Dorchester Illustration no. 2271 Sally Baker House, Savin Hill
Sally Baker lived on Savin Hill Avenue, the part of Savin Hill Avenue that circles the north side of the Hill, nearly opposite Savin Hill Court.
Sarah Baker was a member of the First Methodist Episcopal Church near Lower Mills from early years until her death in 1866. She lived next to that church for a long time, finally moving to her early home at Savin Hill. Miss Baker conducted a band-box business for forty years, and when she had gathered $5,000, she invested the money. She left this investment in her will so that at the end of twenty years, the money would be given to the Methodist Church to build a new house of worship within three-fourths of a mile from her Savin Hill home. The money became available in 1886, at which time no church existed within the required limit.
In March, 1876, Rev. W. G. Leonard was employed by the Boston Sunday School and City Missionary Society to organize a Sunday School in the part of the city called Mount Pleasant. For that purpose he leased the old Governor Eustis House on Shirley Street. In August 1876 a lot on Howard Avenue was leased and a Chapel building was begun. On October 30th Rev. David Sherman, Presiding Elder of the Boston District, organized a Methodist Episcopal Church. The chapel was finished and dedicated in November.
In 1899 the Trustees of the New England Conference asked the Mount Pleasant Methodist Episcopal Church on Howard Avenue, Roxbury, to disband and add the proceeds of the sale of its property to the Baker estate. The church was reorganized at Upham’s Corner, and its first meetings were held in Winthrop Hall opposite the site of the proposed church. The Baker Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church was located at the corner of Columbia Road and Cushing Avenue. The site chosen was found to be nineteen feet outside the required limit, and special permission was obtained from the Court to use the Baker bequest. The money had grown to $22,642, and it contributed substantially to the construction of the Baker Memorial Church, which opened in June, 1891. The site is now a vacant lot at the corner of Columbia Road and Cushing Avenue next to the bank building.