Somerville in the 1890s
Grover Cleveland returned in 1893 and William McKinley took office in 1897. The Panic of 1893 brought a severe depression, and the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago the same year made the classical civic style the national fashion. The war with Spain in 1898 left the country with overseas territory. What Somerville kept from the decade leans to Queen Anne style, the label the records put on 9 of these stops.
Every stop carries a construction date in the 1890s. The route covers 15 of them and runs 2.0 miles end to end.
Distances are straight lines between the coordinates in the National Park Service Register data, so the walk on the street will be longer. Nobody has walked or checked this as a route, and a listing does not mean a place is open to visitors. Stops last changed Sep 18, 2026.
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Map
Coordinates come from the National Park Service National Register spatial data. The solid line joins the stops in walking order and is not a street route. Listings with a restricted address in the Register are never mapped and never become stops. Data refreshed September 19, 2026.
Walking order
- 1Martin W. Carr School25 Atherton St.Building · built 1898 · listed 1984start
- 2Joseph K. James House83 Belmont St.Building · built 1893 · listed 19980.3 mi from stop 1
- 3Lemuel Snow Jr. House81 Benton Rd.Building · built 1890 · listed 19890.2 mi from stop 2
- 4C. C. Crowell House85 Benton Rd.Building · built 1890 · listed 198990 ft from stop 3
- 5Walter S. and Melissa E. Barnes House140 Highland Ave.Building · built 1890 · listed 19900.2 mi from stop 4
- 6First Unitarian Church130 Highland Ave.Building · built 1894 · listed 1989384 ft from stop 5
- 7The Highland66 Highland St.Building · built 1892 · listed 19890.2 mi from stop 6
- 8George Loring House76 Highland Ave.Building · built 1895 · listed 1989445 ft from stop 7
- 9Wright House54 Vinal Ave.Building · built 1895 · listed 1989396 ft from stop 8
- 10House at 49 Vinal Avenue49 Vinal Ave.Building · built 1895 · listed 1989140 ft from stop 9
- 11Louville Niles House45 Walnut St.Building · built 1890 · listed 19890.1 mi from stop 10
- 12Louville V. Niles House97 Munroe St.Building · built 1890 · listed 198965 ft from stop 11
- 13The Grandview82 Munroe St.Building · built 1893 · listed 1989296 ft from stop 12
- 14Somerville Journal Building8--10 Walnut St.Building · built 1894 · listed 19890.1 mi from stop 13
- 15House at 21 Dartmouth Street21 Dartmouth St.Building · built 1890 · listed 19890.7 mi from stop 14
2.0 straight-line miles over 14 legs. Printed from registeratlas.com/tours/ma/somerville/era-1890s/
Taking it along
- Download the route as GPXFor a handheld GPS or a phone app
- Open all 15 stops in Google MapsSet the mode to walking once it opens
- Open the first stop in Apple MapsThe Apple Maps web link carries one destination, so this is stop 1 only
Other walks in Somerville
- Queen Anne houses in Somerville10 stops · 1.6 milesQueen Anne is a late Victorian manner of irregular plans, steep roofs, turrets, bay windows and wrapping porches. The Somerville examples on this route went up between 1867 and 1895.
- Italianate houses in Somerville10 stops · 2.2 milesItalianate buildings have low roofs with wide bracketed eaves, tall narrow windows and heavy hoods over the openings. The Somerville examples on this route went up between 1848 and 1885.
- Houses and mansions in Somerville15 stops · 1.1 milesThe route links houses built between 1849 and 1910. Many are private homes and the stops are meant to be seen from the sidewalk.