Old Third District Courthouse - New Bedford, MA - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com

The Old Third District Courthouse in New Bedford, Massachusetts, United States, is located at the corner of Second and William streets. It was built in 1853 by Russell Warren in the Greek Revival architectural style, as the home of the New Bedford Insititute for Savings, a local bank. After the bank moved, the Bristol County courts came in. They, too, eventually outgrew it and moved elsewhere in the city. Since the creation of New Bedford Whaling National Historic Park in 1996, it has been used by the National Park Service (NPS) as the park's visitor center.

The building itself is a small two-story three-by-three-bay structure of brick with a raised basement and sandstone facade. A small bracketed cornice tops the windows and main entrance on William Street, which is fronted by a granite balustraded porch. The roofline is marked by a pediment. "THIRD DISTRICT COVRT OF BRISTOL" is carved into the second story in prominent letters.

It began life as the NBIS's building. When whaling declined in New Bedford, to be replaced by textiles, the bank moved to larger quarters downtown where it has remained ever since. The courts moved in in 1896, but later needed more space themselves, and moved out. During the mid-20th century it became a store, selling antiques at one time and auto parts at another. It had come back around to being used as a branch by Fleet Bank in 1995 when New Bedford's Waterfront Historic Preservation LEague (WHALE) bought it and turned it over to the NPS.

In 1971 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is one of 20 contributing properties to the New Bedford Historic District, a National Historic Landmark, and diagonally opposite the U.S. Customhouse, also a National Historic Landmark. Inside the building, during its hours of operation, park rangers offer brochures and guided walking tours of the historical park, which covers much of the waterfront area of New Bedford. The park's gift shop is also located on the premises. According to a 1999 study conducted for the Park Service, it is the most frequent start of a visitor's journey through the park.

Source: (visit link)

Street address: 33 William Street New Bedford, MA United States of America 02740 County / Borough / Parish: Bristol Year listed: 1971 Historic (Areas of) Significance: Architecture/Engineering, Event Periods of significance: 1850-1874 Historic function: Commerce/Trade, Government Current function: Commerce/Trade, Recreation And Culture, Work In Progress Privately owned?: no Season start / Season finish: From: 01/01/2009 To: 12/31/2009 Hours of operation: From: 9:00 AM To: 5:00 PM Primary Web Site: [Web Link] Secondary Website 1: Not listed Secondary Website 2: Not listed National Historic Landmark Link: Not listed

Visit Instructions:
Please give the date and brief account of your visit. Include any additional observations or information that you may have, particularly about the current condition of the site. Additional photos are highly encouraged, but not mandatory.

Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log User Rating   06/26/2022 Don.Morfe visited it 08/31/2014 Lat34North visited it 07/07/2013 MonkeyAndTheEngineer visited it 07/10/2010 Metro2 visited it 07/03/2010 NorStar visited it 02/15/2009 nomadwillie visited it

View all visits/logs