Jenness House

The Jennesss House stood on the north side of Deer Street opposite the intersection of Deer and High Streets.

Richard Hart built the large house during the early 1700s before the Revolutionary War. It served as a boarding house for many years. Peter Jenness owned it until his death in 1876, when a society purchased the building and opened it as "Faith Home" for needy and elderly women.

My photograph is approximately the same location as the Jenness House. The area on both sides of Deer Street used to be a thriving neighborhood of immigrants who lived in historic homes. During the misguided urban renewal craze of the 1960s, the city relocated all the families, razed most of the old buildings, and moved a few to The Hill (see Fitch House) or to Strawbery Banke museum. Over the years since the needless destruction, developers replaced the historic district with parking lots, a strip mall, business condos, and hotels.