Dorchester Illustration no. 2366 Elsmere Hotel
On April 19, 2018, Anita Danker shared her memories of the house at 3 Mill Street in an article “My First Home: Life in the Big House.” Her story is about her family’s experience in the 20th century.
http://realestate.boston.com/my-first-home/2018/04/19/my-first-home-life-in-the-big-house/
The property was later sold for re-development; a fire destroyed the house; and now there are townhouses on the site.
Here is the back story:
Luther Briggs Jr. designed the home in the Italianate style with a mansard roof and cupola for Francis J. Humphrey. Francis had purchased the property from Benjamin and Anna Cushing on May 6, 1857 (Norfolk Registry of Deeds Book 255, Page 81). The house was built in the late 1860s; it appears on a list of buildings Brigg published Dec. 31, 1869.
The 1868 Dorchester Directory (available on Ancestry.com) shows Francis J. Humphrey on Mill Street. The 1870 Boston Directory has Francis J. Humphrey with home address Everett, cor. Mill, wd. 16. The Directory does not show a profession for him. The house outline appears on the map of Commercial Point and Neponset in the 1874 atlas. The property ran from Commercial Street (now Freeport) to Everett Street Mill Street, and the house sat in the middle of the property facing Mill Street.
Francis was married to Susan R. D. Charter on May 24, 1852, but she lived in the new home for only a few years. She died July 5, 1875. Susan appears to have been the first woman to operate a commercial photographic studio in Boston and probably in Massachusetts, beginning in 1844 prior to her marriage. Her daguerrian gallery became the seventh operating in the city during that year.
The 1880 census notes that Francis was a retired merchant. He died in 1882.
The property was obtained by the Gleason family, but they owned the property only a short time. The next owner of the house was Esther D. Robbins who appears in the 1889 map. She turned the house into a seaside hotel. The 1894 map shows she was still the owner along with the caption Elsmere House. There was an out-building serving as a meeting hall called Elsmere Hall. The Dorchester Yacht Club was located across Commercial Street next to the bay .
The 1898 map shows the owner at that time was James L. Simonds still with the caption Elsmere House. Simonds was listed in the 1899 Boston Directory as being in real estate on Shawmut Avenue while living on Everett Street, Dorchester. The hotel continued even after Simonds’ death, and the 1910 atlas shows it was owned by his heirs. The 1918 map shows the house was owned by Grazio DePino and others, but the lot had been subdivided for 4 house lots to the right next to Freeport Street and 6 house lots to the left facing Everett and Mill Streets. There is no indication that the house was still a hotel. However the 1933 map shows the house labeled Elsmere House with owner Michael C. Sarnie.
Sources:
Ancestry.com
Polito, Ron. “One and the Same? Miss S.R. Charter, Boston’s First Female Daguerrotypist 1844-1849; & Susan R.D. (Charter) Humphrey, Patrician’s Wife.” The Daguerreian Annual (2005) p. 27-85.