Frank Thayer Merrill (1848-1936), was an artist and book illustrator. He lived at 16 Tremlett St. Today’s illustration is an original pastel, owned by the Dorchester Historical Society, that was used as an illustration for a publication of “The Count of Monte Cristo,” by Alexandre Dumas.
Jessie S. Aldrich, Merrill’s wife, bought the land on Tremlett Street on May 13, 1886 for “One dollar and other valuable considerations.” The quitclaim deed specifies that “no dwelling house shall be erected on said land to cost less than Five Thousand Dollars, and shall be set back in the line of the house recently built and occupied by said Mansfield” (number 18, destroyed by fire in the early 1970s). The third floor of the house contains a large studio lit by a Palladian windowed dormer. The house backed up to the Colonial Club on Washington Street (the former Walter Baker mansion now the site of a charter school on Regina Road).
Merrill drew the illustrations for many books of fiction, including “Little Women” and “The Prince and the Pauper.”
Dorchester Illustration 2707 Winter Garden Rollerway and Riverview Ballroom
On April 30, 1932, the Winter Garden organization opened the Winter Garden Rollerway at 725 Gallivan Boulevard, located approximately where the Expressway off-ramp is now between Staples and the gas station at Hallet Street – maybe set as far back as the Expressway itself.
Every summer beginning in June 1933, the roller skating moved to Nantasket to allow the use of the facility in Dorchester as the Riverview Ballroom where many traveling name bands performed, including Rudy Vallee, Fred Waring, Isham Jones, Cab Calloway, Larry Clinton, Gene Krupa, Fats Waller, Ina Ray Hutton, Tommy Dorsey and many others. Note, however, that “jitter-bugging” was never permitted at Riverview, while the Old Time Dance Tempo of Ed Andrews caught on and became popular with dancers of all ages.
The Winter Garden Rollerway celebrated its 10th anniversary in 1942 with the publication of a booklet with photographs of many of the personnel of the organization as well as many of the skaters. The Winter Garden Tattler was published here until 1936 when its name changed to Roller Skater’s World Tattler. By 1942 this weekly publication had a circulation of 7,500 each week with demand coming from all over the country. Fred and Lou Freeman managed the entire organization.
Here are some comments taken from the Dorchester Atheneum 2. These comments made between the years 2007 to 2012.
“The Sholes rink at Neponset was located where Staples is now. Across the street where Bickford’s presently is, was Linda’s Fried Chicken. That’s where we went, after skating, (if we were fortunate enough to have the extra 0.15 cents), to get an ice cream.”
“I used to skate here in 1955-56. The organist’s name was Harry Garafola. I grew up in Dorchester, and South Boston….and I not only skated at Sholes, but also at Chez-Vous on Rhoades St. Back then, between the side entrance of the Morton theatre, and the auto parts store, (which used to be a car dealer), there was an old wooden fence which had a hole in it, and we used to cut through to get to the diner, (which used to be where the doughnut store is now). The last that I heard, Sam Sholes was living in Florida, (don’t know if he’s still alive). A pity that the young people have lost interest in the sport, and opted for video games. Trying to keep a certain culture is like trying to stop the tide. As a young lad back then….with no car, or license….I didn’t have occasion to go near the Lincoln-Mercury property. I used to arrive via trackless trolley at Neponset Ave. and Gallivan Blvd. and walk to the rink. The drive-in was there, along with the Keystone Camera Company, as well as….of course….the rink. Rayco auto seat covers was next to the car wash at the circle, (I don’t remember how long the car wash has been there). There really wasn’t a lot on Gallivan Blvd., don’t forget….the expressway wasn’t even there in 1956. That’s supposedly the reason that they destroyed the rink, (for the X-way).”
Benjamin Winslow Harris he served in the Massachusetts House in 1857 and the Massachusetts Senate in 1858. He lived in Dorchester, from 1869 to 1872.
In 1869, he presented an argument against the annexation of Dorchester to Boston in hearings of the Joint Committee on Towns in the Massachusetts Legislature. He tried to refute the arguments of those in favor of annexation, in part, by alleging improper conduct in a meeting held in Dorchester to consider the petition for annexation. When the Act for Annexation came out of the legislature, annexation was recommended, and a date in June 1869 was set for Dorchester and Boston to vote on the issue. The vote was in favor, and Dorchester became part of Boston on Jan. 1, 1870.
Excerpts from Harris’s comments follow.
“It is said that there are 860 names on the petition from the town of Dorchester…. how were the names obtained and what influenced the petition?… A hired messenger traveled through the town with a petition praying for the annexation of the whole of Dorchester; and he got 829 names, 233 of which are neither voters, nor, so far as we know, residents…This was a canvass…in which the person canvassing, says, ‘We don’t want Dorchester divided; but if they are going to take a portion, let them take the whole!’ ”
“They say there were 544 voters in favor of action to 6 opposed…when you count upon 544 voters in that meeting in favor of annexation, you mistake.. The town of Dorchester has not had a full discussion of this matter.
“It did seem to me that Mr. Upham, who was last year the chairman of the committee chosen to oppose annexation, but who happens to be, this year, a convert to annexation, — it did seem to me a little strange that under his management, fair play could not have been a little better secured…. where a majority of the committee opposed to annexation, of which he was chairman, had a written report ready to present to the meeting, Mr. Upham did not do quite the fair thing reading a report signed by himself as chairman, and having it acted upon before the majority of the committee could get a chance to make it know that they had a report ready, and he the chairman of the meeting too… he did not give the opponents of this measure quite a fair chance.
“But how was that meeting constituted? Mr. Putnam, who runs a large nail factory, hires two four-horse wagons, and hires 42 voters to and vote for annexation…. He had 42 voters in his employ who would vote in favor of annexation, and he said, ‘Boy, I will pay you your wages, nothing shall be deducted from your day’s labor, and I will pay your transportation up and back, if you will go and vote for annexation;’ and they went.” B. W. Harris. The Annexation Question. Closing Argument of B. W. Harris, Esq. (Boston, 1869)
Dorchester Illustration 2705 The Dorchester Automobile
The Dorchester model automobile was short-lived, apparently only available in 1906. It was produced by the Crest Manufacturing Company, which had purchased the car dealership, Hub Automobile Exchange at 191 Freeport St., Dorchester. This address was on the west side of Freeport Street at the corner of Beach Street.
The only information found was today’s illustration, from an issue of the “Cycle and Automobile Trade Journal,” 1906, and an article on Wikipedia written in German.
The text was translated using an online translation program.
“The company was based in Dorchester, Massachusetts. It initially operated as a car dealer. In 1906, the plant was purchased by the defunct Crest Manufacturing Company. Automobile production began in 1906 based on the Crestmobile. The brand name was initially Dorchester. Sales were poor. A better model followed in 1907, which was now marketed as the Hub. It was presented at the Boston Automobile Show in early 1907. Vehicle production ended in the same year. It is not known when the company was dissolved.
“The only model was a stripped-down version of the Crestmobile. An air-cooled single-cylinder engine with 4 hp powered the rear axle via a chain. It was mounted without a panel above the front axle and directly in front of the dashboard. Steering was done with a steering lever, which was long outdated in 1906. The only structure was a light two-seat runabout. The curb weight was around 181 kg.
“This model still had a single-cylinder engine. It was also air-cooled and located under a hood. The engine power of 10 hp was transmitted to the rear axle via a planetary gear and a cardan shaft.”
The fact that the Hub Automobile Exchange continued to advertise in later years leads me to wonder if Hub purchased the defunct Crest Manufacturing Company instead of the other way around, as stated in the translation of the Wikipedia entry.
Jackson’s first wife Helen M. (Smith) died in 1896. His second wife, Mary E. Clarke, a physician, and she moved into 41 Lyndhurst St. This was third marriage for Mary, whose maiden name seems to be Emerson.
Edward Payson Jackson’s works include:
“A Mathematical Geography … Designed for Common Schools” (Hartford, 1872)
“Manual of Direction for the Use of the Stellar Tellurian” (Hartford, 1872)
“A Mathematical Geography” (1878)
“A Demi-God: A Novel” (1887)
“The Earth in Space” (1887)
“Conduct as a Fine Art” (1891)
“Character Building. A Master’s Talks with His Pupils” (Boston, 1891)
“A Demigod: A Novel,” is an early American science fiction novel. The following is from The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction:
“Demigod is about ‘a Eugenics program, begun in Greece in the seventeenth century, generates in the late nineteenth century a Superman who boasts extraordinary strength and agility, plus a massive intellect, out of which pours Inventions galore, including a process by which artificial diamonds are created, and a superior hand-gun.’ ”
Daniel Sharp’s house was located at the corner of Howard Avenue and Hartford Street. Sharp was vice-president of an insurance agency. The U.S. Census for 1880 lists Sharp and his wife, Mary, with their three children: George H. L. Sharp, 21, clerk in a wool house; Edward S. Sharp, 19, dry goods clerk; and Clarence S. Sharp, 16, at school. Two servants also lived in the house: Annie Sinnott, 30, and Nellie Hogan, 25, both of whom had immigrated to Boston from Prince Edward Island.
The photograph shows the house in its original position at the back of a large lot facing Howard Avenue, with a front yard sloping down to the street. The screenshot from Google Street View shows the house today. Sometime between 1889 and 1894, the house was moved closer to Hartford Street and turned so that the entrance faces Hartford Street. The large yard was subdivided, and four houses were built between Sharp’s house and Howard Avenue. Two houses were built facing Hartford Street and two facing Howard Avenue. The address of the house in the photo is now 6 Hartford St. The house has been altered. Its front façade has a different window pattern on the second floor, and a one-story addition has been added to the front.
Edward Mitchell Bannister was born in 1828, in New Brunswick, Canada. He was among the first Black Americans to win major recognition as an artist.
In the 1840s, Bannister moved to Boston, where he studied at the Lowell Institute. In the late 1860s, he married and moved to Providence, Rhode Island. When he won first prize in landscape painting at the Philadelphia Exposition of 1876, it caused a sensation.
Bannister painted the landscape in today’s illustration in 1856. He used artistic license to not include the bridge in his painting. The bridge can be seen in the middle image in today’s illustration, published in “Ballou’s Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion,” 1855. The Old Colony Railroad came to Dorchester in the 1840s, and the bridge between Savin Hill and Commercial Point is clearly seen in the 1850 map of Dorchester.
Dorchester Illustration 2701 Dorchester and Milton Bank Robbery 1850
In July 1850, “The Bankers’ Magazine and Statistical Register” reported on a theft at the Dorchester and Milton Bank at Lower Mills. “The first door of the vault has four locks, which had apparently been opened without force; the second had two locks, with a strong band of iron covering the key-holes, and fastened with a stout padlock. The villains must have opened the padlock with false keys, removed the iron band, and finding that their instruments were not calculated for the work of opening the door, inserted gunpowder in each of the keyholes, and blew off the locks. The banking room is in the second story of the building, the lower part being occupied as a store, by Mr. J. Brewer. The cashier of the bank, Mr. E. J. Bispham, resides in the same building.”
In 1850, the Dorchester and Milton Bank was located approximately where the driveway for the Dolan Funeral Home is located today, on Washington Street at the intersection with River Street. A photograph of the building from the early 20th century is today’s image. Notorious thief, Jack Wade, led the authorities on a chase across the eastern United States, continuing to pull off bank heists. When Wade was apprehended in September 1850, he was taken to the Dedham jail. He admitted that he had hidden some of the money in South Boston. Nine or ten thousand dollars was recovered. In January 1851, Wade was sentenced to the State Prison for sixteen years for robbing the Dorchester and Milton Bank of about $32,000.
A list of stolen bills is the below the image of the building in today’s post, compiled by E. J. Bispham, the bank cashier.
In “Good Old Dorchester,” author William Dana Orcutt states, “The town did not enjoy the luxury of a bank until 1832, when the “Dorchester and Milton Bank” was incorporated, with Moses Whitney, for its first president. In 1850 the name of the bank was changed to the “Blue Hill Bank,” owing to the loss of some $32,000 by theft.”
Captain Ezra H. Baker (1811-1876) owned about 12 acres of land on Pleasant Street, between Stoughton Street and Cottage Street. Today’s illustration shows his land shaded in tan, taken from the 1874 Hopkins Atlas of Dorchester.
Earlier in the eighteenth century, the land was owned by William Allen and became known as Allen’s Plain. Allen lost the property in a court judgment, and after a few owners, it was acquired in 1816, by Sarah Wentworth Morton, a celebrated poet. She and her husband, Perez, had owned a mansion on Dudley Street, and they down-sized to this property. The location of the house is shown on the map within a red circle. Wentworth Morton sold the land to William Swan in 1841. After a few more owners, it was bought by Ezra Baker in 1868.
Baker began his seafaring life with his father at the age of ten, and at the age of sixteen was put in charge of a schooner and sent to the coast of Maine to buy a cargo of lumber. He continued his career as a merchant seaman, buying and selling his own cargoes, until 1838, when he moved to Boston and entered into partnership with Alpheus Hardy, of Chatham, under the firm name of Hardy & Baker. In 1845, Charles J. Morrill, of Boston, became a member of the firm, which was then known as Hardy, Baker & Morrill. In 1848, Hardy withdrew from the business, which was thereafter known as Baker & Morrill.
Under its several names, the firm was actively engaged in many branches of foreign and domestic shipping trade and owned a considerable number of ships. The firm entered into trade with the East Indies, China, South America, San Francisco, and Mediterranean ports. As the shipping business gradually declined, the firm disposed of its vessels and became interested in several of the pioneer western railroads, notably the Union Pacific, of which Baker was a director at the time of his death, in 1876.
Baker’s Dorchester property was not his principal residence. He lived at 413 Broadway in South Boston. In 1890, the surviving Baker heirs set up a trust, called the Baker Farm Associates, the purpose of which was to develop or sell the Baker farmland in Dorchester.
Dorchester Illustration 2699 Chocolate at the Holidays
The Walter Baker chocolate company encouraged potential customers to enjoy the holiday season in this advertisement in Cosmopolitan Magazine, December 1919.
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