The Samuel Dexter House is a historic house at 699 High Street, Dedham, Massachusetts.[3] It was built, beginning in July 1761, by Samuel Dexter, a member of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress.[4][5][6]
Samuel Dexter House | |
   | |
| Location | 699 High Street, Dedham, Massachusetts |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 42°15′00″N 71°10′40″W / 42.2501°N 71.1779°W |
| Built | 1761 |
| Architect |
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| Architectural style | Federal, Georgian, Colonial Revival |
| Part of | Dedham Village Historic District (ID06000785[1][2]) |
| Added to NRHP | September 6, 2006 |
Dexter purchased the property on which the house stands on March 18, 1761.[5] The house was next door to the parsonage of the First Church and Parish in Dedham, where he grew up.[6] The house was the childhood home of the Secretary of the Treasury Samuel Dexter.[7] Dexter hosted Governor Thomas Hutchinson at the house in 1771.[8]
The building was remodeled in 1901 following the design of J. Harleston Parker, using Colonial revival elements.[9][7] The Samuel Dexter House is a contributing property to the Dedham Village Historic District, added to the National Register of Historic Places in September 2006.[3]
Other uses
editThe home was the site of the funeral of Faith Huntington, who had been living there, on November 28, 1775.[10][8]
The house served as the headquarters of General George Washington for a night following the evacuation of Boston.[8][11][12][13] Washington paid £9.18.7 for use of the home on April 4 to 5, 1776.[11] Dexter had retired to Connecticut by this point, but his fellow Governor's Councilor Joshua Henshaw was living at the house.[14][5]
The house also contained all but two books of records from the Suffolk County Registry of Deeds.[14] They had been removed from Boston to protect them during the military occupation of the capital.[14]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
- ^ "National Register of Historical Places - Massachusetts (MA), Norfolk County". nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com.
- ^ a b "MACRIS Details". Massachusetts Historical Commission.
- ^ Project, Federal Writers' (October 31, 2013). The WPA Guide to Massachusetts: The Bay State. Trinity University Press. ISBN 9781595342195 – via Google Books.
- ^ a b c "The Dexter House". Dedham Historical Register. 5. Dedham Historical Society: 150–158. 1894. Retrieved October 10, 2019.
- ^ a b Hanson 1976, p. 134.
- ^ a b "Historic Dedham Village" (PDF). Dedham Historical Society. 2010. Retrieved October 10, 2019.
Built by merchant Samuel Dexter in 1761, this house held the books of the Suffolk County Registry of Deeds during the 1776 siege of Boston. George Washington slept here on April 4, 1776, on his way to New York after the British were driven from Boston. Originally a hipped roof, two-story Georgian, the Dexter house was changed in 1901 with the addition of a third story and balustrade. Dexter's son (also Samuel) was a U.S. Senator, Secretary of War and Secretary of the Treasury under President John Adams.
- ^ a b c Parr, James L. (2009), Historic and Heroic Tales from Shiretown, Arcadia Publishing, p. 42–3, ISBN 9781625842770
- ^ "Join Us For the Spring Soirée on May 20th at the Historic Samuel Dexter House", Dedham Historical Society News-Letter. May 2017. Retrieved October 9, 2019.
- ^ Warren 1931, p. 39.
- ^ a b Expenses paid on the Road ... April 1776. from the George Washington Papers.
- ^ Robert Hanson (1999). "Stories Behind the Pictures in the Images of America: Dedham Book". Dedham Historical Society News-Letter (December). Archived from the original on December 31, 2006.
- ^ Guide Book To New England Travel. 1919.
- ^ a b c Hanson 1976, p. 155.
Works cited
edit- Hanson, Robert Brand (1976). Dedham, Massachusetts, 1635-1890. Dedham Historical Society.
- Warren, Charles (1931). Jacobin and Junto: Or, Early American Politics as Viewed in the Diary of Dr. Nathaniel Ames, 1758-1822. Harvard University Press.