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Ancestral Bridges

“Ancestral Bridges: Celebrating Black and Afro-Indigenous families who lived and worked in Amherst in the 18th through early 20th centuries,” an exhibit of historical photographs and artifacts, will be on view in Frost Library through the summer of 2024.

Going Riding Photograph


c. 1940, Snell Street, Amherst

L to R: Perry Roberts Sr.; Perry Roberts; Rosemary Roberts, Doris (Roberts) Bridges, Dudley Bridges Sr.; William Harris Sr.; Edythe (Roberts) Harris 

Westside Historic District

In 1996, Dorothy and Dudley Bridges submitted a letter of intent to the National Historical Commission of Amherst to request that 15 homes in the Westside District of Amherst be registered as historical sites. By June of 2000, an application was submitted to the Department of the Interior to add the Westside Historic District of Amherst to the National Register of Historic Places. Included in the application are descriptions of some of the families and their homes on Hazel Avenue, Snell Street, Baker Street, and Northampton Road, including Charles Thompson, The Roberts family, and the Bias family. The application also includes documentation of community support and opposition to the proposal, providing insight into the process of historical preservation and its complexity. The Westside Historic District was officially added to the National Register of Historic Places in July of 2000.