Pratt Building, Society Headquarters

Cohasset Historical Society

Designed by Edward Nichols, a Cohasset native and Boston architect, the Pratt Building was built in 1903 to provide Cohasset with a central library building for both the private Paul Pratt Memorial Library and the town’s Cohasset Free Public Library. The walls of the rotunda are noteworthy for holding four large murals painted by prominent Cohasset artist MacIvor Reddie in 1946. The murals depict scenes of the town’s history from Captain John Smith’s arrival in 1614 to the peak years of Cohasset’s maritime era in the 1850s.

Now housing the Historical Society’s extensive archives, library, historic costumes and textiles, and space for research and special exhibitions, the Pratt Building is open to the public year-round, Monday-Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.