Uncover the Rich History of New Bedford's Fashionable County Street

Enjoy Bruce Barnes’ New Bedford Preservation Society exploration of historic County Street from Union to Elm Streets. County Street was one of the most fashionable streets in New Bedford throughout the 1800s and still has some of the most beautiful homes and notable sites in the city. Bruce takes us to view significant houses in this part of County Street as well as discusses important structures and sites, that no longer exist, of the houses of people significant to the history of New Bedford.

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00:17 – Introduction and discussion of County Street history
01:43 – Jireh Perry House/Masonic Lodge, 435 County Street. House constructed about 1830. It was then home to the Wamsutta Club, at the time a baseball team, and how houses the Masonic Lodge.
03:59 – Bristol County Superior Courthouse, 441 County Street, constructed in 1828, it was the site of the Lizzie Borden trial in 1893 and is still an active courthouse.
06:33 – New Bedford High School and site of the Joseph Russell House and the Charles Morgan Mansion, 455 County Street. Joseph Russell was the founder of New Bedford, Charles Morgan was a famous whaling merchant and banker and the namesake of the last remaining whaling ship, now housed at Mystic Seaport. The current building operated as a high school from 1909 until 1972.
12:38 – Loum Snow House, 465 County Street Built in the early 1850s, it is one of the finest Victorian-era houses in New Bedford. Snow was a successful Whaling Merchant.
16:21 – Stephen N. Potter House, dating from about 1835. It was later home to John Duff, the primary coal baron of New Bedford.
20:29 – Ebenezer Nye House – Demolished. Wonderful Italianate home that was at 139 Cottage Street.
23:00 – Site of the original Friends Academy, constructed in 1810. It remained here until about 1850 when it moved to Morgan Street. Friends later moved to Tucker Road in Dartmouth around 1940.
23:25 –The Methodist Church, was built around 1850. Now abandoned.
24:05 – Site of Joseph Rotch mansion. Rotch was a wealthy whaling merchant. The house was built in 1822 and demolished in the 1840s.
26:07 – Samuel Ivers house, 448 County Street, an important and interesting Victorian built in 1879. Ivers was the primary executive at the Clark’s Cove Guano Company. (Guano is bird poop then used as fertilizer).
28:31 – First Unitarian Church, 1838. Discussion of the movement of many Quakers to the Unitarian sect in the 1820s. The church houses a magnificent Tiffany mural, installed behind the altar.

Thanks to the New Bedford Whaling Museum, Spinner Publications, the New Bedford Free Public Library, Digital Commonwealth, and Google Maps for selected images.

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