 The Bedford
Landing-Waterfront Historic District, also known as the New Bedford National
Register Historic District is the only state designated local historic district
in the city of New Bedford.This district, roughly bounded by Elm, Acushnet,
Union, Front, Water, Rodman, and the John F. Kennedy Highway is approximately
20 acres and contains 20 buildings that are significant examples of
architecture built between 1810 and 1855. These buildings are representative of
structures that would be found in the commercial district of a major New
England seaport of that period. In addition to the primary buildings, the
district contains good examples of smaller Federal and Greek Revival buildings
with shops on the ground floor and loving quarters above, and several
gable-roofed warehouses of brick or stone, 2-1/2 to 4 stories in
height.
New Bedford began its rapid
growth as a whaling port shortly after the town's establishment in the early
1760s. By 1840, New Bedford had superseded Nantucket as the nation's leader in
the whaling industry and maintained that position until the growth of the
petroleum industry, which began in the late 1850's, bringing American whaling
to an end. New Bedford's last whaling voyage ended on August 20,
1925.
Presently the Bedford
Landing-Waterfront Historic District fits within the confines of the New
Bedford Whaling National Historical Park established by Congress in 1996. The
historic district will be expanded in the near future to match the boundaries
of the National Historic Park. |
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