Quick History Stops: Hyannis, MA | Part 1

By -
A black, white, and dark blue striped header image with the text Quick History Stops: Hyannis, MA | Part 1

In August 2024, I went on a five-day trip to Cape Cod, MA where I visited many museums and cultural organizations, along with quick history stops and trails. While visiting Cape Cod Maritime Museum and John F. Kennedy Hyannis Museum in Hyannis, MA, I made so many quick history stops around the area that I have divided it into two parts. Today features Main Street, including the library, two churches, historical buildings, a train station, and public art. Tomorrow will feature the HyArts Artist Shanties and some of the Kennedy Legacy Trail.

A two-story shingle-sided Cape Cod style building with white trim A one story red brick building with dark green shutters attached to a Cape Cod style building A blue painted wooden sign with golden letters

According to a plaque from the Barnstable Historical Commission, the building of the Hyannis Public Library consists of three parts a shingle sided Cape Cod style house built in 1750, the Eagleston addition built in 1939 after a donation from hotel owner Edward L. Eagleston, and the Twombly Wing built in 1974. This final wing is slated for demolition and replacement within the next few years. As an organization, Rosella Ford Baxter founded the library in 1865 but found no permanent home until 1908, when the original building was purchased from sea captain Samuel Hallett and later renamed the Ora A. Hinckley Library building in honor of an incredible librarian who served from 1909 until her death in 1943 at age 85. This is now a bookshop and the Hyannis Historical Society space.

Metal plaque with information on library building history Greek Revival style red brick two story building with painted white columns and pediment. A ship is carved on the pediment Tall Clock in front of Bank

Until recently, the Greek Revival style red brick building at 442 Main Street had been a bank. The building was constructed in 1948 apparently for Rockland Trust, which had a branch in Hyannis since 1929. My favorite feature of the building was the wood ship carved on the pediment, the triangular front of the building. The property is currently empty but available for rent.

A classic whitewashed New England church building in the Greek Revival style Classic 1930s American Red Brick Post Office Building with a white wooden cupola A three-story red brick Masons building with its distinctive symbol carved into the half-moon above the door

First Baptist Church of Hyannis is a classic whitewashed New England church building in the Greek Revival style. The congregation began around 1771 with sixteen members of First Baptist Church of Harwich, while this meeting house was built in 1825. The Hyannis Post Office next to the JFK Hyannis Museum was designed by Louis A. Simon and built in 1938 with funds from the New Deal, a program started by U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt with funds from the Treasury Department in an attempt to end the Great Depression. Simon’s other work included a plethora of post offices and the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, which I visited many years ago. A three-story red brick Masons building with its distinctive symbol carved into the half-moon above the door has been turned into Village Green Main Street Apartments.

Sculpture made of a large circle connected to five smaller circles. The center of the circles have green, blue, and yellow glass. Basic train station platform with a sign for Cape Cod Central Railroad Station on the roof The tracks, platform, and ticket office of Cape Cod Central Railroad Station

At the far end of Main Street was Hyannis Transportation Center (HTC), a stop for Cape Cod Central Railroad. Train service in Hyannis began in 1854, with the construction of a station for Cape Cod Railroad, the physical tracks currently operated by the Cape Cod Central Railroad. HTC opened much more recently in 2002. As for the operator, Cape Cod Central Railroad borrowed its name from a company that existed briefly from 1861 to 1868. The current company is much more long-lived, as it opened in 1999. I definitely need to book a few trips on these trains in the future! As an added bonus, I saw colorful modern artwork near HTC. Through the Looking Glass was created by Mary-Ann Agresti, a Hyannis artist funded by ARTS Barnstable.

A classic whitewashed New England church with a tall pointed steeple Black sign with white lettering reading The Federated Church of Hyannis: The Friendly Church; above the sign is a welcoming pineapple A metal statue of a Wampanoag Native American man in his mid twenties wearing traditional clothing and sitting on a rock

My final stop on Main Street was The Federated Church of Hyannis. According to their sign, they are the friendly church. I wonder if the other church was considered not friendly, or if this church is extra friendly. This church became federated in 1917 when the Universalist Church, which had begun in 1829 after a schism from First Baptist Church, merged with the Congregational Society, which had begun in 1854 by enlisting Methodists, who had previously had a schism in 1846. The beautiful church building had originally belong to the Universalists.

As I left Main Street, I paid a visit to the statue of Iyannough, a Wampanoag Native American who lived in the Hyannis area and was in his mid-twenties when the Mayflower arrived. His name appeared in Mourt’s Relation a book published in London in 1622 including stories written by members of Plymouth Colony, as he helped find one of the Billington children who got lost in the woods. The unnamed author was shocked by how “personable, gentle, courteous, and fair conditioned” Iyannough was for a “savage”. Despite his kindness to the so-called Pilgrims, Iyannough likely died by 1623 while he and his neighbors hid from colonial military leader Myles Standish, who had attacked another village without provocation.

Location: Hyannis, Barnstable, MA 02601, USA