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The Story
The West Dennis Graded School is a two-story, wood-frame Greek Revival schoolhouse built in 1867 by local builder Benjamin C. Sturgis, distinguished by a full-length front verandah, double entrances, large 8/8 windows, and a cupola/belfry. One of five nearly identical graded schools built in Dennis between 1858 and 1867, it served as a school until 1931 and was then remodeled as a town meeting hall and polling place before becoming the Dennis Community Center in 1952. It is the only surviving example of the town's mid-19th-century schoolhouses and one of the oldest of its type on Cape Cod, meeting criteria A and C.
About this site
West Dennis Graded School is a landmark in Dennis, Barnstable County. It is one of 6,558 landmarks documented in Barnstable County, among 6,897 historic sites cataloged across the county on MassRoam.
The site sits at 41.6623, -70.1696 near Dennis. The nearest cataloged historic site is House at 41 Old Main St (landmark), about 0.7 miles away. Others within a short drive include Building at 331 Union St, White, Edwin M. Garage, and Baker Cooper Shop.
This record is drawn from public historical records. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.
Of the five schoolhouses Dennis put up in the 1860s, this is the only survivor. Classes ran here until June 1931; in the 1920s the building doubled as a polling place and town meeting hall, and in the 1950s it was converted into a community center. The Dennis Historical Society now owns it, and after a town-funded restoration completed in 2002 the second floor houses the Dennis Maritime Museum, a Nobscussett Indian room, and a re-created graded-school classroom. It joined the National Register in 2000.
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