Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1556
Much of the following information comes from Our Family Portraiture, a privately-printed book produced by the descendants of the Dorchester Bethmanns.
13 Carruth Street, otherwise known as the Beehive, was built for Miss Frieda Bethmann in 1895. Frieda had come to the United States at the age of four, in 1872 with her family. Her father was a civil engineer at the Standard Sugar Refinery. Her mother owned the house at 31 Bushnell Street beginning some time between 1889 and 1984.
Her mother Emilie was actively involved in extending the number of free English-speaking kindergarten schools in Boston. She became the principal of the Julia Ward Howe Kindergarten School, bringing Frieda in as her assistant. Frieda became principal of the Thomas N. Hart Kindergarten School. Due to their interest in education, they became familiar with others in the field including Frances Folsom Cleveland, the wife of the US President. The Clevelands chose Frieda to become the kindergarten instructor for their daughters Ruth and Esther at the White House, and in 1896 the Boston School Committee granted Frieda a leave of absence. This was during Cleveland’s second term.
When she returned to Boston, she lived at the Beehive as her primary residence. The Bethmann family symbol is the bee, and the original door knocker had an image of a beehive with 13 bees. The family used the Beehive motif on furniture, linens and jewelry. However, folklore has it that the name was bestowed on the house due to the buzz of people and activity that occurred there.
The house originally had a gambrel roof with a dormer on the south side. The family has before and after photos of the house, both dated 1898. Today we have a scan of their before photo and a photo taken yesterday of the house as it appears after the roof was replaced in 1898. A sun porch was added to the left side of the house, and the roof was remade, leaving the peak at the same place. This required a long sweep down on the left side to cover the porch. The Boston Landmarks description includes the sentence: “Situated off the main entrance hall, a sun porch like this speaks to upper- middle class Americans’ discovery of a less formal way of living during the 1890’s.”
A photograph of a cemetery stone available on the internet indicates that mother and daughter are buried in Lewis County, Idaho. There must be a story waiting to be told of how they left Boston and traveled west and why.
______
The Dorchester Illustration of the Day (DIOTD) is sent weekdays. If you receive this e-mail by mistake, please reply to be taken off the e-mail list. If you know others who would like to receive the daily e-mail, please encourage them to join the group by going to http://groups.google.com/group/dorchester-historical-society. You may contact Earl Taylor at ERMMWWT@aol.com
If you value receiving the DIOTD, please express your appreciation by making a donation to the Dorchester Historical Society, either by regular mail at 195 Boston Street, Dorchester, MA 02125, or through the website at www.DorchesterHistoricalSociety.org