History
The Dexter-Treadwell House was built in 1742 by Richard Dexter, the town's first full-time practitioner of the medical arts, on a portion of the farmland formerly owned by the Esty family, which was made famous in the Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692. Dexter practiced medicine in the area from 1740 until his death in November 1783. According to George Francis Dow in his "History of Topsfield Massachusetts," in 1741 Dexter married Mehitable Putnam of Boxford, who was the youngest sister of the Revolutionary War hero General Israel Putnam. Genealogy sources on the Internet don't agree.After the Esty family briefly owned the property again in the early 1800s, it was purchased by Dr. John D. Treadwell of Salem in approximately 1810. He was an Ipswich native who graduated from Harvard College in 1788. His advertisement to sell the house and its approximate 100 acres of land "very pleasantly situated" along the Ipswich River in Topsfield appeared in the Salem Gazette in January of 1812. Apparently nothing came of the offering, as his son, Dr. John Goodhue Treadwell, bequeathed the property to the Essex Agricultural Society in 1858. At the same time, his library and a $5,000 gift were given to Massachusetts General Hospital. That library still bears his name, but the books were given to the Rare Book Collection in the Countway Library at Harvard Medical School in the 1970s.
The society, which was formed in Topsfield in 1818 by influential residents and farmers from all over Essex County to promote agriculture, used the property as an experimental farm for many decades. One of the experimental crops of note was cranberries. The society's annual cattle show and fair traveled around the county for many years, and then when it outgrew its facilities in Peabody in 1909 the society turned the Treadwell Farm lands along the Ipswich River into what continues to be the Topsfield Fairgrounds.
The Dexter-Treadwell House was located on the other side of Route 1 - formerly known as the Boston Post Road or the Newburyport Turnpike. The society used the farm's accessory buildings, and built another large barn adjacent to the house in 1859, for its farming cooperative to help sell supplies and equipment to area farmers at reduced prices. That barn was taken down in the late 1970s to make way for modern, efficient storage facilities for the farming and feed supplies. The society still operates the Essex County Co-operative store at that location between Route 1 and South Main Street. The house was used over the years as housing for Co-op managers and employees, until its upkeep became burdensome in the mid 1970s.
But its sale was not an easy task as the buyer would have to move it.
Move
The current owner, a Topsfield native, decided to take on the challenge in an effort to preserve a piece of the town's history. He was supported in his efforts by the Topsfield Historical Society, the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, and hundreds of local residents who signed petitions to facilitate negotiations with the state to obtain a permit to move the large farmhouse. Finding a nearby plot of land that would pass the percolation tests required for a septic system proved impossible, so the move had to be made to its current site on Ipswich Road. The acre-plus "island" parcel of land between Ipswich Road and Campmeeting Road was sort of misplaced in the 1930s when Ipswich Road was straightened. It proved to be the only parcel available at that time that would not only pass the percolation tests for a septic system, but the parcel also had to be adjacent to a roadway broad enough to accommodate the 26-foot width of the house for the move.To make a very long story short, after a year and a half of negotiations and petition drives, the current owner obtained the necessary permits from town and state officials to proceed with the move. Petition drives conducted by the owner garnered signatures from more than 650 residents and resulted in the Board of Selectmen eventually approving the move in April 1975. The battle for a permit ended in May 1975 when the state Department of Works finally came around after months of negotiations. Phone calls from residents and town officials are credited in part towards reversing the original decisions to deny the necessary permits.
The house took off on its eight-hour journey over the Route 1 hills on August 19, 1975. There was a short delay when striking New England Telephone workers held up the move at the intersection of Routes 1 and 97 until replacement workers were hurried over from their offices to fill in. The rest of the two and three-quarter mile trip was uneventful.
Public Support
Speaking to the historical significance of the house, the Topsfield Historical Society adopted a unanimous resolution in September 1974 in an effort to help persuade officials and residents to support the permit approval.
"Whereas the historic house in Topsfield generally referred to as the 'Treadwell House'
but also known as the 'Dexter-Treadwell House' was built about 1740 by Doctor Richard
Dexter, who was described in the History of Topsfield (Dow) as 'probably the first
practitioner of the medical art in Topsfield who devoted his time exclusively to it,'
and
Whereas tradition has it that a detachment of troops returning from Arnold's Expedition against Quebec camped under the large pine tree then in front of the house (Vol. 8, Topsfield Historical Collections), and
Whereas this farm (with earlier structures on it) was owned originally by Isaac Esty, whose wife was hung as a witch in 1692, and came back into the possession of the Esty family for a short time about 1809 (Vol. 8, Topsfield Historical Collections), and
Whereas the house was the property of the Doctors John Treadwell (father and son) of Salem and Topsfield from about 1810 to 1857 when it was bequeathed, along with a large tract of land in and around the adjacent Ipswich River valley, to the Essex Agricultural Society as an experimental farm, later developed in part as the present Topsfield Fair Grounds, and
Whereas the Doctors Treadwell were distinguished physicians and benefactors as evidenced in part by the fact that Doctor John Goodhue Treadwell, the son, bequeathed in 1857 his library and a sum of money to the Massachusetts General Hospital as the basis for what is now known as the Treadwell Library, on whose walls is a picture of the Treadwell House, and
Whereas authorities in the architectural features of historic houses, including officials of the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, have knowledge of the house and strongly recommend its preservation, and
Whereas in the spirit of the Nation's Bicentennial such preservation is important, and
Whereas there is at present a problem as to relocation of the House, therefore
Be it resolved that we urge all concerned, including town officials, public utility companies, and citizens by whose property the structure might be moved or on whose land the structure might well be located, to cooperate fully so that the Treadwell House with its historic, architectural and cultural values will be preserved within the town."
Whereas tradition has it that a detachment of troops returning from Arnold's Expedition against Quebec camped under the large pine tree then in front of the house (Vol. 8, Topsfield Historical Collections), and
Whereas this farm (with earlier structures on it) was owned originally by Isaac Esty, whose wife was hung as a witch in 1692, and came back into the possession of the Esty family for a short time about 1809 (Vol. 8, Topsfield Historical Collections), and
Whereas the house was the property of the Doctors John Treadwell (father and son) of Salem and Topsfield from about 1810 to 1857 when it was bequeathed, along with a large tract of land in and around the adjacent Ipswich River valley, to the Essex Agricultural Society as an experimental farm, later developed in part as the present Topsfield Fair Grounds, and
Whereas the Doctors Treadwell were distinguished physicians and benefactors as evidenced in part by the fact that Doctor John Goodhue Treadwell, the son, bequeathed in 1857 his library and a sum of money to the Massachusetts General Hospital as the basis for what is now known as the Treadwell Library, on whose walls is a picture of the Treadwell House, and
Whereas authorities in the architectural features of historic houses, including officials of the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, have knowledge of the house and strongly recommend its preservation, and
Whereas in the spirit of the Nation's Bicentennial such preservation is important, and
Whereas there is at present a problem as to relocation of the House, therefore
Be it resolved that we urge all concerned, including town officials, public utility companies, and citizens by whose property the structure might be moved or on whose land the structure might well be located, to cooperate fully so that the Treadwell House with its historic, architectural and cultural values will be preserved within the town."