is to eliminate the portion of Columbia Road that goes west from Kosciuszko Circle and the portion of Old Colony Avenue north of Pacuska Circle. Day Boulevard is included for its whole length. . . . . Jim . . . . Jameslwoodward (talk • contribs) 16:43, 16 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]
  • Luna (tugboat) is listed at "NDC Pier". There are two issues. It should read "MDC Pier" -- at the time of her nomination she was owned by the Metropolitan District Commission, which gave its initials to her home pier. The second issue is that it's unlikely she will be based there after she returns from a refit elsewhere.. . . . Jim . . . . Jameslwoodward (talk • contribs) 14:10, 16 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Also, County Street is the name given in Google maps for the street where the coordinates in the article point to, so the correction seems to be correct. --doncram (talk) 12:54, 26 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oak Knoll (Winchester, Massachusetts). Address is listed as 39 Oak Knoll. Google Maps incorrectly shows a street named Oak Knoll, that is actually a continuation of Sanborn Street. This property is probably now numbered as 23 Brooks Street; its driveway appears to be the continuation of what Google Maps labels as Oak Knoll after crossing Brooks Street. The photograph at the MACRIS entry for Oak Knoll is consistent with this idea; I believe the house pictured is the one now at 23 Brooks. (I'll find out for sure on my next ride in that direction.) Magic♪piano 19:54, 27 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

architect, builder, engineer issues

[edit]
  • There's no real place for this, but it should be noted that NRIS frequently (tens, maybe hundreds of times) misspells the family name of Frederick Law Olmsted and his sons as "Olmstead". Given the wide-spread influence of the man and the firm of landscape architects, this is unfortunate. Redirects are in place, but we should make an effort to use the correct spelling in articles.. . . . Jim . . . . Jameslwoodward (talk • contribs) 13:54, 19 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]
  • Wollison-Shipton Building; Added to NRHP: September 30, 1982; NRHP Reference#: 82001899; Wollison-Shipton Building is a historic building at 142-156 North Street in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. It is listed in the National Register as being designed by "Wilson,Neil Henry", but what is probably meant is architect H. Neil Wilson of Pittsfield, who designed other NRHP-listed buildings as well in Ohio and in Massachusetts. --doncram (talk) 01:17, 12 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Other issues

[edit]

Middlesex Canal Historic and Archaeological District

[edit]

On National Register of Historic Places listings in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, there is an entry entitled Middlesex Canal Historic and Archaeological District. This is actually a pipe-link to Middlesex Canal, which does not contain any NRIS identifying number (or use the NRHP infobox). There is a listing in NRIS entitled "Middlesex Canal", which appears to have been entered in 1972. In MACRIS, there is a listing for a district entitled "Middlesex Canal Historic and Archaeological" that says this district was listed in 11-2009. There is also a separate listing entitled "Middlesex Canal". There is a NPS filing date 10-2009 indicating a pending district listing, #09000936, entitled "Middlesex Canal Historic and Archaeological". This number does not return anything in NRHP Focus, while the Middlesex Canal is listed with #72000117.

Something (or things) appears to be awry here, but I'm not sure what. Magic♪piano 15:41, 3 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

  1. ^ Giza, Patricia (1984). A Guide Book to Fall River's National Register Properties. Fall River, MA: The City.
  2. ^ Gagnon, Dan (2001). "Methuen History.org". Retrieved 2009-05-23.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:WikiProject_National_Register_of_Historic_Places/NRIS_information_issues/Massachusetts&oldid=1074237258"