Dorchester Illustration 2711 Charles A. Ufford
Charles Augustus Ufford was born on Aug. 29, 1856, to Samuel N. Ufford and Mary E. Ufford. At that time, his father, Samuel, and his uncle, Hezekiah, were operating a stove and lamp business in Boston. In the late 1870s, both his father and uncle began to operate separate wire-form businesses in Boston. One of Samuel’s products was a dress form as pictured in the company’s advertisement shown in today’s illustration. At 24 years of age, Charles was listed in the Boston Directory as a partner in his father’s business for the first time in 1880. The factory was located in Dorchester.
In the early 1870s, Samuel Ufford built a large double house at 240 Norfolk St. Charles Ufford lived in that house for the rest of his life.
Charles Ufford is considered the father of the legislation that established rapid transit service for Dorchester. Starting in 1900, Ufford, almost by himself, promoted the idea for rapid transit for Dorchester. For years, he addressed various groups using a “magic lantern” (an early slide projector) and a collection of slides. At first, he thought there should be a connection between the Shawmut Branch (now the T with stops at Fields Corner, Shawmut, Ashmont) and the Midland Division of the New Haven Railroad at Mattapan (commuter rail). Later, his plan was to bring rapid transit to Dorchester along the line of the Old Colony Railroad. In 1927, after the successful passage of legislation that brought the red line to Dorchester, he was a passenger on the trial train that rode out of Andrew Square to Fields Corner.
Ufford died at the age of 73 in 1929.
Sources: The Boston Directory; The Boston Globe, March 9, 1923; November 3, 1927; October 10, 1929