Located in the geographic center of Somerville, the Somerville Historical Society also graces the Spring Hill neighborhood. William Dykeman designed this Georgian Revival red brick building in 1925 (completed in 1929) to house a varied collection. The holdings include the double staircase Charles Bulfinch designed for the demolished Joseph Barrell House in Somerville in 1792. The historical society was founded in 1897, at a time when the city's population was increasing rapidly and a quarter of its residents were foreign born. Constructed at the end of this period of change, the building symbolized the nativist need to preserve a memory of the early history of the community.