South Main Street and the South Green

The Choate Bridge opens, 1764

The Choate Bridge in Ipswich was constructed in 1764 and is the oldest documented surviving double stone arch bridge in North America. As part of Rt. 1A and Rt. 133 the Choate Bridge is estimated to carry between 10,000 and 20,000 vehicles each day! The town approved construction of the stone bridge on April 18,…

South Main Street, then and now

Shoreborne Wilson – Samuel Appleton House, 6 South Main St.

The Shoreborne Wilson House at 6 South Main Street was built in 1685 and is listed in the National Historic Register of Historic Places. The name is occasionally spelled Sherborne. Wilson apprenticed as a carpenter and made a living as a cooper.

The Old Town Hall

Hall – Haskell House (Ipswich Visitor Center)

Just past the Choate Bridge on South Main Street The Ipswich Visitor Center is located in the Hall – Haskell House, sometimes called the “Little Red House.” Earlier structures stood at this site before mariner Charles Hall and his wife bought the property in 1819. In 1820 they built this house, where they lived upstairs and operated a shop downstairs.

Baker’s Store, 37 South Main Street

The former Baker’s Clothing Store at 37 South Main Street in Ipswich was built in 1828 and has a combination of Italianate and Greek Revival elements. The other Baker’s Store building next to the Choate Bridge burned after the Mother’s Day storm of 2006. 

Dr. Joseph Manning’s house, and the sad tale of Timothy Souther

In exploring the history of this building, I uncovered a tale of two families, one most fortunate, and the other less so. Ownership of the store at 31 South Main Street can be traced back to Isaac Fitts, a hatter, who petitioned for forty feet on the River bank in 1726, that he might set a dwelling near the bridge.

Ipswich Riverwalk Footbridge

The river bank from the mill dam to where the Choate bridge stands today was marshy past Blacksmith Samuel Ordway’s shop, so early settlers forded the river here, and later the first of several foot bridges was built. A plaque tells the story of the mills and the river

The Ipswich Tea House, 57 South Main Street

In the early 20th Century, Madeline Linehan operated the Ipswich Mills Tea House in the former Ipswich Mills boarding house at 57 Main Street. The Tea House was popular with tourists who came there to hear about the history of the town.

Philomen Dean House, 59 South Main Street

The Philomen Dean house, 59 South Main is on the right after crossing the footbridge. Philemon Dean was a constable of Ipswich, served under Maj. Samuel Appleton in King Philips War, and died in 1716 long after the death of his wife and one of his twin sons. The family name is alternatively spelled Deane or Dane

Samuel Dutch House, 69 S. Main St.

This 3 story hipped roof house along the Ipswich River and across from the Heard House on South Main St. in Ipswich has a substantial rear ell with a symmetrical front. Built in 1723 it is from the Georgian period but is more Federal in appearance.

South Congregational Church:Only the Bell Remains

Southside Store, 66 County Road

Like Lord’s Square, the South Green also had a grocery store for many years. The building at 66 County Road across from the South Green was originally the Goodhue Grocery, built in 1835. The store was successful, and a wing was added in 1856.

Heard House (Ipswich Museum)

The Heard house on South Main Street is a Federal-style structure built in 1795 by wealthy John Heard. Before the Revolutionary War he had invested in the rum factory on Turkey Shore Road along the river bank where they unloaded barrels of West Indies molasses, and he later helped start the Ipswich Mills. His son Augustine Heard expanded the family business.

The sad story of Alexander Knight

The Alexander Knight House next to the Whipple House on South Green is a re-creation of an early, English-style timber frame house from 1657 as described in Ipswich town records. This exhibit was built with traditional tools, materials and construction methods of the First Period, complete with a stone foundation, timber frame, wattle and daub chimney.

The Whipple House, Ipswich South Green

The 1677 Whipple house is a National Historic Landmark owned by the Ipswich museum, and is one of the finest examples of “first period” American architecture (1625-1725). The oldest part of the house dates to 1677 when the military officer and entrepreneur Captain John Whipple constructed a townhouse near the center of Ipswich.

Aaron Smith House, 5 South Green

Aaron Smith was a clockmaker who apprenticed to Richard Manning, an early pioneer in the trade. Aaron Smith was engaged in his business before the American Revolution and was therefore prevented from joining the battle at Bunker Hill, since his services as a blacksmith were needed for the manufacture of bayonets.

Col. John Baker House, 7 South Village Green

The following is taken from “A Walking Tour and Brief History of Early Ipswich Massachusetts“ produced by the Ipswich Visitors Center, Marjorie Robie and William Varrell. The Col. John Baker House was built in 1761.

The Gables, 11 South Village Green

Calvin Locke’s Folly, 68 County Road

The Calvin Locke House at 68 County Road was built in 1836. The size of the house and the tall Greek columns on the front exceeded his resources such that the house came to be called “Locke’s Folly.” Locke was an overseer in Augustine Heard’s lace factory, the Ipswich Manufacturing Company.

David Giddings house, 72 County Rd.

The David Giddings house at 72 County Road is right on the corner with Argilla Rd. Built in 1828, it has been used in the past as a general store and currently as a single family home. It has four fireplaces, authentic moulding, pumpkin pine floors, and Norwich door handles.

Asa Wade House, 76 County Road

The Asa Wade House at 76 County Road in Ipswich was built between 1831 and 1836. Like the Samuel Wade house next door it has the gable end facing the street in the Greek Revival style. Several members of the Wade family on County Rd. were housewrights.

Samuel Wade House, 78 County Rd.

In 1831, Samuel Wade purchased a lot and built this house as his home. The bay windows in the front and rear are the only external reminder of the early Victorian features that Wade incorporated into the facade of the structure.

Brown – Manning House, 82 County Rd.

The widow Judith Manning and the single woman Mary Brown had this house built for them in 1835. The house continued in the family line for over 100 years.

Rogers and Brown House, 83 County Road

The Rogers and Brown House (also known as the Nathaniel Rust House) at 83 County Road is a 2 1/2 story end-gable structure with twin rear wall chimneys, heavy timber frame and wood clapboards. The main part of the house was built before 1750, abutting the Heard House across from South Green.

The Reverends Daniel Fitz and Moses Welch House, 84 County Rd.

The house at 84 County Road was built in 1829 by neighbor Samuel Wade. The house was apparently used as a joint residence by Rev. Moses Welch, who assumed the pastorate of Linebrook Church in 1831, and the Rev. Daniel Fitz, who assumed the pastorate of the nearby South Church in 1827 upon the death of the Rev. Joseph Dana.

John Wade House, 85 County Rd.

The John Wade house was built at the far end of South Green in 1810, but was moved further down County Road in 1948 to the corner of Lanes End to make room for the South Green Burial Ground expansion. The Wade family owned and built many of the houses along County Rd.

Burnham – Brown House, 86 County Road

The Burnham – Nathan Brown house at 86 County Road is a 1775 Second Period Colonial. The house was moved to its present location in 1824.

Col. Nathaniel Wade House, 88 County Rd.

The Nathaniel Wade House at 88 County Road in Ipswich is one of the original 16 houses that have preservation agreements (“covenants”) with the Ipswich Historical Commission. The house was built in 1727 by Captain Thomas Wade.

Old South Church Parsonage, 96 County Road

The charming small two-story house at 96 County Road with elaborate Italianate trim was built in 1860 as the parsonage for the South Congregational Church, which was at the head of the South Green. The Rev. Thomas Franklin Waters and his family lived in this home.

Ipswich Old South Cemetery

The Old South Cemetery was used from 1756 till 1939. It sits between the South Green and the Ipswich River and is an easy walk from downtown. A walking trail extends down the slope to the River and continues downstream to Sally’s Pond near the Whipple House. It has approximately 1000 interments.