Historical Narrative

Inventory No: Historic Name: Common Name: Address: 

City/Town: 

Village/Neighborhood: 

Local No: 

Year Constructed: 

Architect(s): Architectural Style(s): 

Use(s): Significance: 

Area(s): Designation(s): 

Building Materials(s): 

SBR.70
Collins House Pheasant Farm 55 Flagg Rd 

Southborough 

33-11 c 1818 

Federal; Greek Revival 

Abandoned or Vacant; Agricultural; Dairy; Orchard; Poultry Farm; Single Family Dwelling House 

Agriculture; Architecture 

Roof: Asphalt Shingle
Wall: Brick; Wood Clapboard; Wood Foundation: Granite; Stone, Uncut 

The Massachusetts Historical Commission (MHC) has converted this paper record to digital format as part of ongoing projects to scan records of the Inventory of Historic Assets of the Commonwealth and National Register of Historic Places nominations for Massachusetts. Efforts are ongoing and not all inventory or National Register records related to this resource may be available in digital format at this time. 

The MACRIS database and scanned files are highly dynamic; new information is added daily and both database records and related scanned files may be updated as new information is incorporated into MHC files. Users should note that there may be a considerable lag time between the receipt of new or updated records by MHC and the appearance of related information in MACRIS. Users should also note that not all source materials for the MACRIS database are made available as scanned images. Users may consult the records, files and maps available in MHC’s public research area at its offices at the State Archives Building, 220 Morrissey Boulevard, Boston, open M-F, 9-5. 

Users of this digital material acknowledge that they have read and understood the MACRIS Information and Disclaimer (http://mhc-macris.net/macrisdisclaimer.htm) 

Data available via the MACRIS web interface, and associated scanned files are for information purposes only. THE ACT OF CHECKING THIS DATABASE AND ASSOCIATED SCANNED FILES DOES NOT SUBSTITUTE FOR COMPLIANCE WITH APPLICABLE LOCAL, STATE OR FEDERAL LAWS AND REGULATIONS. IF YOU ARE REPRESENTING A DEVELOPER AND/OR A PROPOSED PROJECT THAT WILL REQUIRE A PERMIT, LICENSE OR FUNDING FROM ANY STATE OR FEDERAL AGENCY YOU MUST SUBMIT A PROJECT NOTIFICATION FORM TO MHC FOR MHC’S REVIEW AND COMMENT. You can obtain a copy of a PNF through the MHC web site (www.sec.state.ma.us/mhc) under the subject heading “MHC Forms.” 

Commonwealth of Massachusetts Massachusetts Historical Commission
220 Morrissey Boulevard, Boston, Massachusetts 02125 http://www.sec.state.ma.us/mhc 

This file was accessed on: 

Friday, July 08, 2016 at 12:50 PM 

FORM B – BUILDING 

Assessor’s number 

USGS Quad Marlborough

Area(s) 

Form Number 73,645 

Massachusetts Historical Commission Massachusetts Archives Building
220 Morrissey Boulevard 

33-11 

Boston, M A 

02125 

Sketch Map 

Foundation Wall/Trim 

Roof
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures woodshed;. 

19th-C. bamr with carriage-house wing 

Draw a map of the area indicating properties within it. Number each property for which individual inventory forms have been completed. Label streets, including route numbers, if any. Attach a separate 

sheet if space is not sufficient here. Indicate north. 

granite and fieldstone. brick and wood clapboard

Recorded by 

Forbes/Schuler, consultants 

JUt (TT2303 

Organization Southborough Historical Comm 

^[neighborhood or village) 

Architect/Builder Exterior Material: 

unknown 

Major Alterations (with dates) pansion in early 19th century 

major e,x- 

Southhorrmgh 

55 Flagg Road Collins House 

dwelling dwelling 

lorm Federal, with Georgian wing 

c Name Present Original. 

Construction
owners’ research; visual assessment 

early 18th-C./ca. 1818 

asphalt 

Condition good
Moved [x]no [ ] yes Date
Acreage 69 acres
Setting At corner of Blackthorn Dr.. in area 

of late-70th C single-family n r m c e c 

N/A 

S S R , 70 Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings within 

BUILDING FORM
ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION [ ] seecontinuation sheet

the community. 

This large house is one of a small group in Southborough that may actually be two houses combined into one. The main building is a very wide ftue-hy-three-bay, 2 1/2-story brick house with a high, clapboarded, enclosed front gable, and four exterior-wall chimneys, one near each corner—a type which represents a transition between the Federal and Greek Revival styles. The windows are 6-over-9-sash, set into molded surrounds, and have wooden shutters-paneled at the first story, louvered at the second. The first- and second-story facade windows have splayed brick lintels. Under the main gable peak is a large oculus, filled in with wood. The main entry is one of the most elegant Federal doorways in Southborough, with a wide elliptical fanlight and half-length sidelights divided into curvilinear panes with leaded tracery. The door, true to the Federal period, has six panels. The house cornice is molded and boxed, with a marked roof projection at the main gable. In the early twentieth century, the house had a wide facade veranda on Tuscan columns, with a turned balustrade and a brick base, probably added 

by Edward Collins. 

Just overlapping the northeast corner of the brick house is a large hip-roofed wing which was apparently a free-standing eighteenth-century house. Its long asymmetrical facade is five bays at the first story, and four at the second. The windows are 6-over-6-sash, with louvered shutters; the slightly off-center door has six raised panels, and is set into a molded architrave, surmounted by a frieze and a high, molded cornice. The east elevation of the wing is two bays: toward the rear is another door under a high frieze and projecting cornice; toward the front is a wide, segmental-arched opening—possibly a former carriage entry, now set with a multi-paned window. One large chimney is situated on the northwest part of the rear roof slope. 

This property has one of the most remarkable outbuilding survivals of any of Southborough’s rural properties. Facing the end of the wing is a large, vertical-board English barn (#645) with a slightly banked, vertical-board wagon entry in its west side. The entry has a pair of cornice-high interior sliding doors with two rows of long vertical panels. Beside it to the south is one 6-light window under a heavy molded cornice, then a walk-in 4-panel door. On the east side of the building, opposite the main wagon door, a remnant of a long multi-light transom indicates the former position of another door that opened into what is now one of the most intact, fieldstone-wall-lined barnyards in Southborough. This barn, which in the second half of the nineteenth century was consistently valued higher than the house, has a full basement story which opens south into the barnyard by means of two doors with vertical-board, interior sliding doors. This roof of this south end of the barn extends forward over the gable to form a hay hood—possibly a later alteration. The barn was signficantly reduced insize in about 1980. 

Extending west from the northwest corner of the main barn is a long one-story, shed-roofed, clapboarded garage (a former carriage- or wagonhouse), with alarge panel-and-glass overhead garage door, and 6-over-6-sash windows. 

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE [x] see continuation sheet
Explain history of the building. Explain its associations with local (or state) history. Include uses of the building, and the role(s) the owners/occupants played within the community. 

According to local historian Louise Simpson, writing in 1904, the large gable-front Federal house was built for Amos Collins (1784-1826), and passed “from father to son for three generations, for over 100 years”. Amos Collins married Polly Abbott in 1809. Judging from the style and the large pedimented front gable, if Ms. Simpson’s explanation is correct, the house would have been built several years after 

[x] Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked, a completed National Register Criteria Statement form is attached. 

INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET 

Masschusetts Historical Commission Massachusetts Archives Building 220 Morrissey Boulevard
Boston, Massachusetts 02125

Community Southborough 

Area(s) 

Property
55 Flagg Road 

Form No. 

70, 645 

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE, cont.
their marriage. Amos was the son of Mark Collins, Jr., who married Abigail Parker in 1771, suggesting that the Georgian wing may have been built for Mark and Abigail around the time of their marriage, or somewhat later. If it dates to an earlier period, it may have been the house of Mark Collins, Sr., about whom little is known. 

Another possible succession of ownership was proposed in 1989 by some Collins descendants, who came to Southborough from Texas to do some deed research. The documents they examined in 1989 pointed to a different line of descent, from Ezekiel Collins, who married Rebeckah Graves in Lynn in 1721. Ezekiel and Rebeckah were in Southborough (then part of Marlborough) in 1724 when their son, William was born. William inherited his father’s house in 1748, two years after he married Mary Nichols. Judging from the exterior appearance of the hip-roofed wing, however, it would not have been built much before the fourth quarter of the eighteenth century, (although an earlier small house might be concealed within it.) There were also at least two other early houses with Collins family associations in the vicinity which have been demolished. Adding tothe tantalizing bits of information related to the property are three coins found in one of the brick walls of the later part of the house-dated 1787, 1814, and 1817. Further research will be necessary to clarify the exact succession of ownership of both parts of the house, and an interior inspection of the wing would be advisable to assess its period of construction. In the meantime, the map evidence, which shows “W. Collins” as the owner in 1857 and 1870, and “EF Collins” in 1898, tends to support Louise Simpson’s attribution to the Amos Collins line. 

Amos and Polly Colllins had at least six children, three boys and three girls. Their eldest son, William (b. 1813), who married Charlotte Fay in 1847, eventually acquired or inherited his father’s property, which covered over 155 acres. In 1850, while his mother was still alive, they apparently shared the acreage equally. At that time William owned eight cows, his mother nine, and they grew hundreds of bushels of corn, oats, and potatoes, as well as some hay and rye. They produced a large amount of butter for sale in 1850-1200 pounds for William, and 1367 for Polly. 

Polly Collins died in 1870 at the age of 79, and William Collins inherited the whole 155 acres. By that year he had added a bull to his livestock, and owned both the large barn, a storehouse, and a carriage house. He later added a hog house 

William Collins died in 1894, and Charlotte in 1898. The house passed to their son, Edward F. Collins. He had a much larger dairy herd, consisting at one time of 48 cows and a bull. He also raised chickens, and had a five-acre orchard. He owned the farm, which by then was 158 acres, into the early years of this century. In 1909-1910, however, he built a new house on Latisquama Road at the town center, and gave up the farm. 

For many years in the early part of the twentieth century, the owner was Harris D. Eaton, who increased the acreage even further, and continued to operate it as a commercial dairy farm. In 1936, at the height of the Great Depression, he had a herd of nearly fifty cows, a bull, and 200 chickens. 

INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET 

Masschusetts Historical Commission Massachusetts Archives Building 220 Morrissey Boulevard
Boston, Massachusetts 02125 

Community Southborough 

Area(s) 

Property
55 Flagg Road 

Form No. 70, 645 

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES [ ] see continuation sheet
Maps and Atlases: 1831; 1857 (W. Collins); 1870 (W. Collins) 1898 (EF Collins); 1937 WPA maps. The Marlborough Directory. Various dates and publishers.
Noble, Richard. Fences of Stone: a History of Southborough, MA. Portsmouth, NH: Peter 

Randall, 1990.
Old Southborough: a Photographic Essay. Southborough Historical Society, 1981. Simpson, H. Louise. Old Houses in Southborough. Unpublished manuscript, 1904. Southborough Historical Society files.
Town of Southborough: Vital Records; Assessor’s Reports, various dates.
US Census: agricultural schedules, 1850. 

MHC INVENTORY FORMCONTINUATION SHEET —MHC Inventoryscanningproject,2008-2009 . MACRIS No. 5&R<V0 

\ieoo ea^-h 

Massachusetts Historical Commission 220 Morrissey Boulevard
Boston, Massachusetts 02125 

Community Southborough 

Area(s) 

Property Address 

55 Flagg Road 

Form No(s). 70; 645 

National Register of Historic Places Criteria Statement Form 

Check all that apply:

[x] Individually eligible [ ] Eligible only in a historic district
[ ] Contributing to a potential historic district [ ] Potential historic district 

Criteria: [x] A [ ] B [x] C [ ] D
Criteria Considerations: [ ] A [ ] B [ ] C [ ] D [ ] E [ ] F [ ] G 

Statement of Significance by Forbes/Schuler, Consultants 

The criteria that are checked in the above sections must be justified here. 

The well-preserved Collins House meets Criterion C of the National Register at the local level as a unique example in Southborough of a 2 1/2-story gable-front brick house with a clapboarded, enclosed front gable and four exterior-wall chimneys, one near each corner-a type which represents a transition betweenthe Federal and Greek Revival styles. It also has one of the most elegant Federal doorways in Southborough, with a wide elliptical fanlight and half-length sidelights divided into curvilinear panes with leaded tracery. It may also be significant for its hip-roofed, clapboarded east wing-possibly a mid-eighteenth-century house. 

The property is also significant under Criterion A as the farmstead, which still includes its English barn, of one of the largest and most prosperous of the nineteenth century farms in the southeast part of Southborough-covering 155 acres under William Collins as late as 1870. 

In spite of the recent development of much of the old farmland around it, the house retains integrity of location, design, materials, workmanship, setting, feeling, and association. 

3C CONDITION 

Excellent 

Moved Altered 

Added, 

1ISSION Boston 

mt to: ition 

ith the side) 

try t 

nation Phy 

Good ^ a i r ) Deteriorated 

#7 

4. DESCRIPTION FOUNDATION/BASEMENT: High Regular Low Material 

WALL COVER: Wonri (ltaphwixj^~ Q<^^(T^U^ Stone Other 

Gambrel Flat Hip Mansard
Tower Cupola Dormer windows Balustrade Grillwork 

CHIMNEYS: 1 2 3 4 ( j f ) STORIES: 1 2 © 4 

2. Town
Street^address _ _ 2 Name 

Use: original & present C___tA>t Present owner 

Open topublic__Zl3_2 Date Style Source of date

Center End Qhiterio^ Irregular
ATTACHMENTS: CWings) E l l Shad (jli^\rt^-^Oj ~Rc*xo_ 

PORCHES: 1 2 3 4
FACADE: Gable end: (Fron^side O r n a m e n t i n g House., cl&.flra^JJy>ecJ? lo’ctk Cajoled. &Tf\«.v<^t 

Entrance: Side Front: v^errtefr/Side Details: ^^-^ U^kz SK+^A SleU U^fio Windows: Spacing: R^egula^/lrregular id^ntJcfrl/Varied
Corners: t|^lairi) Pilasters Quoins Cornerboards 

5„ Indicate location of building in relation to nearest cross streets and other buildings 

6. Footage of structure from street
Property has feet frontage on street

Recorder
For
Photo #_2___4i Date_LHj 

Architect 

SEE REVERSE Sli. 

OR part of Area # 

Cluster 

Elaborate 

PORTICO Balcony 

RELATION OF SURROUNDINi STRUCTURE 

5BR70 

1„ Outbuildings 

2. Landscape Features: Agriculture Open Wooded Garden: Formal/Informal Predominant features , Landscape architect 

3. Neighboring Structures
Style: Colonial Federal Greek Revival Gothic Revival Italian Villa Lombard Rom.

Venetian Gothic Mansard Richardsonian Modern
Use: Residential Commercial Religious Conditions: Excellent Good Fair Deteriorated

GIVE A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF HISTORIC IMPORTANCE OF SITE (Refer and elaborate on theme circled on front of form) 

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND/OR REFERENCE 

i 

RESTRICTIONS 

Original Owner:
Deed Information: Book Number Page 

Registry of Deeds 

Form B. 10M-11—69- 045654 

Friday, July 08, 2016 at 12:50 PM

Inventory No: SBR.70

Historic Name: Collins House

Common Name: Pheasant Farm

Address: 55 Flagg Rd

City/Town: Southborough

Village/Neighborhood:

Local No: 33-11

Year Constructed: c 1818

Architect(s):

Architectural Style(s): Federal; Greek Revival

Use(s): Abandoned or Vacant; Agricultural; Dairy; Orchard;

Poultry Farm; Single Family Dwelling House

Significance: Agriculture; Architecture

Area(s):

Designation(s):

Building Materials(s):

Roof: Asphalt Shingle

Wall: Brick; Wood Clapboard; Wood

Foundation: Granite; Stone, Uncut

The Massachusetts Historical Commission (MHC) has converted this paper record to digital format as part of ongoing

projects to scan records of the Inventory of Historic Assets of the Commonwealth and National Register of Historic

Places nominations for Massachusetts. Efforts are ongoing and not all inventory or National Register records related to

this resource may be available in digital format at this time.

The MACRIS database and scanned files are highly dynamic; new information is added daily and both database

records and related scanned files may be updated as new information is incorporated into MHC files. Users should

note that there may be a considerable lag time between the receipt of new or updated records by MHC and the

appearance of related information in MACRIS. Users should also note that not all source materials for the MACRIS

database are made available as scanned images. Users may consult the records, files and maps available in MHC’s

public research area at its offices at the State Archives Building, 220 Morrissey Boulevard, Boston, open M-F, 9-5.

Users of this digital material acknowledge that they have read and understood the MACRIS Information and Disclaimer

(http://mhc-macris.net/macrisdisclaimer.htm)

Data available via the MACRIS web interface, and associated scanned files are for information purposes only. THE ACT OF CHECKING THIS

DATABASE AND ASSOCIATED SCANNED FILES DOES NOT SUBSTITUTE FOR COMPLIANCE WITH APPLICABLE LOCAL, STATE OR

FEDERAL LAWS AND REGULATIONS. IF YOU ARE REPRESENTING A DEVELOPER AND/OR A PROPOSED PROJECT THAT WILL

REQUIRE A PERMIT, LICENSE OR FUNDING FROM ANY STATE OR FEDERAL AGENCY YOU MUST SUBMIT A PROJECT NOTIFICATION

FORM TO MHC FOR MHC’S REVIEW AND COMMENT. You can obtain a copy of a PNF through the MHC web site (www.sec.state.ma.us/mhc)

under the subject heading “MHC Forms.”

Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Massachusetts Historical Commission

220 Morrissey Boulevard, Boston, Massachusetts 02125

http://www.sec.state.ma.us/mhc

This file was accessed on:

F O R M B – BUILDING Assessor’s number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number

Massachusetts Historical Commission

Massachusetts Archives Building

220 Morrissey Boulevard

Boston, M A 02125

33-11 Marlborough 73,645

Southhorrmgh

^[neighborhood or village)

55 Flagg Road

Sketch Map

Draw a map of the area indicating properties within

it. Number each property for which individual

inventory forms have been completed. Label streets,

including route numbers, if any. Attach a separate

sheet if space is not sufficient here. Indicate north.

Recorded by Forbes/Schuler, consultants JUt (TT2303

Organization Southborough Historical Comm

c Name Collins House

Present dwelling

Original. dwelling

Construction early 18th-C./ca. 1818

owners’ research; visual assessment

lorm Federal, with Georgian wing

Architect/Builder unknown

Exterior Material:

Foundation granite and fieldstone.

Wall/Trim brick and wood clapboard

Roof asphalt

Outbuildings/Secondary Structures woodshed;.

19th-C. bamr with carriage-house wing

Major Alterations (with dates) major e,xpansion

in early 19th century

Condition good

Moved [x]no [ ] yes Date

Acreage 69 acres

N/A

Setting At corner of Blackthorn Dr. . in area

of late-70th C single-family nrmcec

B U I L D I N G F O R M S S R , 70

A R C H I T E C T U R A L DESCRIPTION [ ] see continuation sheet

Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings within

the community.

This large house is one of a small group in Southborough that may actually be two houses combined

into one. The main building is a very wide ftue-hy-three-bay, 2 1/2-story brick house with a high,

clapboarded, enclosed front gable, and four exterior-wall chimneys, one near each corner—a type which

represents a transition between the Federal and Greek Revival styles. The windows are 6-over-9-sash,

set into molded surrounds, and have wooden shutters-paneled at the first story, louvered at the second.

The first- and second-story facade windows have splayed brick lintels. Under the main gable peak is a

large oculus, filled in with wood. The main entry is one of the most elegant Federal doorways in

Southborough, with a wide elliptical fanlight and half-length sidelights divided into curvilinear panes with

leaded tracery. The door, true to the Federal period, has six panels. The house cornice is molded and

boxed, with a marked roof projection at the main gable. In the early twentieth century, the house had

a wide facade veranda on Tuscan columns, with a turned balustrade and a brick base, probably added

by Edward Collins.

Just overlapping the northeast corner of the brick house is a large hip-roofed wing which was apparently

a free-standing eighteenth-century house. Its long asymmetrical facade is five bays at the first story, and

four at the second. The windows are 6-over-6-sash, with louvered shutters; the slightly off-center door

has six raised panels, and is set into a molded architrave, surmounted by a frieze and a high, molded

cornice. The east elevation of the wing is two bays: toward the rear is another door under a high frieze

and projecting cornice; toward the front is a wide, segmental-arched opening—possibly a former carriage

entry, now set with a multi-paned window. One large chimney is situated on the northwest part of the

rear roof slope.

This property has one of the most remarkable outbuilding survivals of any of Southborough’s rural

properties. Facing the end of the wing is a large, vertical-board English barn (#645) with a slightly

banked, vertical-board wagon entry in its west side. The entry has a pair of cornice-high interior sliding

doors with two rows of long vertical panels. Beside it to the south is one 6-light window under a heavy

molded cornice, then a walk-in 4-panel door. On the east side of the building, opposite the main wagon

door, a remnant of a long multi-light transom indicates the former position of another door that opened

into what is now one of the most intact, fieldstone-wall-lined barnyards in Southborough. This barn,

which in the second half of the nineteenth century was consistently valued higher than the house, has

a full basement story which opens south into the barnyard by means of two doors with vertical-board,

interior sliding doors. This roof of this south end of the barn extends forward over the gable to form

a hay hood—possibly a later alteration. The barn was signficantly reduced in size in about 1980.

Extending west from the northwest corner of the main barn is a long one-story, shed-roofed,

clapboarded garage (a former carriage- or wagonhouse), with a large panel-and-glass overhead garage

door, and 6-over-6-sash windows.

H I S T O R I C A L N A R R A T I V E [x] see continuation sheet

Explain history of the building. Explain its associations with local (or state) history. Include uses of the building,

and the role(s) the owners/occupants played within the community.

According to local historian Louise Simpson, writing in 1904, the large gable-front Federal house was

built for Amos Collins (1784-1826), and passed “from father to son for three generations, for over 100

years”. Amos Collins married Polly Abbott in 1809. Judging from the style and the large pedimented

front gable, if Ms. Simpson’s explanation is correct, the house would have been built several years after

[x] Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked, a completed

National Register Criteria Statement form is attached.

I N V E N T O R Y F O R M CONT INUAT ION SHEET Community Property

Southborough 55 Flagg Road

Masschusetts Historical Commission

Massachusetts Archives Building

220 Morrissey Boulevard

Boston, Massachusetts 02125

Area(s) Form No.

70, 645

H I S T O R I C A L NARRAT IVE, cont.

their marriage. Amos was the son of Mark Collins, Jr., who married Abigail Parker in 1771, suggesting that

the Georgian wing may have been built for Mark and Abigail around the time of their marriage, or

somewhat later. If it dates to an earlier period, it may have been the house of Mark Collins, Sr., about

whom little is known.

Another possible succession of ownership was proposed in 1989 by some Collins descendants, who came

to Southborough from Texas to do some deed research. The documents they examined in 1989 pointed

to a different line of descent, from Ezekiel Collins, who married Rebeckah Graves in Lynn in 1721. Ezekiel

and Rebeckah were in Southborough (then part of Marlborough) in 1724 when their son, William was born.

William inherited his father’s house in 1748, two years after he married Mary Nichols. Judging from the

exterior appearance of the hip-roofed wing, however, it would not have been built much before the fourth

quarter of the eighteenth century, (although an earlier small house might be concealed within it.) There

were also at least two other early houses with Collins family associations in the vicinity which have been

demolished. Adding tothe tantalizing bits of information related to the property are three coins found in

one of the brick walls of the later part of the house-dated 1787, 1814, and 1817. Further research will be

necessary to clarify the exact succession of ownership of both parts of the house, and an interior inspection

of the wing would be advisable to assess its period of construction. In the meantime, the map evidence,

which shows “W. Collins” as the owner in 1857 and 1870, and “EF Collins” in 1898, tends to support Louise

Simpson’s attribution to the Amos Collins line.

Amos and Polly Colllins had at least six children, three boys and three girls. Their eldest son, William (b.

1813), who married Charlotte Fay in 1847, eventually acquired or inherited his father’s property, which

covered over 155 acres. In 1850, while his mother was still alive, they apparently shared the acreage

equally. At that time William owned eight cows, his mother nine, and they grew hundreds of bushels of

corn, oats, and potatoes, as well as some hay and rye. They produced a large amount of butter for sale in

1850-1200 pounds for William, and 1367 for Polly.

Polly Collins died in 1870 at the age of 79, and William Collins inherited the whole 155 acres. By that year

he had added a bull to his livestock, and owned both the large barn, a storehouse, and a carriage house.

He later added a hog house

William Collins died in 1894, and Charlotte in 1898. The house passed to their son, Edward F. Collins.

He had a much larger dairy herd, consisting at one time of 48 cows and a bull. He also raised chickens,

and had a five-acre orchard. He owned the farm, which by then was 158 acres, into the early years of this

century. In 1909-1910, however, he built a new house on Latisquama Road at the town center, and gave

up the farm.

For many years in the early part of the twentieth century, the owner was Harris D. Eaton, who increased

the acreage even further, and continued to operate it as a commercial dairy farm. In 1936, at the height

of the Great Depression, he had a herd of nearly fifty cows, a bull, and 200 chickens.

I N V E N T O R Y FOR M CONTINUATION SHEET Community Property

Southborough 55 Flagg Road

Masschusetts Historical Commission

Massachusetts Archives Building

220 Morrissey Boulevard

Boston, Massachusetts 02125

Area(s) Form No.

70, 645

B I B L I O G R A P H Y and/or R E F E R E N C E S [ ] see continuation sheet

Maps and Atlases: 1831; 1857 (W. Collins); 1870 (W. Collins) 1898 (EF Collins); 1937 W P A maps.

The Marlborough Directory. Various dates and publishers.

Noble, Richard. Fences of Stone: a History of Southborough, MA. Portsmouth, NH: Peter

Randall, 1990.

Old Southborough: a Photographic Essay. Southborough Historical Society, 1981.

Simpson, H . Louise. Old Houses in Southborough. Unpublished manuscript, 1904.

Southborough Historical Society files.

Town of Southborough: Vital Records; Assessor’s Reports, various dates.

US Census: agricultural schedules, 1850.

M H C INVENTORY FORM CONT INUAT ION SHEET — MHC Inventory scanning project, 2008-2009 . MA C R I S No. 5&R< V 0

\iieoo ea^-h

Massachusetts Historical Commission

220 Morrissey Boulevard

Boston, Massachusetts 02125

Community

Southborough

Property Address

55 Flagg Road

Area(s) Fo rm No(s).

70; 645

National Register of Historic Places Criteria Statement Form

Check all that apply:

[x] Individually eligible [ ] Eligible only in a historic district

[ ] Contributing to a potential historic district [ ] Potential historic district

Criteria: [x] A [ ] B [x] C [ ] D

Criteria Considerations: [ ] A []B [ ] C []D []E []F []G

Statement of Significance by Forbes/Schuler, Consultants

The criteria that are checked in the above sections must be justified here.

The well-preserved Collins House meets Criterion C of the National Register at the local level as a unique

example in Southborough of a 2 1/2-story gable-front brick house with a clapboarded, enclosed front gable

and four exterior-wall chimneys, one near each corner-a type which represents a transition between the

Federal and Greek Revival styles. It also has one of the most elegant Federal doorways in Southborough,

with a wide elliptical fanlight and half-length sidelights divided into curvilinear panes with leaded tracery.

It may also be significant for its hip-roofed, clapboarded east wing-possibly a mid-eighteenth-century

house.

The property is also significant under Criterion A as the farmstead, which still includes its English barn,

of one of the largest and most prosperous of the nineteenth century farms in the southeast part of

Southborough-covering 155 acres under William Collins as late as 1870.

In spite of the recent development of much of the old farmland around it, the house retains integrity of

location, design, materials, workmanship, setting, feeling, and association.

1 I S S I O N

Boston

mt to:

ition

ith the

side)

try

t

nation

Phy

2. Town

Street

Name

^address _ _ 2

#7

Use: original & p r e s ent C___tA>t

Present owner

Open to publ ic _ _ Z l 3 _ 2

Date Style

Source of date

Architect

OR part of Area #

3C CONDITION Excellent Good ^ai r ) Deteriorated Moved Altered Added,

4. DESCRIPTION

FOUNDATION/BASEMENT: High Regular Low Material

WALL COVER: Wonri (ltaphwixj^~ Q<^^(T^U^ Stone Other

Gambrel Flat Hip Mansard

Tower Cupola Dormer windows Balustrade Grillwork

CHIMNEYS: 1 2 3 4 ( j f ) Center End Qhiterio^ Irregular Cluster Elaborate

STORIES: 1 2 © 4 ATTACHMENTS: CWings) E l l Shad (jli^\rt^-^Oj ~Rc*xo_

PORCHES: 1 2 3 4 PORT ICO Balcony

FACADE: Gable end: (Fron^side Ornamenting House., cl&.flra^JJy>ecJ? lo’ctk Cajoled. &Tf\«.v<^t

Entrance: Side Front: v^errtefr/Side Details: ^^-^ U^kz SK+^A SleU U^fio

Windows: Spacing: R^egula^/lrregular id^ntJcfrl/Varied

Corners: t|^lairi) Pilasters Quoins Cornerboards

5„ Indicate location of bui lding in r e l a t i on to

nearest cross streets and other buildings

6. Footage of structure from street

Property has feet frontage on street

Recorder

For

Photo #_2___4i

SEE REVERSE S l i .

Date_LHj

R E L A T I O N OF SURROUNDINi STRUCTURE 5 B R 7 0

1„ Outbuildings

2 . Landscape Features: Agriculture Open Wooded Garden: Formal/Informal

Predominant features ,

Landscape architect

3. Neighboring Structures

Style: Colonial Federal Greek Revival Gothic Revival Italian V i l l a Lombard Rom.

Venetian Gothic Mansard Richardsonian Modern

Use: Residential Commercial Religious Conditions: Excellent Good Fair Deteriorated

GIVE A BRIEF DESCRIPTION O F HISTORIC IMPORTANCE OF SITE (Refer and elaborate on

theme circled on front of form)

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND/OR REFERENCE

i

RESTRICTIONS

Original Owner:

Deed Information: Book Number Page Registry of Deeds

F o r m B . 10M-11—69 – 04 5 6 5 4

Friday, July 08, 2016 at 12:50 PM

Inventory No: SBR.70

Historic Name: Collins House

Common Name: Pheasant Farm

Address: 55 Flagg Rd

City/Town: Southborough

Village/Neighborhood:

Local No: 33-11

Year Constructed: c 1818

Architect(s):

Architectural Style(s): Federal; Greek Revival

Use(s): Abandoned or Vacant; Agricultural; Dairy; Orchard;

Poultry Farm; Single Family Dwelling House

Significance: Agriculture; Architecture

Area(s):

Designation(s):

Building Materials(s):

Roof: Asphalt Shingle

Wall: Brick; Wood Clapboard; Wood

Foundation: Granite; Stone, Uncut

The Massachusetts Historical Commission (MHC) has converted this paper record to digital format as part of ongoing

projects to scan records of the Inventory of Historic Assets of the Commonwealth and National Register of Historic

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this resource may be available in digital format at this time.

The MACRIS database and scanned files are highly dynamic; new information is added daily and both database

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Data available via the MACRIS web interface, and associated scanned files are for information purposes only. THE ACT OF CHECKING THIS

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under the subject heading “MHC Forms.”

Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Massachusetts Historical Commission

220 Morrissey Boulevard, Boston, Massachusetts 02125

http://www.sec.state.ma.us/mhc

This file was accessed on:

F O R M B – BUILDING Assessor’s number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number

Massachusetts Historical Commission

Massachusetts Archives Building

220 Morrissey Boulevard

Boston, M A 02125

33-11 Marlborough 73,645

Southhorrmgh

^[neighborhood or village)

55 Flagg Road

Sketch Map

Draw a map of the area indicating properties within

it. Number each property for which individual

inventory forms have been completed. Label streets,

including route numbers, if any. Attach a separate

sheet if space is not sufficient here. Indicate north.

Recorded by Forbes/Schuler, consultants JUt (TT2303

Organization Southborough Historical Comm

c Name Collins House

Present dwelling

Original. dwelling

Construction early 18th-C./ca. 1818

owners’ research; visual assessment

lorm Federal, with Georgian wing

Architect/Builder unknown

Exterior Material:

Foundation granite and fieldstone.

Wall/Trim brick and wood clapboard

Roof asphalt

Outbuildings/Secondary Structures woodshed;.

19th-C. bamr with carriage-house wing

Major Alterations (with dates) major e,xpansion

in early 19th century

Condition good

Moved [x]no [ ] yes Date

Acreage 69 acres

N/A

Setting At corner of Blackthorn Dr. . in area

of late-70th C single-family nrmcec

B U I L D I N G F O R M S S R , 70

A R C H I T E C T U R A L DESCRIPTION [ ] see continuation sheet

Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings within

the community.

This large house is one of a small group in Southborough that may actually be two houses combined

into one. The main building is a very wide ftue-hy-three-bay, 2 1/2-story brick house with a high,

clapboarded, enclosed front gable, and four exterior-wall chimneys, one near each corner—a type which

represents a transition between the Federal and Greek Revival styles. The windows are 6-over-9-sash,

set into molded surrounds, and have wooden shutters-paneled at the first story, louvered at the second.

The first- and second-story facade windows have splayed brick lintels. Under the main gable peak is a

large oculus, filled in with wood. The main entry is one of the most elegant Federal doorways in

Southborough, with a wide elliptical fanlight and half-length sidelights divided into curvilinear panes with

leaded tracery. The door, true to the Federal period, has six panels. The house cornice is molded and

boxed, with a marked roof projection at the main gable. In the early twentieth century, the house had

a wide facade veranda on Tuscan columns, with a turned balustrade and a brick base, probably added

by Edward Collins.

Just overlapping the northeast corner of the brick house is a large hip-roofed wing which was apparently

a free-standing eighteenth-century house. Its long asymmetrical facade is five bays at the first story, and

four at the second. The windows are 6-over-6-sash, with louvered shutters; the slightly off-center door

has six raised panels, and is set into a molded architrave, surmounted by a frieze and a high, molded

cornice. The east elevation of the wing is two bays: toward the rear is another door under a high frieze

and projecting cornice; toward the front is a wide, segmental-arched opening—possibly a former carriage

entry, now set with a multi-paned window. One large chimney is situated on the northwest part of the

rear roof slope.

This property has one of the most remarkable outbuilding survivals of any of Southborough’s rural

properties. Facing the end of the wing is a large, vertical-board English barn (#645) with a slightly

banked, vertical-board wagon entry in its west side. The entry has a pair of cornice-high interior sliding

doors with two rows of long vertical panels. Beside it to the south is one 6-light window under a heavy

molded cornice, then a walk-in 4-panel door. On the east side of the building, opposite the main wagon

door, a remnant of a long multi-light transom indicates the former position of another door that opened

into what is now one of the most intact, fieldstone-wall-lined barnyards in Southborough. This barn,

which in the second half of the nineteenth century was consistently valued higher than the house, has

a full basement story which opens south into the barnyard by means of two doors with vertical-board,

interior sliding doors. This roof of this south end of the barn extends forward over the gable to form

a hay hood—possibly a later alteration. The barn was signficantly reduced in size in about 1980.

Extending west from the northwest corner of the main barn is a long one-story, shed-roofed,

clapboarded garage (a former carriage- or wagonhouse), with a large panel-and-glass overhead garage

door, and 6-over-6-sash windows.

H I S T O R I C A L N A R R A T I V E [x] see continuation sheet

Explain history of the building. Explain its associations with local (or state) history. Include uses of the building,

and the role(s) the owners/occupants played within the community.

According to local historian Louise Simpson, writing in 1904, the large gable-front Federal house was

built for Amos Collins (1784-1826), and passed “from father to son for three generations, for over 100

years”. Amos Collins married Polly Abbott in 1809. Judging from the style and the large pedimented

front gable, if Ms. Simpson’s explanation is correct, the house would have been built several years after

[x] Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked, a completed

National Register Criteria Statement form is attached.

I N V E N T O R Y F O R M CONT INUAT ION SHEET Community Property

Southborough 55 Flagg Road

Masschusetts Historical Commission

Massachusetts Archives Building

220 Morrissey Boulevard

Boston, Massachusetts 02125

Area(s) Form No.

70, 645

H I S T O R I C A L NARRAT IVE, cont.

their marriage. Amos was the son of Mark Collins, Jr., who married Abigail Parker in 1771, suggesting that

the Georgian wing may have been built for Mark and Abigail around the time of their marriage, or

somewhat later. If it dates to an earlier period, it may have been the house of Mark Collins, Sr., about

whom little is known.

Another possible succession of ownership was proposed in 1989 by some Collins descendants, who came

to Southborough from Texas to do some deed research. The documents they examined in 1989 pointed

to a different line of descent, from Ezekiel Collins, who married Rebeckah Graves in Lynn in 1721. Ezekiel

and Rebeckah were in Southborough (then part of Marlborough) in 1724 when their son, William was born.

William inherited his father’s house in 1748, two years after he married Mary Nichols. Judging from the

exterior appearance of the hip-roofed wing, however, it would not have been built much before the fourth

quarter of the eighteenth century, (although an earlier small house might be concealed within it.) There

were also at least two other early houses with Collins family associations in the vicinity which have been

demolished. Adding tothe tantalizing bits of information related to the property are three coins found in

one of the brick walls of the later part of the house-dated 1787, 1814, and 1817. Further research will be

necessary to clarify the exact succession of ownership of both parts of the house, and an interior inspection

of the wing would be advisable to assess its period of construction. In the meantime, the map evidence,

which shows “W. Collins” as the owner in 1857 and 1870, and “EF Collins” in 1898, tends to support Louise

Simpson’s attribution to the Amos Collins line.

Amos and Polly Colllins had at least six children, three boys and three girls. Their eldest son, William (b.

1813), who married Charlotte Fay in 1847, eventually acquired or inherited his father’s property, which

covered over 155 acres. In 1850, while his mother was still alive, they apparently shared the acreage

equally. At that time William owned eight cows, his mother nine, and they grew hundreds of bushels of

corn, oats, and potatoes, as well as some hay and rye. They produced a large amount of butter for sale in

1850-1200 pounds for William, and 1367 for Polly.

Polly Collins died in 1870 at the age of 79, and William Collins inherited the whole 155 acres. By that year

he had added a bull to his livestock, and owned both the large barn, a storehouse, and a carriage house.

He later added a hog house

William Collins died in 1894, and Charlotte in 1898. The house passed to their son, Edward F. Collins.

He had a much larger dairy herd, consisting at one time of 48 cows and a bull. He also raised chickens,

and had a five-acre orchard. He owned the farm, which by then was 158 acres, into the early years of this

century. In 1909-1910, however, he built a new house on Latisquama Road at the town center, and gave

up the farm.

For many years in the early part of the twentieth century, the owner was Harris D. Eaton, who increased

the acreage even further, and continued to operate it as a commercial dairy farm. In 1936, at the height

of the Great Depression, he had a herd of nearly fifty cows, a bull, and 200 chickens.

I N V E N T O R Y FOR M CONTINUATION SHEET Community Property

Southborough 55 Flagg Road

Masschusetts Historical Commission

Massachusetts Archives Building

220 Morrissey Boulevard

Boston, Massachusetts 02125

Area(s) Form No.

70, 645

B I B L I O G R A P H Y and/or R E F E R E N C E S [ ] see continuation sheet

Maps and Atlases: 1831; 1857 (W. Collins); 1870 (W. Collins) 1898 (EF Collins); 1937 W P A maps.

The Marlborough Directory. Various dates and publishers.

Noble, Richard. Fences of Stone: a History of Southborough, MA. Portsmouth, NH: Peter

Randall, 1990.

Old Southborough: a Photographic Essay. Southborough Historical Society, 1981.

Simpson, H . Louise. Old Houses in Southborough. Unpublished manuscript, 1904.

Southborough Historical Society files.

Town of Southborough: Vital Records; Assessor’s Reports, various dates.

US Census: agricultural schedules, 1850.

M H C INVENTORY FORM CONT INUAT ION SHEET — MHC Inventory scanning project, 2008-2009 . MA C R I S No. 5&R< V 0

\iieoo ea^-h

Massachusetts Historical Commission

220 Morrissey Boulevard

Boston, Massachusetts 02125

Community

Southborough

Property Address

55 Flagg Road

Area(s) Fo rm No(s).

70; 645

National Register of Historic Places Criteria Statement Form

Check all that apply:

[x] Individually eligible [ ] Eligible only in a historic district

[ ] Contributing to a potential historic district [ ] Potential historic district

Criteria: [x] A [ ] B [x] C [ ] D

Criteria Considerations: [ ] A []B [ ] C []D []E []F []G

Statement of Significance by Forbes/Schuler, Consultants

The criteria that are checked in the above sections must be justified here.

The well-preserved Collins House meets Criterion C of the National Register at the local level as a unique

example in Southborough of a 2 1/2-story gable-front brick house with a clapboarded, enclosed front gable

and four exterior-wall chimneys, one near each corner-a type which represents a transition between the

Federal and Greek Revival styles. It also has one of the most elegant Federal doorways in Southborough,

with a wide elliptical fanlight and half-length sidelights divided into curvilinear panes with leaded tracery.

It may also be significant for its hip-roofed, clapboarded east wing-possibly a mid-eighteenth-century

house.

The property is also significant under Criterion A as the farmstead, which still includes its English barn,

of one of the largest and most prosperous of the nineteenth century farms in the southeast part of

Southborough-covering 155 acres under William Collins as late as 1870.

In spite of the recent development of much of the old farmland around it, the house retains integrity of

location, design, materials, workmanship, setting, feeling, and association.

1 I S S I O N

Boston

mt to:

ition

ith the

side)

try

t

nation

Phy

2. Town

Street

Name

^address _ _ 2

#7

Use: original & p r e s ent C___tA>t

Present owner

Open to publ ic _ _ Z l 3 _ 2

Date Style

Source of date

Architect

OR part of Area #

3C CONDITION Excellent Good ^ai r ) Deteriorated Moved Altered Added,

4. DESCRIPTION

FOUNDATION/BASEMENT: High Regular Low Material

WALL COVER: Wonri (ltaphwixj^~ Q<^^(T^U^ Stone Other

Gambrel Flat Hip Mansard

Tower Cupola Dormer windows Balustrade Grillwork

CHIMNEYS: 1 2 3 4 ( j f ) Center End Qhiterio^ Irregular Cluster Elaborate

STORIES: 1 2 © 4 ATTACHMENTS: CWings) E l l Shad (jli^\rt^-^Oj ~Rc*xo_

PORCHES: 1 2 3 4 PORT ICO Balcony

FACADE: Gable end: (Fron^side Ornamenting House., cl&.flra^JJy>ecJ? lo’ctk Cajoled. &Tf\«.v<^t

Entrance: Side Front: v^errtefr/Side Details: ^^-^ U^kz SK+^A SleU U^fio

Windows: Spacing: R^egula^/lrregular id^ntJcfrl/Varied

Corners: t|^lairi) Pilasters Quoins Cornerboards

5„ Indicate location of bui lding in r e l a t i on to

nearest cross streets and other buildings

6. Footage of structure from street

Property has feet frontage on street

Recorder

For

Photo #_2___4i

SEE REVERSE S l i .

Date_LHj

R E L A T I O N OF SURROUNDINi STRUCTURE 5 B R 7 0

1„ Outbuildings

2 . Landscape Features: Agriculture Open Wooded Garden: Formal/Informal

Predominant features ,

Landscape architect

3. Neighboring Structures

Style: Colonial Federal Greek Revival Gothic Revival Italian V i l l a Lombard Rom.

Venetian Gothic Mansard Richardsonian Modern

Use: Residential Commercial Religious Conditions: Excellent Good Fair Deteriorated

GIVE A BRIEF DESCRIPTION O F HISTORIC IMPORTANCE OF SITE (Refer and elaborate on

theme circled on front of form)

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND/OR REFERENCE

i

RESTRICTIONS

Original Owner:

Deed Information: Book Number Page Registry of Deeds

F o r m B . 10M-11—69 – 04 5 6 5 4