Edmund Fowle House

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Edmund Fowle House
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Edmund Fowle House, Watertown, Massachusetts
Edmund Fowle House, Watertown, Massachusetts
Location: 26-28 Marshall St.
Watertown, Massachusetts
Added to NRHP: November 11, 1977
NRHP Reference#: 77000189

The Edmund Fowle House (early 1770s) is located at 28 Marshall Street, Watertown, Massachusetts, and is the second oldest surviving house in Watertown. (The Browne House is older.) During the British occupation of Boston in the American Revolution, the seat of Massachusetts government was in Watertown. The committees of the 2nd and 3rd Provincial Congress met in this house from April 22 to July 19, 1775, and the Executive Committee met here from July 19, 1775 to September 18, 1776.

The house is believed to have been built in the early 1770s by John Bond, and originally located on Mount Auburn Street. In 1771 the property was purchased by Edmund Fowle, and subsequently occupied by the Fowle family for 150 years. In 1776 the Treaty of Watertown was signed in this house, the first treaty signed between the newly formed United States of America and a foreign power (the St. John’s and Mi'kmaq Tribes of Native Americans.)

In 1871 Charles Brigham purchased the house, moved it to its present Marshall Street address, and converted it into a two family residence. In 1922 the Historical Society of Watertown purchased the home and undertook an exterior restoration.

The Fowle House is currently in fragile condition. In October 2006 work began on the outside of the house. Scaffolding surrounded the house for several weeks as workers applied a compound to the clapboards to ease the removal of layers of paint, which was carefully scraped off by hand. It has been determined that more than 70% of the clapboards on the house are original. Carpentry students from the prestigious North Bennet Street School are doing the restoration and preservation repairs.


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