MANSFIELD - The historical commission is celebrating the official nomination of a Revolutionary War-era cemetery near the center of town to join the prestigious National Register of Historical Places.

The 3,400-plot Spring Brook Cemetery, located at the corner of Spring and School streets, is a 22-acre burial ground with a historic chapel, and it was one of 10 sites the Massachusetts Historical Commission nominated to the National Register last month.

Members of the selectmen-appointed Mansfield Historical Commission said winning federal recognition for Spring Brook has been one of their top priorities for more than two years.

"That one was a logical one," said the commission's chairman, Bob Servais, who was elated at the news. "That's an outstanding piece of property. It's a historic turn-of-the-century cemetery. It's in beautiful condition, and the cemetery itself is a show place."

Spring Brook Cemetery was also the final resting place for some of Mansfield's oldest families - or, as Servais put it, "It's the old WASP cemetery." Spring Brook, the largest cemetery in Mansfield at 22 acres, has been a burial ground since the late 1700s.

When the cemetery was formally organized in 1860 as a private, nondenominational cemetery, it contained only four acres. In the late 19th and 20th centuries, additional acreage was acquired from a number of landowners, though the cemetery maintained its rectilinear design as it grew.

The Mansfield Historical Commission's clerk, Jennifer Davis, said the commission pushed for Spring Brook's recognition because of the age of its gravestones and, in particular, the stately Card Chapel housed on its grounds.

Davis said the chapel needs some restoration work; a number of its stained glass windows are broken. Placement on the National Register of Historical Places would make it easier to secure funding to make such improvements.

"It will put the Spring Brook Cemetery Association in a better position for some state and federal grants for maintenance, both of the cemetery and the chapel," she said.

Davis also said her commission was surprised but pleased that the Massachusetts Historical Commission saved Mansfield time and money by taking care of the extensive paperwork required to submit a nomination to the National Register, which is part of the National Park Service.

The National Register of Historic Places is the country's official listing of noteworthy cultural resources. It includes more than 65,000 properties in Massachusetts alone.

The Mansfield Historical Commission now has to wait months for federal officials in Washington to make a final decision about Spring Brook.

Servais said the commission still has plenty of other projects to keep it busy, including the creation of a town historic district and another National Register application, this one for the century-old house on Rumford Avenue that once belonged to the late Mansfield historian Jennie Copeland.

TED NESI covers Mansfield for The Sun Chronicle. He can be reached at tnesi@thesunchronicle.com or 508-236-0434.