A Cornerstone of American History

By: Ashley Rooney

Published in the Lexington Times Magazine

The Jonathan Harrington house stands at the corner of Harrington Road and Bedford Street, facing Lexington’s historic battle green. Built long before the Revolutionary War, this square house with its narrow white clapboards, green shutters, and small-paned windows exemplifies Colonial architecture. To further its allure, a brick herringbone walkway leads to the famous stone doorstep where Jonathan Harrington died in the arms of his wife.

A hallway divides the four rooms on the first floor. The low ceiling and overhead beams, the wainscoting, and wide paneling bring one back to the early Colonial days. The broad window seats show the thickness of the walls. The hearth in the parlor is paved with tiles from England; the fireplace in the kitchen is so high that a growing teen could stand in it. It is one of the few houses in Lexington that remain from that era.

By today’s standards, the house is old-fashioned. Like so many other houses, it could be easily replaced by something bigger, grander, more suited to today’s preferences. Fortunately, it has lasted through many generations.

Joann and Alfred Gshwendtner purchased the house from First Parish Church in 1977. Joann says, “We had a huge party soon after our move because the house was so special. That Christmas, we had another large party, and on Patriots’ Day in 1978 we invited people to come, watch the battle, enjoy finger foods before they went on to the various pancake breakfasts.” That was the first of many patriots’ Day parties. With her annual Patriots’ Day party, Joann has made its story known to many.

History of the House

Harrington house is said to have been built early in the 18th century. Some have thought that it might have been intended for the parsonage for First Parish on the Common. However, although three ministers, John and Thomas Hancock and Jonas Clarke, owned it in turn, none of them lived there. They preferred the house on Hancock Street.

Its first known occupant was the widow Abigail Harrington, who took in paupers and was paid by the town. It was not until 1783 that Lexington’s first official poor house was built. Abigail sold the house to Thomas Perry who had nine children. But the house was small, and Thomas didn’t want to live in the middle of a fast-growing village with the cries of the drovers with their wagonloads of pigs. He sold it to Jonathan and Ruth Harrington, the couple who brought fame to the house.

They and their nine-year-old son were very happy there until the night of April 18, when Ruth heard a voice shouting, “Get up. The British are coming.” The British wanted to capture John Hancock and Sam Adams and to destroy the colonists’ military supplies stored in Concord. Within a short time, the alarm was sounded, and men throughout the town were dressing quickly and reaching for their muskets. Like Jonathan, many of these men were generally hardworking farmers, ranging in age from 16 to 66. Many of them had served in the French and Indian War. They may have dressed poorly, but they knew how to use their weapons and they opposed the restrictive policies of the British.

Jonathan was among the grim-faced colonists discussing what they would do on the Lexington Battle Green that morning. Captain John Parker said, “Stand your ground. Don’t fire unless fired upon! But, if they mean to have a war let it begin here.” As column upon column of red-coated Regulars marched into view, the Lexington militia knew they were facing the greatest fighting force in the world at that time.

Ruth stood there in the doorway watching the advance of the British less than a hundred yards away. A mounted British officer bellowed, “Lay down your arms, you damned rebels.” Seeing the hopelessness of the situation, Captain Parker told his men to disperse. Most turned and hastened away; others moved back. A shot rang out; to this day it is not known who fired that first shot. With that, the British infantry began to fire. Mortally wounded during the skirmish, Jonathan dragged himself to the front door of his home, where he died. He was one of the eight militia men killed in the opening shots of the American Revolution on April 19, 1775.

The house had many owners in the succeeding years. One who warrants the sign on the left side of the front door is John Augustus, a shoemaker, who opened his doors to probationers in 1811 in Lexington. Called the “Father of Probation” in the United States, Augustus was unwilling to shun petty criminals. He would pay their bail and provide them with room and board. At one time, he supposedly had 15 probationers living in his house, but his charitable works cost him dearly. He ran out of money to pay his mortgage and moved to Boston.

After John Augustus came Austin Crittenden, who had longed for the empty Harrington house. He patched, plastered, and cleaned up the place. In the spring, he and Mr. Burr went into the clock-making business in the ell. They specialized in solid oak wall clocks with bronzed designs. Soon the business prospered. Austin decided he wanted a clock that would remain in the house for his descendants to enjoy. He made one that pictured the new State House on the Boston Common. In its interior, he printed directions for setting, oiling, and regulating it followed by “Burr and Crittenden 1830.” Over the years, that clock disappeared.

Others followed: Captain Phelps, Elian Brown, and then James and Caroline Gould and their eight children in 1850. When the Gould sons marched off to fight for the Union, their family supported them and the war effort. As the years went by, money became short. Most of the children were gone, and the house was lived in by several families. The last Gould daughter sold it to Charles Swan, who then rented it out to others. By the beginning of the twentieth century, four families lived in the house. One woman lost her wedding ring down a hole in the floor; although many looked, it couldn’t be found. By the end of the century, Dr. Bertha C. Downing, a physician who had her practice in the house, owned it. She moved in 1902, and the house became an eyesore.

The Twentieth Century

In the spring of 1909, Leroy S. Brown and his wife stood outside the house, and she said to her husband, ”That’s where I want to live.” He said, “What in that dilapidated old place?” By that autumn, Mrs. Brown had persuaded Leroy to purchase Harrington House. He hired Willard Brown, an architect, who planned to preserve the Colonial lines of the house. Two new chimneys replaced the huge flaring chimney; the dining room fireplace was closed; the narrow stairs replaced by a more graceful stairway. The ell on the right side of the house, where John Augustus and Austin Crittenden had worked so hard, was removed. During all this work, they found the missing wedding ring and returned it to its delighted owner. One day an antique dealer came to the door with the long-lost Crittenden and Burr clock. Today, it sits in its original niche in the dining room.

The Rowse family bought the house from the Brown estate, who installed gorgeous gardens and plantings. They then sold it to First Parish, who used it as its parsonage. Roland Greeley’s father once mourned, “The house is in malodorous decay.”

When Joann and her husband bought it in 1977, they replaced the old roof that leaked badly; fixed the sills that had been visited by carpenter ants; rebuilt the front door; replaced the water and sewer lines and the furnace; created new light fixtures; redid the front stoop; repainted the house along with many other improvements. The house became beautiful once again.

If a historic property can be restored, redeeming it is almost always preferable to demolishing it and rebuilding. For once restored, a historic property benefits and enriches the community with its many stories. The 300-year-old Harrington House has become a house with significance, with a reason for standing at one of the corners of the Lexington Battle Green – where our nation’s independence began. It has seen life and death, poverty and wealth, change and stagnation. It has seen life. As Joann says, “This house is so special. We sit in the living room and feel all those people who lived here in the past.”