MassachusettsNow the Westfield Municipal Building, this 3.5-story, L-shaped brick building at 59 Court Street was built in 1889-92 by the Darling Brothers of Worcester to designs by the Boston firm Hartwell and Richardson in the Richardsonian Romanesque style, using brick with brownstone trim on a granite foundation. It originally housed the State Normal School at Westfield, described as the second-oldest public teacher-training school in the nation and the oldest co-educational one, established at Barre in 1839 and reopened at Westfield in 1844. It is significant for both its architecture, reflecting the influence of H. H. Richardson, and its role in the history of teacher education in western Massachusetts, having trained teachers and notable graduates including George B. Cortelyou. The interior was altered when the building was converted to municipal use in 1959.
State Normal School - Westfield Municipal Building
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State Normal School - Westfield Municipal Building is a landmark in Westfield, Hampden County. It is one of 3,654 landmarks documented in Hampden County, among 3,815 historic sites cataloged across the county on MassRoam.
The site sits at 42.1206, -72.7545 near Westfield. The nearest cataloged historic site is Westfield State University (college & university), about under a tenth of a mile away. Others within a short drive include Little, Charles B. House, Parson, Asher House, and Johnson - Doherty House.
This record is drawn from public historical records. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.
This building housed the Westfield Normal School, the teacher-training institution that is the ancestor of today's Westfield State University. The school was founded in 1839 by education reformer Horace Mann as a state normal school in Barre, Massachusetts, one of the earliest in the nation, and relocated to Westfield in 1844, where it became the Westfield Normal School. Over the following century it evolved into Westfield State Teachers College and eventually Westfield State University.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
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