Eaton-Prescott farm : 284 Summer Avenue

284 Summer Avenue : Eaton-Prescott Farm. Originally situated on a 100 plus acre farm stretching from Woburn to Oak and West Street to Washington Street, this house sheltered a long line of the locally prominent Eaton family. Homesteaded before 1700 by John Felch, the land was bought by Thomas Eaton, a tanner and farmer, in 1712. It is believed that the original Eaton house was built one and a half stories high with a gambrel roof. Multiple renovations transformed the original home into the traditional Georgian style home with Greek Revival influence that we see today. Thomas Eaton expanded his land holdings and eventually gave parcels to his children where they settled with their families. Joshua Eaton, Jr. grew up in one of these homesteads. On April 19th, 1775, twenty-year-old Joshua Eaton, Jr. (grandson of Thomas Eaton) marched to Concord and Lexington with Captain John Bacheller's Minutemen and was later killed at the storming of Saratoga in 1777. He was the only Reading soldier to die in action during the Revolution. In 1948 the town voted to build a new elementary school at the site of his childhood home. The Joshua Eaton Elementary School was dedicated October 23rd, 1949. The original Eaton house was passed down through the generations and was eventually inherited by Abigail Eaton (great-granddaughter of Thomas Eaton). In 1813, Abigail was married to Joshua Prescott, a lawyer and graduate of Harvard University. He was a civic leader and served as counsel for citizens seeking to establish the Andover-Medford Turnpike (now Main Street). He is also credited with doing much to bring the railroad through Reading when the intention was to run the first branch through Woburn. Beginning in 1845, streets were laid out over the original farmlands, dividing the original farm into house lots. Stonewalls were taken for foundation stones of new homes. The Eaton-Prescott estate was finally sold out of Prescott ownership in 1902 when local architect Willard Adden purchased and remodeled the house adding an extension, garage, and dormers. Since then, owners have used a rear, north door as the main entrance.

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National Register of Historic Places ID: 84002597

Institution: Reading Public Library

Producer: Reading Public Library

Narrator: Anna Foulds

Massachusetts--Middlesex (county)--Reading

284 Summer Avenue (Reading, Mass.)

Walkable Reading

03-2010

audio/mpeg

image/jpeg

eng

Reading, Mass. : Walkable Reading

Architecture, Domestic

Historic buildings

Dwellings

Eaton, Thomas

sound recording-nonmusical

still image

Sound recordings

Photographs