Sunday, February 17, 2019, 2 pm at the
William Clapp House
“Of Stars and Shamrocks”
Join the Dorchester Historical Society for a special screening of the film “Of Stars and Shamrocks” on Sunday, February 17, at 2 p.m., with commentary by Charles R. Gallagher, S.J., associate professor of history at Boston College. Originally aired on WGBH in 1995, “Of Stars and Shamrocks” chronicles the intertwined histories of Boston’s Irish and Jewish immigrant communities from the mid-19th century on.
Dorchester Illustration no. 2390 Welles Mansion
Welles Mansion
The home of the Welles family was the original estate house for Ashmont Hill when the hill was all open land except for the house in the illustration. George Derby Welles, who lived in Paris, inherited the estate from his grandfather in 1870 and asked Edward Ingersoll Browne to have a sub-division plan drawn up for the sale of lots. The house was replaced by the Edward Pierce School in 1892, and the school was itself replaced by the Codman Square branch of the Boston Public Library in the last quarter of the 20th century. Illustration is from The Homes of Our Forefathers by Edwin Whitefield. (Boston, 1880).
The estate house must have been built in the 18th century due to its Georgian style. We know that General Henry Knox and his family lived there for a while just after the Revolutionary War in 1784. Daniel Webster lived there in 1822. Later in the 19th century the house fell from its high estate when ownership passed out of the Welles family. “For a period a lager-beer garden flourished on its grounds, an unsightly board fence concealing the former attractions of the property, and serving as a disagreeable eye-sore to the people. Fortunately, however a third turn of affairs brought the stated into better use; for the house was demolished, the fence torn down, and the splendid building erected which will go down history bearing the name of one of Dorchester’s most honored citizens,–the Henry L. Pierce School.” (from Good Old Dorchester by William Dana Orcutt). The author’s attitude toward demolishing the old to bring in the new is still with us today. Now the School, too, has disappeared into history. It was replaced by the current Codman Square branch of the Boston Public Library at the corner of Welles Avenue and Washington Street.
Ashmont Hill was developed into a railroad suburb in the late 19th century, now still exhibiting 40 acres of substantial, well-crafted, well-designed and well-preserved late-19th-century residences. George Derby Welles was born in Dorchester in 1843, and he outlived his siblings and his father, all dead by 1847. George Derby Welles inherited the land in Dorchester, including land west of Washington Street. By the time the land was offered for sale, George seems to have been living in Paris, where he died in 1923, although he had claimed Boston as his legal home. Subdivision plans published in 1871 indicated small lots, but apparently buyers in the 1870s and 1880s preferred to buy larger parcels by combining small lots into larger ones to build more substantial homes. Street after street in the Ashmont Hill residential quarter west of Peabody Square is bordered by wood frame, mostly single-family residences noteworthy for their originality and/or exuberance of design, quality craftsmanship, surviving stables on still-ample lots, etc. Exceptional examples of the Italianate / Mansard, Stick, Shingle, Queen Anne and Colonial Revival styles (as well as hybrids of these popular late-Victorian architectural modes) appear at every turn. (architectural comments from Neighborhood description of Ashmont Hill from the Boston Landmarks Commission).
12705 Three Decker bollard at Edward Everett Square, 2012.
Dorchester Illustration no. 2389 Bollard of Three Decker
The sculptures on top of bollards at Edward Everett Square, located in the plaza with the bronze pear sculpture, represent themes connecting Dorchester’s past and present.
One of the pieces of artwork is a bronze three-decker representing all the multi-family houses throughout Dorchester. Although three deckers are not unique to Dorchester, Dorchester’s developers did fall in love with the form, producing over 5,000 of them from the 1880s until the three-decker was prohibited by the city in or about 1930 due to the fear of fire spreading quickly among closely-spaced wooden buildings. Many residents of Dorchester and former residents recall growing up in an apartment filling a whole floor of one of these buildings. The keys in the sculpture suggest home and personal space. Encompassing from 900 to 1300 square feet of floor space, an apartment in a three-decker is as large as a ranch house in the suburbs.
The City of Boston’s website has this comment: “Three deckers first began to appear in Boston just before the turn of the 20th century. Based on the construction principles of three-decker ships, three deckers are designed to maximize living space on rectangular city lots and were built so that the apartments, stacked one atop another, extended back into the lot, with rooms opening up one on to the other.
The fronts of the houses featured stacked porches between columns, purposely created to encourage the owners of the properties to take advantage of the fresh air. Houses were constructed with windows designed to cross-ventilate the structure during long, humid city summers. Many triple deckers also had back porches as well, giving the families who lived in them even more outside space.”
http://www.cityofboston.gov/3D/whatis/history.asp
The term triple decker is rumored to be an invention of the BRA, while older Dorchesterites always use the term three decker. Three deckers may have begun as early as the 1870s and lasted throughout the 1920s. The Boston Landmarks Commission published an excellent piece in 1977: Three-Deckers of Dorchester: An Architectural Historical Survey by Arthur J. Krim. Krim says “The three-deckers are a large part of the identity of Dorchester and define its sense of place.” Krim says that Dorchester has the largest collection of three-deckers of any community anywhere. You may view the introduction to this document at
http://www.sidewalkmemories.org/archives/The%20Three-Deckers%20of%20Dorchester.pdf
The outlawing of three deckers may have been the result of negative feelings about the types of people who would be likely to live in them as much as a fear of fire. Some believe that class issues were part of the reason the three-decker form was banned as a building type.
Krim suggested stylistic differences by geographic distribution; others have pointed out influences from other periods such as Queen Anne revival or Colonial revival.
Dorchester Illustration no. 2388 House of William Cranch Bond
The photograph shows the house of astronomer William Cranch Bond, who, together with his son George Phillips Bond, are regarded as the first important contributors towards the early history of astronomy in America.
The first house owned by William Cranch Bond was in Dorchester on Cottage Street west of Edward Everett Square. The only parlor was sacrificed to science and converted into an observatory. A huge granite block, some tons in weight, rose in the center of the room, and the ceiling was intersected by a meridian opening. There were stone blocks in the gardens and neighboring fields as well for the support of instruments, meridian marks,etc. Life was not easy, and he spent his evenings as a watchmaker to meet the current household expenses. In 1838 when he received an appointment from the United States Government to cooperate with the exploring expedition of Com. Charles Wilkes, although his equipment was amply sufficient, he added new buildings and a new suite of instruments. In a short time a new observatory was erected in Dorchester and was fully equipped for investigation of magnetic and meteorological elements.
Much of the following is from Memorials of William Cranch Bond and George Phillips Bond. By Edward S. Holden. (San Francisco: C. A. Murdock, 1897)
William Cranch Bond was born in Portland, Maine, September 9, 1789. The family’s lumber business failed, and they moved to Boston to open a clock store. It was necessary for the young Bond to do his part towards supporting the family. He early evinced the ingenuity and fertility in mechanical contrivances for which he was subsequently distinguished. At the age of ten (1799) he made a wooden clock, and became famous among his playfellows for his skill in the manufacture of traps, toys, etc. He left the public school at an early age and became an admirable workman. At the age of fifteen (1804) he constructed a satisfactory shop chronometer, and at about the same time a quadrant, which was also a very serviceable instrument. His attention was turned to astronomy by the remarkable total solar eclipse of 1806, when the sun was hidden for no less than five minutes. The comet of 1811 was discovered in Europe, but with no knowledge of that discovery, Bond discovered it independently. He loved science for itself, and cultivated it with a private passion–he had been observing the great comet of 1811 for months before his observations came to the knowledge of Professor Farrar of Harvard and Dr. Nathaniel Bowditch of Boston.
Farrar and Bowditch, who were planning an observatory for Harvard, gave Bond the mission of making examinations of the building at Greenwich when they learned that he was planning a trip abroad in 1815. In 1819 he married for his first wife his cousin Selina Cranch in Kingsbridge, Devonshire. They had six children: William Cranch Bond Jr., Joseph Cranch, George Phillips, Richard Fifield, Elizabeth Lidstone, Selina Cranch. After his wife’s death in 1831, William Cranch Bond married her elder sister Mary Roope Cranch, who left no children.
Then in 1839 he reluctantly moved to Cambridge to take the position of Director of the Harvard College Observatory, which however afforded no salary until the year 1846. Until then life continued much the same with Bond having to earn his living with jobs outside astronomy. His sons helped out in the Observatory as they had in the Dorchester home. William Cranch Bond, Jr., died an untimely death in 1841, and his father was deprived of an able assistant. George P. Bond helped his father and succeeded him as Director of the Observatory when Bond died in 1859.
The Dorchester Historical Society’s historic houses are open on Sunday, January 20, 2019:
William Clapp House, 195 Boston Street
James Blake House, 735 Columbia Road
The Lemuel Clap House will not be open but will be open February 17th.
Dorchester Illustration no. 2387
The Dorchester Historical Society has model railroad cars imitating those that shipped liquid chocolate all over the USA. Jeff Gonyeau recently took a photograph of a real tank car with the Bakers Chocolate name and logo at the railroad museum in Chester, Massachusetts.
The detail from the 1933 map illustrates the tracks and sidings that served the Walter Baker chocolate company on both sides of the Neponset River. Remnants of tracks can still be seen behind the Webb Mill on the Milton side of the river. At one time the tracks were part of the Dorchester and Milton Branch Railroad that ran from Neponset to Mattapan Square. Much of that line has become the line for the Mattapan Trolley.
We have been referred to the following publications that are supposed to have photos and information about Baker Chocolate cars. We are looking for copies of them to scan if you have any in your collection.
NHRHTA v. 18, issue 4
Classic Freight Cars, vol 2
Railroad Freight Car Slogans & Heralds
Check out the Dorchester Historical Society’s online catalog at
http://dorchester.pastperfectonline.com/
The archive of these historical posts can be viewed on the blog at
www.dorchesterhistoricalsocietyblog.org
Open Houses
The Dorchester Historical Society’s historic houses are open on the third Sunday of each month from 11 am to 4 pm. James Blake House, 735 Columbia Road (1661); Lemuel Clap House, 199 Boston Street (1712 and remodeled 1765); William Clap House, 195 Boston Street (1806).
Dorchester Illustration no. 2386 Morton Street at Blue Hill Avenue
Blue Hill Avenue began as the Brush Hill Turnpike. It was chartered in 1805 and although the Town of Milton disapproved, the turnpike was completed in 1809. In 1810 an Act was passed applying to this road, providing that the corporation should not collect toll ” from anyone on military duty, on religious dutv, coming to or from any grist mill, or on the common or ordinary business of family concerns, or from anyone who had not been out of town with a loaded team or carriage.” An interesting comparison with later days may be drawn from a legislature’s assuming that every toll gatherer would be able to tell the nature of his customer’s business and how far he had been or was going. Source: The Turnpikes of New England … By Frederic J. Wood. (Boston: Marshall Jones Company, 1919).
This photograph, dated 1941, shows the intersection of Morton Street and Blue Hill Avenue.
In the photo the building at the left between Morton Street and Rhoades Street, where the Morton Theatre was located, has been replaced by a police station. Notice the number of billboards and the cars and the trolleys. The trolleys no longer run along Blue Hill Avenue. Instead there are now 3 lanes of traffic on each side. The three decker on the right is still there at the intersection. On the left there is still a Mobil station where you can just make out the Mobilgas sign in the photo.
Dorchester Illustration no. 2385 Subway Collision at Ashmont
Subway Trains derailed at Ashmont, October 19, 1949
Problems with rapid transit are not new. The photo taken by Herbert Stier was published Oct. 19, 1949, by the Boston Traveler with caption: Derailment – These two Cambridge-bound MTA trains collided at a cross-over track in the Ashmont station relay yard, Dorchester, today. A trackless trolley shuttle service was put into effect at Field’s Corner Station, Dorchester, to Ashmont. Rapid transit service was expected to be restored by tonight’s rush hour.
The Boston Globe reported, October 19, 1949:
Two M.T.A. Trains Derailed in Ashmont Crash, None Hurt
Two empty M. T. A. trains collided in the turning area at Ashmont Station today, derailing a car on each train and tying up traffic between Ashmont and Cambridge.
The M. T. A. said no one was injured.
The collision and derailment took place at 10:10 a. m. Power between Ashmont and Fields Corner was shut off until 10:39, and tunnel trains ran during the late forenoon only between Fields Corner and Cambridge.
In explaining how the accident occurred, an M. T. A. spokesman said that one two-car train was on the eastbound dead end track in charge of motorman John G. Starling, 1265 Broadway, West Somerville.
On a relay track to the left was another two-car train drive by motorman John L. Stuart of 4 Iroquois Road, Arlington.
The first car of Starling’s train struck the first car of Stuart’s train, the M. T. A. said. As a result the first car on Stuart’s train was tipped off the tracks to the left, and the first car on Sterling’s train was derailed to the right.
Two east bound tunnel trains were reversed and sent westward at Andrew Station and one trains was turned back from Shawmut Station.
Trackless trolleys operated between Fields Corner and Ashmont.
Later Stuart was said by the M. T. A. to have proceeded against a red light and was indefinitely suspended.
M. T. A. officials said they hoped service through to Ashmont would be restored in time for the home going rush hour.
562-570 Washington Street and 8 Kenwood Street Nov. 22, 2018.
Dorchester Illustration no. 2384 Cast Stone
Today’s illustration is a lament for building ornamentation that has been lost to history. Usually we highlight the loss of architectural elements from highly decorated wood-frame houses, but today our image is of a commercial building and the cast-stone ornamentation.
The building permit for 562-570 Washington Street, which is dated Nov. 2, 1926, gives an estimated cost of construction of $12,000. The medallion above the doorway of the bank in the vintage photo carries a date of 1927. The Dorchester Savings Bank must have leased the end unit from the owners. The opening of the Codman Square branch may have been the occasion for the 1932 photograph.
The vintage photograph from March 29, 1932, shows the building early on in its history. The window and door openings and the awning in front of the dress shop created a varied pattern that catches the eye. The cast-stone ornamentation along the cornice is simple but appealing, but even in 1932 the dress shop sign is mounted over some of the ornamentation, hiding the symmetry of the design.
The photo from 2018 shows a very different building. The grates hide the existing openings. The building has been stripped of all ornamentation including the medallion with the date.
Next time you travel along a street of stores, try to notice which buildings still have their distinctive architectural features, because soon they might be gone forever.
Dorchester Illustration no. 2383 William T. Adams
The following is from: One of a Thousand. A Series of Biographical Sketches of One Thousand Representative Men Resident in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, A.D. 1888-89. Compiled under the editorial supervision of John C. Rand. (Boston: First National Publishing Company, 1890).
Adams, William T., son of Laban and Catharine (Johnson) Adams, was born in Medway, Norfolk County, July 30, 1822.
He was educated in the public and private schools of Boston and vicinity, and when a mere lad displayed a talent for writing, his first article being published in the “Social Monitor.”
For three years Mr. Adams was the master of the “Lower Road” school in Dorchester. In 1846 he resigned his position to assist his father and brother in the management of the Adams House, Boston. Mr. Adams resumed teaching in 1848, in the Boylston School, Boston, becoming the master in 1860, and on the establishment of the Bowditch School, he was transferred and held the post of master of that school till he resigned in 1865. He then went abroad and traveled throughout Europe, dating his career as an author from this period.
Mr. Adams’s nom de plume, “Oliver Optic,” originated from his having written a poem in 1851 which was published under the heading of “A Poem Delivered Before the Mutual Admiration Society, by Oliver Optic, M.D.” The name “Optic” was suggested by a character in a drama at the Boston Museum, called “Dr. Optic.” To this Mr. Adams prefixed “Oliver,” with no thought of ever using it again. But soon after two essays appeared in the “Waverly Magazine,” “by Oliver Optic,” which were so well received that he continued to write under this pseudonym until it became impracticable to abandon it. His books, numbering over a hundred volumes, are widely and deservedly known.
Mr. Adams was married October 7, 1846, to Sarah, daughter of Edward and Martha (Reed) Jenkins. Mrs. Adams died in 1885. Their children are: Alice Marie, wife of Sol. Smith Russell, and Emma Louise, wife of George W. White, a member of the Suffolk bar. Mrs. White died in 1884.
In 1867, Mr. Adams was unanimously elected a member of the school committee of Dorchester. He served until the town was annexed to Boston, and was elected a member of the Boston school committee and served for ten years. In 1869 he was elected a member of the House of Representatives and served one year, and declined a re-nomination.
In 1870, he went to Europe a second time, and three times recently, traveling through the countries not previously visited, and the books which he has since published show the result of his observations.
