Sanger - Hodges - Cushing House
152 Main St
1820
Architectural Style
Federal
Significance
Architecture
Use Type
Single Family Dwelling House
Neighborhood
Bridgewater Town Center
Massachusetts Historical Commission Report
Architectural Significance
This handsome Federal house is composed of a center hall plan, gable roofed main block and a rear ell which is linked to a cupola topped mid. 19th c. stable. Flushboards cover the main facade's ground floor—the rest of the house is sheathed in clapboards. Full length windows and an entrance with Asher Benjamen-like enframements open on to a front porch with fluted Doric columns. The porch's roof is surmounted by a Colonial Revival railing. Italianate (mid-late 19th c.) alterations include the 2nd floor's tripartite center window and low gable. Windows contain 6/6 wood sash.
Historical Significance
Built c. 1820, "one of Minister Sanger's family" is credited with original ownership. Rev. Zedekiah Sanger D.D., a native of Sherborn, MA, settled in Bridgewater in 1788. He was the third pastor of the First Congregational Society in Bridgewater Center. The 1830 map indicates ownership by Rev. Richard M. Hodges. He became the fourth minister of the First Congregational Society in September 1821. By the 1850s Jonathon Cushing owned this property. A native of Boston, MA, Mr. Cushing came to Bridgewater to attend the Academy during the early 1800s. Initially he was employed in the store of Nathan and Isaac Lazell in Central Square. In 1809 he married one of Isaac Lazell's daughters. Subsequently he was associated with Nathaniel Fisher Ames in Boston, carrying a successful West India goods trade. In addition he was an agent of the Braintree Cotton Gin Co. He retired to Bridgewater in 1842 and lived "..ease and independence at his pleasant home on Main Street." He died in 1877 at age 92. By 1900 Fred W. Hooper, an associate of the G.M. Hooper and Co. (brick manufacturing), lived here.