Born at the home of his grandmother in
North Londonderry, Vermont, Atwood attended public schools in
Boston. He studied architecture and engaged in that profession in Boston. Atwood was elected as a
Republican to the
Fifty-fourth Congress (March 4, 1895 – March 3, 1897). Atwood defeated incumbent Democrat
Michael J. McEttrick. He was a member of the Republican State Committee. Atwood was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1896 to the
Fifty-fifth Congress. He resumed his former profession in Boston. From 1888 to 1894 he was a member of and secretary to the Boston Republican City Committee. From 1889 to 1890 he was City Architect of Boston, designing the
Bowditch School, the
Congress Street Fire Station, and the
Harvard Avenue Fire Station, all on the
National Register of Historic Places. Atwood also designed several churches for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston. He was again a member of the
Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1915, 1917, 1918, 1923, 1924, 1927, and 1928. He was an unsuccessful candidate for election in 1918 to the
Sixty-sixth Congress, and then resumed his work as an architect in
Boston. In April 1938, he moved to
Wellesley Hills, Massachusetts. ==Death==