The Easton Historic District [†] is an urban district covering most of the core of Easton, Maryland, a town on the Eastern Shore with approximately 7,000 residents. The district encompasses approximately 900 buildings and structures arranged along a grid pattern of streets and alleys. It is primarily residential with a Central Business District located in the western section near the Talbot County Courthouse on Washington Street.
Historical Background
Easton was founded in 1710 to establish a new county seat for Talbot County after significant portions were broken away to form Queen Anne's and Caroline Counties. The previous county seat at York was no longer centrally located. The area had no town prior to this founding, though a Quaker group had erected the Third Haven Meeting House in the late 17th century. The town's status as county seat was reaffirmed in 1788 by legislative act, which also incorporated the town under the name of Easton.
Following the American Revolution, Easton grew rapidly as a center of power and prestige. The 1790 census recorded a population of 640. In subsequent decades, it developed into one of the Eastern Shore's largest and most important centers due to its central location. However, the Eastern Shore experienced a decline in trade and population as new farmland opened to the west, and the Civil War accelerated this decline. Little new construction occurred during this period.
In 1869, Easton entered a new era of development with the arrival of the Maryland and Delaware Railroad, providing rapid connection with major commercial, industrial, and population centers on the east coast. The railroad brought new inland transportation for commerce, industry, agricultural products, and seafood to supplement the daily steamboats that had been operating from Easton Point. This prosperity lasted until the Great Depression.
Physical Description
Although Easton was founded in the 18th century, the majority of buildings in the district date from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Less than a dozen buildings are documentable to the 18th century, only about 50 to the early 19th century, and somewhat fewer to the mid-1800s, reflecting an economic decline during this period. The earliest buildings are concentrated primarily along Washington, West, Harrison, Goldsborough, Dover, South, and Aurora Streets.
Construction Materials
The highest proportion of buildings are frame construction. Masonry, mainly brick, is found primarily in 18th and early 19th century buildings, public structures such as churches and government buildings, and buildings in the commercial area. Many commercial buildings were originally residential and later converted for commercial use or were multi-purpose from the beginning.
Architectural Styles
The buildings reflect most major stylistic influences characterizing American architecture through the 19th century and into the 20th. The earliest definable style is Federal, clearly visible along Washington Street and generally marked by heavy masonry flat arches. elements, such as those at 200 Goldsborough Street, tend to be combined with Italianate style, which more or less dominates the fabric in the mid to late part of the century.
The Queen Anne mode, exemplified by 14 North Aurora Street and 132 South Harrison Street, predominates in the last third of the 1800s. The early decades of the 20th century are characterized by Colonial or Georgian Revival style, with several excellent examples along Washington, Harrison, Hanson, and Aurora Streets below Brooklets Avenue, and bungalows scattered throughout residential areas south of Dover Street and east of Hanson Street. The decorative fabric is further marked by examples of Gothic Revival, mainly in churches, as well as Second Empire and shingle styles.
A sizable proportion, possibly 40 percent, of residential structures are best described as Victorian in influence but do not fall into well-defined categories. These buildings are mostly two-and-a-half story frame rectangular structures with gable roofs, with the gable end facing the street, turned-columned front porches, and shingles in the facade gable. This type is found throughout early sections of the district, sometimes next to stylish houses and sometimes dominating streetscapes along sections of Goldsborough Street east of Park Street, Glenwood Avenue, and Port Street.
Also prevalent are functional houses erected in the early 20th century that are almost devoid of decoration yet often have Queen Anne configuration, such as 212 Aurora Street, or may be squarish two-story boxes with hip roofs and a central facade dormer.
Two sections of the district have row and duplex housing along Port Street and Higgins Street that appears to be workers' housing, though no documentation exists to support this idea. These are simple structures with barely any detailing.
The residential areas have continuity created by large trees lining the streets everywhere except the commercial district. Several types of streetscape exist in Easton. One type consists of large Victorian houses set fairly close to the street on medium-sized lots. These buildings are very individualistic and well-shaded by large trees. Other streetscapes from this period consist of rows of cottages with gables facing the street, set on narrow lots without trees between them, creating a row-house effect.
There are several rows of late 19th and early 20th century frame duplexes. Slightly later Colonial Revival houses and bungalows were built south of the downtown area as the residential area expanded. They are set back from the street more and situated on slightly larger lots than earlier houses, yet maintain the visual continuity of the district.
Most of the commercial district, principally rows of adjoining brick structures, was built in the 19th century. There are also several rows of early 20th century storefronts. The majority of 19th century commercial buildings are located on Washington Street by the courthouse and on Dover Street in the first block east of Washington. Early 20th century store rows are located on Dover Street between Aurora and Higgins and on Goldsborough in the block east of Washington Street.
Notable Buildings
The most prominent building is the Talbot County Courthouse on North Washington Street between Federal and Court Streets. The original portion is a seven-bay brick structure with an octagonal tower erected about 1789. It was expanded in 1898 and again in 1958.
Other important public buildings include the 1930 Colonial Revival post office on Dover Street and the 1927 castellated brick armory on Harrison Street at South Street.
Three churches are of architectural note. Christ Church on South Street at Harrison Street is an 1840s T-plan granite Gothic Revival structure believed to have been designed by William Strickland, with its rectory, an 1850s Richard Upjohn designed stone Gothic Revival house. Trinity Cathedral at 313 Goldsborough Street is an Ecclesiologism influenced Gothic Revival stone church erected about 1876. Asbury Methodist Church at 18 South Higgins Street is an 1876 Gothic Revival brick structure with a Queen Anne influenced bell tower added between 1893 and 1898.
The railway station on Pennsylvania Avenue just south of Goldsborough Street is a simple Queen Anne influenced frame and brick structure, one and a half stories high with a steeply pitched hip roof and wide overhang supported by heavy brackets.
Other commercial structures of interest include the 1870 High Victorian brick Odd Fellows Hall at 1 South Washington Street with its Odd Fellow motif decorations, the Shannahan and Wrightson Hardware Company Buildings at 12 North Washington Street erected in several stages with date stones (1877, 1881, and 1889) in a vertical row on the facade recording the firm's growth, and several circa 1880 buildings with cut-out decoration cornices along Washington Street across from the Courthouse.
Also included in the district, but made discontiguous by a stretch of non-contributing buildings, is the complex at the Third Haven Meeting House. This complex consists of the original meeting house, a heavy frame one-story clapboard-covered rectangular structure with a gable roof erected in the late 17th century for the Third Haven Meeting, a Quaker group. The newer meeting house built in 1880 is a one-and-a-half-story brick structure set at a right angle to the original meeting house. There is also a smaller frame one-and-a-half-story house built in the mid-1800s as the sexton's house, and a cemetery.
Significance
The Easton Historic District is significant for several reasons. First, the collection of 18th, 19th, and early 20th century buildings records the development and status of Easton as the governmental, commercial, and social center of Talbot County. Second, it includes several excellent and well-preserved examples of the major stylistic influences that characterize American architecture up to the early 20th century. Third, the buildings contribute through their juxtaposition and variety of design and materials to several streetscapes that retain the basic environmental qualities associated with life in small urban centers at the turn of the 20th century.
The district provides a fairly comprehensive visual recording of the town's history. Until recent decades with the advent of modern shopping centers, downtown Easton remained the focal point of attention with other neighborhoods radiating from it. The district incorporates most of the town that was developed through the 1920s and reflects this orientation. It takes on added significance because it has not been fragmented by recent wholesale clearance programs that mark many urban areas.
Easton developed outward from the Talbot County Courthouse, with the commercial district, reflecting its almost equal status with the political center, located around it along Washington Street and side streets. This main street area is made up of rows of buildings abutting each other from different periods, often reflecting bursts of prosperity.
In the town's early years, the center also included residential buildings, but as the business district and status of the town grew, specific residential neighborhoods developed. By 1800, the principal areas had spread along Goldsborough, Hanson, Aurora, and South Streets, and further along these streets by the close of the century. The early 20th century saw the impact of the garden-suburb with the development of large, tree-studded lots in the southern end of the district.
Architecturally, the buildings represent the various types of structures (public, residential, commercial, ecclesiastical, and educational) and architectural influences that would appear in a small county seat. The prominent buildings generally reflect a greater degree of elegance and sophistication than those erected in other sections of the county. Although little is known about construction and design specifics, many buildings, particularly late 19th and early 20th century ones, were probably architect-designed either locally or through national firms.
Historic Preservation
In 1973, renewed interest in Easton's architectural heritage led to the formation of Historic Easton, Inc. The organization purchased several old buildings which were restored and sold for commercial or residential use. The town has enacted a historic zoning ordinance which protects the exteriors of significant structures. The corporation remains active in maintaining and improving the cohesion and integrity of Easton's historic core.
Boundary Justification
The boundaries are drawn to include the highest incidence of structures and areas that meet the criteria for listing on the National Register, to exclude structures and areas which do not meet the criteria such as industrial sections along Bay Street and the east side of the district proper, mid-20th century residential and commercial areas to the north, northeast, south, and westerly sides, and Springhill Cemetery along North Street and other areas of open space scattered along the edges. The boundaries utilize lines of convenience such as curb and property lines and strong visual and physical barriers such as railroad tracks along the south side.
Major Intrusions
The major intrusions that exist in the district are parking lots, both municipal and private, and mid-20th century buildings, mostly commercial, such as the grocery store on North Washington Street at Bay Street that is constructed so that it is surrounded on the back by contributing buildings.
District Details
The Easton Historic District covers approximately 232 acres in Talbot County, Maryland, in the First Congressional District. The district was nominated to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 and includes categories of significance in architecture, commerce, and settlement patterns. The property has multiple public and private owners, and the legal description is maintained at the Talbot County Courthouse on Washington Street in Easton.
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Street Names
August Street • Aurora Street North • Bay Street • Brooklet Avenue • Dover Street • Federal Street • Glenwood Avenue • Goldsborough Street • Hanson Street North • Harrison Street South • Higgins Street • Locust Street • North Street • North Street • Pennsylvania Avenue • Port Street • Route 328, • Route 331 • Route 565 • South Lane • South Street • Washington Street