Elbridge Boyden

Elbridge Boyden was a prominent 19thcentury American architect from Worcester, Massachusetts who designed numerous civil and public buildings throughout New England and other parts of the United States. Perhaps his best known works are the Taunton State Hospital and Mechanics Hall in Worcester.

Boyden was born in Somerset, Vermont on July 4, 1810 to Amos Boyden, a Revolutionary War Veteran, and Abigail Boyden. The family moved to Orange, Massachusetts where young Elbridge attended public schools. As a young boy, he left school to work in a sawmill. At age sixteen he went to Athol where he was apprenticed to a carpenter, Joel Stratton. Stratton owned two books by Asher Benjamin, which is where Boyden began his architectural training. In 1830 he began to work for Jonathan Cutting, a builder from Templeton, who had built the First Church in that town. Before long he bought out Cuttings business, and worked as a builder and designer in Athol until 1844.

Source: Wikipedia