Dorchester Illustration 2657, Keystone Manufacturing

Keystone Manufacturing

Dorchester Illustration 2647

The Keystone building on Hallet Street that overlooks the Southeast Expressway was originally

built for the Hallet Davis Piano Company.

The Keystone Manufacturing Co. had been founded in 1919 to build machines and other

products. In 1942, the company moved to former piano company building at 151 Hallet Street.

The company specialized in the manufacture of toys. In 1931, the company introduced the “Ride

‘Em” line of steel toys. The company also branched out with a company called Keystone Wood

Toys.  In the 1950s, Keystone Wood Toys was located at 143 Hallet St., while Keystone Manufacturing was at 151 Hallet St.

Keystone branched out in 1954 with the Keystone Camera Co., but the company closed six years later. The Keystone Camera Co. was acquired by Berkey Photo, who moved the camera operations to Clifton, New Jersey.

In 1977, Corcoran, Mullins, Jennison Management Co. bought the building and converted it into 223 one- and two- bedrooms apartments for the elderly and handicapped.

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Dorchester Illustration 2646, Tileston House, a Military Hero’s Home

Tileston House a Military Hero’s Home

Dorchester Illustration 2646

Text from Carole Mooney

The house in this illustration may look familiar, you can see it when leaving the Shaw’s Market parking lot. The house at 13 River Street was built around 1797 by Euclid Tileston who learned cabinetry from Ezra Badlam, his father-in-law, and later became a carriage maker. The property was owned by the Tilestons until 1897.

The building is on the National Register of Historic Places, the nation’s official list of places worthy of preservation, and is a designated Boston Landmark. The building is listed in Boston’s Oldest Buildings and Where to Find Them by Joseph M. Bagley, as the 28th oldest building in Boston. (Bagley states that the house was built about 1770.)

It was the home of Fourth Lieutenant Ezra Badlam who marched to Roxbury on April 19, 1775, in response to the Lexington Alarm with his brother Stephen, a sergeant, and his youngest brother William, a fifer (a small flute). Ezra served as an officer, from the beginning of the Revolutionary War until his dismissal from the army in 1782, first in the Massachusetts Militia then as Lieutenant Colonel in the Continental Army. 

Ezra was orphaned at an early age and his grandfather was lost at sea before his father was born. Nevertheless he managed not only to survive but to prosper. Ezra taught his brother Stephen the cabinet-making trade in a building that once was on the River Street property. Although none of Ezra’s furniture has yet been found, Stephen’s exceptional work is on display at Yale University, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Dorchester Historical Society. Dorchester Park encompasses much of the woodlot they used. 

Copies of Badlam’s correspondence are stored in the Dorchester Historical Society archives and transcriptions will eventually be available on the DHS website. Ezra corresponded with George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Lincoln and other war heroes and their voices can be heard directly through the context of Ezra’s letters which describe attacks, defeats, atrocities, smallpox, courts martial, traitorous deceptions, hunger, cold, relationships, lack of finances, deserters, Tories, spies, military maneuvers and even the design of Continental uniforms which differed slightly from state to state. 

The Badlams are significant historical figures in American military history. A restored 13 River Street would be a source of pride and a reminder of Dorchester’s rich heritage, such as the Paul Revere House.

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Dorchester Illustration 2645, Laban Pratt House

Laban Pratt House

Dorchester Illustration 2645

The Laban Pratt house on Pope’s Hill appeared in American Architect and Building News, on March 11, 1882, vol. XI, no. 326 following p. 138.

Laban Pratt (1829-1923) was a lumber merchant in 1875 he was living on Walnut Street in the Port Norfolk section of Dorchester. His company was located where the Old Colony Railroad tracks crossed from Dorchester over the Neponset River to Quincy. Pratt was also an investor in real estate, as confirmed by the numerous pages of his transactions in the Suffolk Registry of Deeds.

Pratt moved to the house pictured in today’s illustration in 1883.

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Trustees of Dorchester Savings Bank

Dorchester Illustration 2644

Trustees of Dorchester Savings Bank

Dorchester Illustration 2644

Dorchester Savings Bank was incorporated on March 19, 1853 by an act of the Massachusetts Legislature.

“William Richardson, Oliver Hall, Lewis Pierce, their associates and successors, are hereby made a corporation, by the name of the Dorchester Savings Bank March 19, 1853.”

            Private and Special Statutes of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, for the Years 1849, ’50, ’51, ’52, ’53.  Volume IX.  (Boston, 1860), 599.

The photo of the trustees, from left to right: Edward Pierce, Thomas Groom, E.P. Tileston, William Pope, Lewis Pierce, John H. Robinson, Daniel Denny, W. Lindsley, Ebenezer Eaton, Oliver Hall, Nathaniel Safford, Robert Vose, Joseph Dix, Nathan Carruth.

Selected stories:

Thomas Groom made his money in the stationery trade. He was the first to introduce the popular Gillott’s pens into the American market, and for years, his establishment was a headquarters for Russia quills.

Edmund Pitt Tileston went into his family’s paper manufacturing business, Tileston & Hollingsworth.

William Pope was a lumber merchant and builder.

Daniel Denny was a merchant and landowner.

Ebenezer Eaton owned a tavern at the base of Meetinghouse Hill on Bowdoin Street, where Coppens Park is now located.

Oliver Hall was a furniture manufacturer, served in the Massachusetts Legislature, as well as president of the Mattapan Bank.

Nathaniel Safford was a lawyer in Lower Mills.

Joseph Dix had a business of boot and shoe findings in Boston, but went into real estate in the late 1860s. In the early 1860s, he lived at Harrison Square, also know as Clam Point. Between 1861 and 1865, he built a house on the north side of Centre Street, where his sister lived for a time, Dorothea Dix, the social reformer.

Nathan Carruth was the first president of the Old Colony Railroad. He lived on an estate for which Carruth Street is named.

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Spaulding Brothers’ Swiss Bell Ringers, Dorchester Illustraton 2643

Spauldng Brothers’ Swiss Bell Ringers

Dorchester Illustration 2643

Swiss bell ringers came to the United States in the 1840s, bell ringing became popular entertainment, often part of a larger show. John Franklin Spaulding, a violinist from Boston joined the Swiss Bell Ringers group. In 1866, John and some of his relatives set themselves up as Spaulding Brothers’ Swiss Bell Ringers. Georgia Dean and William Spaulding (John’s cousin), both harpists, married in 1865. The family eventually set up a permanent residence in the Neponset section of Dorchester.

The following excerpts comes from

“Georgie Dean Spaulding was the real deal, and she set the Spaulding Bell Ringers apart. Nor was William a slouch; one writer noted, “ ‘Mr. Spaulding is one of the most versatile performers in the profession, playing on any instrument from a harp down to a penny trumpet, while his solo on the bass bells is said to be wonderful.’

“John Spaulding returned to the Peak Family (a touring group of musicians) in 1870, making William the sole manager of the Spaulding Bell Ringers. Georgie added the cornet to her repertoire, hired another cornet player, Nellie Daniels, and the troupe became known as the Spaulding Bell Ringers and Ladies’ Cornet Band. When Georgie acquired a gold cornet, the name stretched out to The Spaulding Bell Ringers and Ladies’ Gold & Silver Cornet Band.

“Over the next ten years, the troupe toured extensively in the eastern U.S. and Canada. They packed every hall, at 35 cents a seat. They played New York for eight weeks. In Montreal, they played Queen’s Hall for three days, and 1600 tickets were sold for a single matinee performance.

“Georgie was something of a marvel. One of her set pieces was to play, “Yankee Doodle” with one hand on the harp strings and “The Fisher’s Hornpipe” with the other, and sing “Tramp, Tramp, Tramp, The Boys Are Marching,” a Civil War favorite, at the same time. More than one reviewer noted that all three melodies could be heard distinctly. Her husband and manager proclaimed, “ ‘Her execution of three different and difficult melodies at one time is the wonder of the 19th century.’

“She was also unflappable. On one occasion as she played the harp, the fashionably tight sleeves of her new dress cut off the circulation to her hands. She stopped playing for a moment, produced a pen knife, calmly slit the sleeves, and resumed playing to thunderous applause.”

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Thomas Trowbridge, ancestor of Cindy Crawford

Thomas Trowbridge, ancestor of Cindy Crawford

Dorchester Illustration 2642

Sometimes our knowledge of former Dorchester residents comes from unexpected sources. We learned of supermodel Cindy Crawford’s efforts to trace her ancestry, through a YouTube video. One of her ancestors was Thomas Trowbridge.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iA_UYcGDhYw

Thomas Trowbridge left Taunton, England where he was born, to live in Exeter in Devon. He established himself as a mercer (a dealer in textiles such as silks and velvets). He married an Exeter girl in 1627, Elizabeth, the daughter of Mrs. Alice Marshall.

Trowbridge was one of the early settlers of Dorchester, Massachusetts, probably about 1636, and of New Haven, Connecticut. In the late 1630s, he was a merchant engaged in the Barbados trade. He was likely a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company under the name listed as Thomas Strawbridge (the spelling was probably a scrivener’s error).

Trowbridge moved his family to New Haven about 1639-41 and appears in the census of 1641. His estate is given at 500 pounds, a large sum for the time.

He returned to England about 1641-44 and left his three sons under the charge of Sgt. Thomas Jeffries who came from the vicinity of Taunton, England. Jeffries was in Dorchester in 1634 and New Haven in 1637 or 1638. Trowbridge sailed for England leaving his houses, goods, lots and estates and chattel in trust with his steward, Henry Gibbons, who kept possession of Trowbridge’s estates at New Haven for many years. It appears that he never returned to New England.

Trowbridge served as a captain in Cromwell’s army in the English Civil War. He died in 1672 in Taunton, England.

Other information is available at https://homepages.rpi.edu/~holmes/Hobbies/Genealogy2/ps14/ps14_015.htm

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

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Dorchester Illustration 2641 Bird-Sawyer House, Humphreys Street

Bird-Sawyer House, Humphreys Street

Dorchester Illustration 2641

Thomas Bird arrived in Dorchester from England on the second voyage of the ship Mary and John in 1635. He was a poor man but he did well enough to buy a large tract of land west of Dorchester Brook, between what is now Dudley and East Cottage Streets.

Mary Bird Hill, grandmother of Charles Winthrop Sawyer, the owner in the late 1920s, told Sawyer that she had seen Thomas Bird’s deed to the land dated 1637 with an Indian’s thumbprint on it. Bird probably built his house soon thereafter. When he died, his estate was valued at 1,000 pounds and included “ye olde dwelling house” and “ye new dwelling House.” It’s not certain which of these was the house still standing in the early 20th century.
The following comments are from the Historic American Building Survey.

“Additions were necessary to accommodate grandchildren, so the house grew with the family. The original house consisted of two rooms, a bedroom and kitchen and an attic (illustration at top left). To this was later added a “lean-to” which was later incorporated into the house. The point of demarcation remained clear as one had to step down a few inches into the lean-to portion from the first floor of the original house. Later the roof was lifted to provide two rooms upstairs with a new attic above (illustration top center). Still later the attic roof was lifted to a higher peak and two more rooms were placed above those in the rear. Four rooms, two above and two below were built in 1804, replacing the second lean-to (illustration at top right). The low ceiling, the wrought-iron latches and locks, and the uneven flooring created an atmosphere of early pioneering Puritanism. In the kitchen, the great brick fireplace was the center of attention.”

Charles Winthrop Sawyer was an engineer and an avid firearms collector. He published Firearms in American History, 1600 to 1800 (1920). Later in life, he was unable to maintain the house. After it was vandalized, the house was taken down in the 1950s.

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Dorchester Illustration 2640, Boston Insulated Wire and Cable Company

Boston Insulated Wire and Cable Company

Dorchester Illustration 2640

Harry Benjamin Burley was born on May 26, 1867, in Epping, New Hampshire, to Joseph Cilley Burley, Elizabeth Haley. 

Harry married Louise Adelaide Wells in 1901, and they lived in Brookline, Mass. for about 30 years. He died on Aug. 22, 1954, at the age of 87, and was buried in Epping, New Hampshire.

Harry and Louise had three sons, Harry Benjamin Burley, Robert Maxwell Burley and Joseph Cilley Burley. After Harry’s death, Harry Junior and Joseph took over management of the company. Robert served as a director for many years.

Harry Burley founded Boston Insulated Wire and Cable Company in 1906 on Freeport Street in Dorchester. In 1907, he acquired several parcels of land south of Bay Street, stretching from the Dorchester Avenue eastward to the railroad. The company erected a manufacturing plant at 65 Bay St. in 1909, and two years later, they had a branch in Hamilton, Ontario, to take care of business in Canada. In the mid-1900s, the company went public and in 1988 merged with and was subsumed by Draka Industries (Netherlands).

The business grew by supplying wire to automobile companies. Then in the 1930s and 1940s, BIWC produced braided metal hose for aircraft engines. In 1938, BIWC began to make cables for television cameras and was the leader in supplying the TV industry into the 1970s.  In 1959-1960, Otis Elevator ordered cables for the tall buildings where other manufacturers’ cables had failed.

The Dorchester plant closed in the mid-1980s.  In 1994, the Dorchester Bay Economic Development Corp. bought the property and cleaned up the site. In 2001, Spire, an international digital and graphics print company, broke ground on a new 78,000-square foot office building at the same site.

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Dorchester Illustration 2639 Future Dads

Future Dads

Dorchester Illustration 2639

I like this design on a 45 rpm record sleeve released in 1981, recorded by the Future Dads called Dorchester Summer.

The band members included: Lee Harrington, bass, vocals; Richard Kerr, drums; Fritz Ericson, guitar, vocals; Robert “Moose” Parsons, saxophone; and Richie Parson, vocals, guitar, producer. Ted St. Pierre was the recording engineer.

There is a YouTube video at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dhkIpd4QxU

The band is described on that site as:

“Short lived Powerpop/Surf/New Wave band from Boston led by former Unnatural Axe member Richie Parsons. They released their Dorchester Summer titled EP on Modern Method Records in 1981. Bassist Lee Harrington also played with the Great Neighborhoods.”

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Dorchester Illustration 2638, Franklin Park Waiting Room

Franklin Park Waiting Room

Dorchester Illustration 2638

Today’s photo shows the Franklin Park waiting room where people waited for streetcars. The photo is dated 1895. The building was on the east side of Blue Hill Avenue between Columbia Road and Ellington streets.

In 1887, four Boston horse car railway companies merged under the name West End Street Railway; the new company became one of the largest street railway systems in the world. 

As streetcar lines were extended farther out from the city center, construction of housing grew by leaps and bounds. In the 1880s, the streetcars were drawn by horses. In the early 1890s, the cars were converted to electric power by stringing wires from poles, allowing trolleys to travel along the rail system.

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