The Princeton House File was originally compiled in the 1950’s by Clayton Hubbard and Anita Woodward, assessors for the town of Princeton. At that time there were approximately 325 houses in town. Anita researched many of the deeds while she and Clayton kept a record of ownership as the houses passed from one owner to another. The file was comprised of two identical sets of index cards, which also included records of cellar holes and houses no longer standing.

Anita Woodward was a member of the Princeton Historical Commission and she and Clayton Hubbard were both members of the Princeton Historical Society.

One of their gifts to the successors of the Princeton Historical Commission and Princeton Historical Society was the original house file they began in the 1950’s. Since there were no street numbers in town at the time, the index cards were arranged numerically by road with the owners names listed on the cards.  Joyce Anderson, a member of the Princeton Historical Commission, later updated the house file cards by identifying the houses and their corresponding addresses.

In 2006, Alex Fiandaca, also a member of the Princeton Historical Commission, began transcribing the original house file that was given to the Commission by entering it into a data base. Joyce transcribed information from the 1830, 1857, 1870 and 1898 maps to identify ownership during those time periods. Joyce also photographed all houses built before 1956 to meet an inventory requirement for Massachusetts Historical Commission.  These photographs were entered into the house file data base along with vintage photographs provided by the Princeton Historical Society.

Since 2006, the Historical Commission has researched numerous deeds, and seventy house plaques have been made to designate the original owner and date of construction for each house researched.  The house file has been a valuable tool in this endeavor and has been updated accordingly with new information.

Updating the house file is an ongoing project.  Many of the house entries are incomplete, however, we would we like to share the information we have.  We hope you enjoy the Princeton House File and that you will find it helpful in learning more about the history of Princeton.

Begin Exploring our Princeton House File

Joyce Anderson

Member, Princeton Historical Commission and Princeton Historical Society