Last week’s illustration about Abraham Lincoln and other presidents’ visits to Dorchester brought in some questions about visits by even more presidents. Today’s illustration shows the Walter Baker mansion Washington Street (top) and the Harrison Square depot on the Old Colony Railroad (Park Street where the road passes underneath the rail line).
Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe visited Colonel Benjamin Hichborn when they came to Boston. He lived on Washington Street in Dorchester in the mansion that was later owned by Walter Baker. Surely, John Quincy Adams would have at least traveled through Dorchester. The name Harrison Square commemorates William Henry Harrison’s visit to Dorchester during the presidential campaign of 1840. John F. Kennedy played tennis at his grandparents’ house on Welles Avenue and, in 1962, during his term as President, he came to Dorchester to visit his grandmother, Mary Fitzgerald. George H. W. Bush was born in Milton, so it is likely he visited Dorchester. Bill Clinton visited the Eire Pub in 1992 among other visits to UMass Boston. George W. Bush debated Al Gore in the presidential debate at UMass Boston, in October 2000. Joe Biden spoke to striking Stop & Shop Workers at the South Bay shopping center in 2019.
Between last week and this week, the total list so far includes:
George Washington
Thomas Jefferson
John Adams
James Monroe
William Henry Harrison
Abraham Lincoln
John F. Kennedy
Ronald Reagan
George H. W. Bush
Bill Clinton
George W. Bush
Barack Obama
There may be others.