Warden's House
Warden's House
| Address | 269 Treble Cove Rd |
| MACRIS ID | BIL.370 |
| Built | 1931 |
| Other Lot Structures |
Winning Farm
(Built 1820)
Spaulding Schoolhouse (1831 - 1853) House of Correction - Dormitory (Built 1930) House of Correction (Built 1931) House of Correction - Inmate Shelter (Built 2005) House of Correction - Visitor Center (Built 2005) House of Correction - Warehouse (Built 2005) |
The Middlesex County House of Correction was established in 1929 by an act of the Massachusetts Legislature. Located on land historically owned by Dr. John Bailey, the house of correction has been in continuous operation at this site since 1931. The original main building and cell blocks were completed in 1930 and housed up to 300 men at any one time. The dormitory, which housed men working on the dairy farm associated with the house of correction, housed 80 men. Both buildings were supported by a facilities department that provided heat and plumbing to the entire complex. The main building and cell blocks and facilities building was designed by Charles R. Greco. Greco designed many large-scale multi-family and institutional buildings in Massachusetts including the Old East Boston High School, the Cambridge Home for the Aged and Infirm and Springfield's Radding-Winthrop Building, all of which are listed in the State and National Registers of Historic Places.
The Middlesex County House of Corrections was established under the Acts of 1929, Chapter 381. The new facility was required as the house of correction in Cambridge was determined to be unsafe for human occupancy. The land for the new facility was taken by eminent domain on Treble Cove Road. When the property was taken by Middlesex County in 1929, it was an approximately 300 acre operating dairy farm once known as Winning Farm. Home of the first silo in the United States that followed the French system of storing corn silage in silos, the farm and its operations were written about in the 1880 publication of "The Book of Ensilage" by Dr. John Bailey. The two silos constructed by Dr. Bailey are no longer present and were likely demolished by 1930 when the dairy complex was constructed by the House of Correction.
References
Deed References
| Date | Type | Grantor | Grantee | Summary | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 2, 1930 | Order of Taking | J. Edward Maloney of Newton, record owner (land taken) | County of Middlesex (County Commissioners Walter C. Wardwell, Erson B. Barlow and Nathaniel I. Bowditch) | 1930: county taking of the Bailey Farm (Warden's House site) | 788/214 |
Pages 214-218. Order adopted at Cambridge March 21, 1930, under Chapter 381 of the Acts of 1929, "an Act providing for a new house of correction for the County of Middlesex," the Cambridge house of correction having been "deemed unsafe for occupancy." Takes in fee by eminent domain under Chapter 79 "the land in Billerica with the buildings and trees thereon lying on both sides of the road between said Billerica and Carlisle, known as the Treble Cove Road, formerly called the Concord Road, comprising three hundred (300) acres more or less, and now or formerly known as the Bailey Farm," in nine lots: the first, fourth and fifth west of the road; the second from the "Common Land" to "Winning's Pond"; the third of fifty-five acres east of the road and south of the Middle Bridge road; the sixth of seventy acres west of the Concord River beginning at a stake and stones "at said Winning's Pond"; the "Easty Lot," the "Whiting Lot," and a ninth lot of 24 acres 152 rods on the river. "The record title to said land stands in the name of J. Edward Maloney of Newton," with a mortgage to the Exchange Trust Company (Book 758, Page 538); award "fifty-three thousand dollars ($53,000.00) in full for all damages." Recorded April 2, 1930. The park is the part of this land southeast of the road.
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Recorded is Book/Page at the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds unless noted.