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Rockland Ma. Historical Commission | |
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The most noteworthy features of this large Colonial Revival house have been obscured. The hip roof with dormers and widow's walk, the colossal portico and classical details such as corner pilasters, entranceway with sidelights and pediment are very much part of the idiom, as are leaded glass windows. HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE The 1910 Tax list has Donovan owing a property on this site worth $15,000. This is one of the most valuable properties on the list and could not possibly be the Sherman Hotel which stood on the site as late as 1903. This house was built by Alfred Donovan who was prominent in Rockland as a partner and President of the E. T. Wrigth Shoe Company Shoe Company, one of the town's better know shoe manufacturers and the only one still operating today (1981). The Donovan house is one of the the few buildings in Rockland to be associated with the captains of its shoe industry of the boom period around the turn of the century. Donovan was active in local affairs and was a participant in the founding of the local chapter of the Saint Alphonsus Catholic Total Abstinence and Benevolent Society. Between 1922 and 1942 Chester and Almina Woodward Owned the house BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCE Atlas of Plymouth Country, 1903 Town of Rockland Assessor's Office. Tax Valuation 1910 Campbell, Martha. Research Reporter # 96-1/31/68 |