Thumb, Tom, House - Middleborough MA
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nomadwillie
N 41° 55.291 W 070° 55.091
19T E 340941 N 4642841
The Tom Thumb House was built in the 1870s as a summer home for the dwarf entertainer Charles Stratton. It has Second Empire architecture, including a mansard roof, paired brackets in the cornice, and paired columns supporting the porch.
Waymark Code: WM17C53
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Date Posted: 01/24/2023
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The Tom Thumb House is a historic house in Middleborough, Massachusetts. The 2 1/2 story wood-frame house was built in the 1870s as a summer home for the dwarf entertainer Charles Stratton, best known by his stage name, General Tom Thumb. It has Second Empire architecture, including a mansard roof, paired brackets in the cornice, and paired columns supporting the porch. The interior was built to meet the needs of the 3-foot-4-inch (102 cm) Stratton and his wife Lavinia, who was also a proportionate dwarf (midget,) however, few of its miniaturized features have survived.
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The Tom Thumb House is representative of a well defined dwelling in the Second Empire Style with detailed embellishments strongly identifying its development with an important personage. Charles Sherwood Stratton (1838-1883), also known as General Tom Thumb of Phineas Barnum's Circus, built the house following his marriage to Lavina Bump of Middleborough. The period of significance spans the years from construction in ca. 1871 to 1910 when General Tom Thumb's widow, Lavina Warren Bump (1841-1919), and her second husband sold the property due to financial difficulty.
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