Postcards came into their greatest era of popularity just after the turn of the 20th century. Soon, homeowners were having photos of their homes made into postcards.
Today we have a postcard written in October 1906 by Florence Collins of 98 Centre Street, explaining that she has been ill with a fever and cold and that she has been confined to eating broths and would like to get back to solid food. The doctor even recommended that she might want to take a trip to warm Jamaica in January. The recent photo of the house shows how enclosing the porches and applying siding have hidden the original features of the design.
The house at 98 Centre Street was built in 1896. Florence and her husband, John, were both born in Maine and were married there in 1887. They came to the Boston area in the 1890s, living first in Quincy then in Roxbury. They bought the house at 98 Centre Street in 1898 and moved in right away. They lived on Centre Street until they bought 41 Tremlett Street and move there in 1909.
Doctor Ethelene Whitmire, from the University of Wisconsin, has brought to our attention some information about a Dorchester resident, Reed Edwin Peggram.
Previously unknown to us, Peggram’s grandmother worked in the kitchen of the William Clapp House during the period 1900 to 1930, and Frank Clapp wrote a letter of recommendation for Reed Peggram’s application to enter Harvard College. One of the Internet entries about Peggram is titled “The Gay Black American Who Stared Down Nazis in the Name of Love.” It can be found at this link:
Reed Edwin Peggram was born in Dorchester on July 26, 1914, and died here on April 20, 1982. He was an American scholar, translator, and teacher of linguistics. He is also known for his survival of Nazi imprisonment during World War II.
Reed’s parents came to Dorchester from Virginia. Peggram’s mother was a housewife, and after World War I, his father, was sent to a hospital in Virginia for long term recovery after an injury from his military service in the war. His parents divorced, and Reed’s mother married a man with the last name Farrar. The couple moved to New Jersey. Reed remained in Dorchester under the care are of his grandmother, Mrs. Laura Reed, who worked as a school custodian and as day help for private families.
Although neither of his parents graduated from college, Peggram was a successful scholar. He attended the Boston Latin School, graduating in 1931. His main interests were in literature, languages, and dramatics. During his time in school, he also enjoyed participating in track, in Dramatic Club, and in tutoring French and Latin. He earned honors in many of his courses, including Elementary Latin, French, and German as well as Advanced Latin, and he received several awards.
Reed attended Harvard College from 1931 to 1935, graduating magna cum laude with his Bachelor of Arts in Romance languages and literature in the department of Romance philology. Peggram received his master’s degree in comparative literature from Harvard University in 1936. He was a a Graduate Residence Fellow in comparative literature at Columbia University from 1936 to 1937, returning to Harvard in1937 to pursue his PhD in comparative literature.
In 1938, Peggram received the John Harvard Fellowship in 1938 and the Julius Rosenwald Fellowship to study abroad at the University of Paris. While in Paris, he met Gerdh Hauptmann of Copenhagen, Denmark, another scholar who studied fine arts and painting. Reed and Gerdh went together in 1939 to study at the University of Copenhagen
Peggram and Hauptmann formed a strong relationship and wanted to leave for America together. Unfortunately, these plans were delayed first by financial limitations and later by the German occupation of Denmark. Peggram and Hauptmann fled to France and eventually settled in Italy.
The two men were captured in 1941 by Nazis and imprisoned in the Bagni Di Lucca concentration camp near Pistola, Italy. During this time, Peggram had the chance to return to the United States, and Hauptmann was offered work under German occupation. Yet, both men refused these opportunities, as they were not willing to separate from one another, resulting in death sentences and imprisonment. They spent two years in German and Italian concentration camps, during which military personnel confiscated their documentation papers. Eventually, both Peggram and Hauptmann escaped prison, facing harsh conditions and machine gun fire along their journey. The pair found safety with the 92nd Infantry Division in Italy. Unfortunately, because neither of them had their identification documents, Peggram and Hauptmann were delayed in relocating. Their time in Nazi imprisonment left both men to suffer from nervous breakdowns and mental health problems. After his freedom, Peggram received four years of treatment for his mental health issues.
After seven years abroad, Peggram travelled back to the United States to work as a translator and a teacher. Living in his home town of Dorchester in Boston, Massachusetts, he spent his time working, expanding his language skills, and singing in Episcopal Church choirs Peggram never married and was childless. However, several personal letters to his Harvard colleague, Leonard Bernstein, and private accounts indicate he was homosexual and likely had a romantic relationship with Gerdh Hauptmann during their time together.
Reed Edwin Peggram died on April 20, 1982, in Dorchester, Massachusetts, at the age of 67. He was retired at the time of his death.
Carole Mooney has provided the content for today’s message.
The advertising card in the illustration has a tiny chain attached on the back above the figure’s nose and below the chin which can be shaped into a smile, grimace or other configuration.
The card was printed in the mid 20th century by the L.H. Daloz Co, Inc., Cleanser & Textile Consultants, which was located at 10 Humphreys Street in Dorchester, a building now occupied by an artists’ cooperative.
Several creative advertising promotions are included in a recent large donation of the firm’s records and related items by Daloz family members. A booklet printed in September 1947 titled, “Another Brief Historical Sketch of Medieval Cleaning,” describes how early traders travelled through Spain and later France with their dyeing and cleaning equipment. According to another flier, the “knowledge, experience and care necessary to the operation of a successful dyeing department have been accumulated through four generations of the Daloz family.”
Daloz could dye everything from the most delicate laces to rugs weighing a ton or more, according to their advertising. Services included the cleaning, repairing or mothproofing of items such as curtains, tapestries, blankets, draperies, clothing and laces. The firm distributed fliers on the storage of fabrics, rug cleaning, moth proofing and the history of hats.
These records provide a window into the growth and operation of a successful Dorchester business in the 20th century. Volunteers at the Dorchester Historical Society not only enter new acquisitions into an electronic data base but are also working through the archives to make the entire DHS collection available electronically.
More information about Daloz and photographs are available at dorchesterhistoricalsociety.org under “blog” Dorchester Illustration 2526 posted on Aug. 15, 2021 and also at www.dorchesteratheneum.org by using the search function (magnifying glass) to search for the word daloz.
The stairway that leads from Hancock Street to Downer Avenue on Jones Hill contain more that 100 steps. The concrete stairway replaced a wooden stairway, pictured as the lower image in today’s illustration. The photograph of the wooden stairway was taken between 1918 and 1926.
In 1936, Jack Frost described the steps in the Boston Herald:
The Longest Wooden Stairway in Boston
The fatigue inspiring stairway shown in the sketch connects Hancock Street and Downer Avenue in Dorchester on Jones Hill. There are more than a hundred steps and thirteen landings. The granite wall shown in the foreground was built by the PWA. The three family houses are common to the hill. The building part way up the steps is a dance hall, well known in Dorchester. After the city had been scoured pretty thoroughly, these Jones Hill steps were the longest wooden ones found—and wooden steps are not as abundant today as they once were.
The dance hall mentioned in Jack Frost’s description was the Jacqueminot Bungalow at 136 Hancock Street, apparently legally part of 134 Hancock Street (the three-decker in the photo). In 1922, the building department reported the capacity of the function hall as 223.
Although Franklin Park is technically on the edge of Dorchester and not part of Dorchester’s historical territory, the park feels as if it is home.
Franklin Park Zoo comprises 72 acres within Franklin Park. When Frederick Law Olmsted designed the park, he included the idea for a future zoological garden, intended to be a naturalistic area for native animals. However, when the zoo was opened in 1912, it included many exotic animals in addition to ative species. The zoo has evolved over the years and is now accredited by the American Association of Zoological Parks and Aquariums.
Dorchester Illustration 2597 Fields Corner Municipal Building
From the National Register nomination::
Visible from the Fields Corner intersection, looking northwestward along Adams Street is the architecturally significant, High Victorian Gothic Municipal Building at 1 Arcadia Street and 193 Adams Street. This 3.5 story H-shaped building is constructed of red brick with granite trimmings, its roof line characterized by a series of steeply pitched gables. Built as Police Station #1 ca. 1875, this building is one of the most important landmark buildings in the area.
Additionally, the building is an example of the work of Boston’s first City Architect, George A. Clough, and is significant for its role in community development. Although the building permits and records no longer exist for the Municipal Building, it is generally thought that Clough (l843-ca. 1916) – who began designing schools for the City in 1872 and became the first City Architect in 1873 – is the building’s architect. Clough learned drafting from his father, who was a Maine shipbuilder, and studied under George Snell of the Boston firm of Snell & Gregerson. He opened his own firm in 1869.
Clough’s most prominent buildings are the Suffolk County Courthouse in Pemberton Square 1888-89) and Boston Latin and English High School (l877). He worked in a number of eclectic styles and is credited with introducing “the German system, which provides for constructing the building around open courts, thus affording ample light and ventilation to all parts of it…” Although not built around an open court as were the Courthouse and High School, the Municipal Building does provide generous 1ight and ventilation through its H-p1an and paired fenestration. Symmetry and balance — of plan, scale, and massing — also characterize most of Clough’s work. George Clough is credited with designing over 25 schools for the City of Boston, several local churches, and numerous other municipal buildings and public charitable institutions in the Boston area.
Besides being significant for its architectural merit and association with the first City Architect, the Municipal Building is important for its strong community identity and for its contribution to the civic and cultural history of Dorchester. The building was originally constructed as a replacement for the old District 11 Police Station that was located on Hancock Street. The eastern wing of the Municipal Building, facing Adams Street, housed the new police station, with jail cells (still remaining) in the basement. The rear (western) wing was designed as the Dorchester branch of the Boston Public Library, the first such branch system in the United States. The building also served for a time as a district court.
This information about Colonel Charles Barnard Fox comes from http://foresthillstrust.blogspot.com/2010/11/colonel-charles-barnard-fox.html
With the sensationalism garnered in the movie “Glory,” we reveled in the drama and impact of the Civil War however it also served to remind us of why that war was fought. The 54th Regiment, led by Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, was the first African American regiment formed in Massachusetts, yet few of us realize that the all black 55th Regiment was led by a Dorchester, Massachusetts resident. Charles Barnard Fox (1833-1895) was the son of the Reverend Thomas B. Fox, editor of the “Boston Transcript.” He had been born in Newburyport while his father had been minister of the Unitarian church in that town, but the family moved to Dorchester in 1845. Educated in the local schools, Fox studied, then entered the field of civil engineering. His brother, the noted architect John A. Fox, was also a civil engineer and considered the “Father of Stick Style” architecture in this country.
Fox had enlisted in the Civil War at Lyceum Hall on Dorchester’s Meeting House Hill, which was the local recruiting office. He received his commission as Second Lieutenant in the Thirteenth Massachusetts Infantry; one year later he was made First Lieutenant. In 1863, he was transferred to the Second Massachusetts Cavalry, with the same rank. That same year he was made Major of the 55th Regiment, an African American regiment, being promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel on November 3, 1863. The 55th Regiment had been trained at Camp Meigs, and was composed of African American men who had everything at stake in the war. Fox, with his fellow officers, were well trained, and were to be commended for their service. In Fox’s obituary, it was quoted as saying that “It was abundantly shown in his long and meritorious service in the army during the civil war, and especially in his readiness to enter a branch of the service that was not regarded with favor even by many who in theory favored perfect equality between races, and which was not calculated to attract the young soldier powerfully, in comparison with the more popular and agreeable positions in white regiments. But Colonel Fox believed in the equality of the black men with the white, and whatever he believed he lived up to, and the relations which existed between him and the colored soldiers in his command were ever the most intimate and mutually regardful nature.”
Fox was reared in the Unitarian faith, and upon the family’s removal in 1845 to Dorchester, they became connected with the First Parish Church on Meeting House Hill. The minister was the Reverend Nathaniel Hall, a fierce anti-slavery opponent who expounded upon the evils of both slavery and the subjugation of blacks in the South. His sermons, many of which were published for a more general readership, were vociferous and pointed in his belief that slavery was immoral, and could only be abolished through the war. Thomas B. Fox was undoubtedly influenced by Hall, and by his own father’s opinion, which was quite often read in the daily editions of the “Boston Transcript.”
Charles Barnard Fox served in the Army of the Potomac until after the Battle of Fredericksburg, in the Siege of Charleston and in the Campaign in Florida, the Battle of Honey Hill being particularly gruesome. His record of bravery and courage was made known when he was made brevet Colonel of the 55th Regiment; he resigned his commission on June 25, 1865 at the end of the Civil War and decided to remain in the South. For three years after the war, Fox managed a cotton plantation on Sea Island off the coast of South Carolina, it was not until 1868 that he returned to Boston, becoming an inspector at the Boston Customs House. In partnership with his brother and his friends, he assisted in the establishment of Holbrook & Fox, a real estate and land auction house in Boston. It was his friend Silas Pinckney Holbrook and his brother John Andrews Fox who created the partnership. The firm of Holbrook & Fox was one of the leading firms of its kind in New England and was well respected for the development of the real estate market in the late 19th century. Fox married and built a home, designed by his architect brother, on Fuller Street in Dorchester. His connection with the development of the old farms and estates of Dorchester continued until his untimely death in 1895.
The contributions of Colonel Charles Barnard Fox in regards to the Civil War were important enough to have his convictions and personal beliefs supersede his comfort. He served his all black 55th Regiment well, and earned their respect with the title of colonel by brevet, and honor that few officers received for their service in the Civil War.
Colonel Thomas Barnard Fox is buried in the Fox Family Lot at Forest Hills Cemetery.
Dorchester Illustration 2595 Archibald T. Davison, Jr.
Archibald Thompson Davison (11 October 1883 – 6 February 1961) was an American musicologist, conductor, composer and music educator.
Davison lived with his parents and siblings at 394 Washington Street, Dorchester. His father was a doctor as was one of his brothers.
Dr. Archibald T. Davison (a Dorchester native) left his position as Organist & Choirmaster at All Saints, Ashmont, to take the post of University Organist and Choirmaster at Harvard. He coached the Harvard Glee Club in the 19 teens and became its first conductor. The Club under his direction, from 1920 to 1933, came to be regarded as the best amateur chorus in the United States.
Davison completed his studies in music at Harvard University, where he was awarded a PhD in 1908. He is best remembered for his work as co-editor of the two volumes of The Historical Anthology of Music, along with Willi Appel.
He taught at Harvard for forty-one years
His compositions were completed early in life, and none of them are part of the standard repertoire.
His musicology writings include:
The Harmonic Contributions of Claude Debussy, 1908
Choral Conducting, 1940
The Technique of Choral Composition, 1945
The Historical Anthology of Music Volume I: Oriental, Medieval and Renaissance Music, 1949
The Historical Anthology of Music Volume II: Baroque, Rococo and Pre-Classical Music, 1950
For a much longer description of Davison’s life, check out his obituary in the Harvard Crimson.
Dorchester Illustration 2594 McCreight Home Sanatarium
In 1887, Mary B. McCreight immigrated to the United States from Ireland. By 1902, she was renting 58 Bowdoin Avenue and running a hospital. In 1908, she purchased the property. Two years later, she expanded to the property next door at 56 Bowdoin Avenue and operated the two houses as a hospital.
She had capacity for taking in tuberlosis patients, but from Census records, it appears that in later years, the facility catered mostly to the elderly. In 1910, she had a staff of five besides herself. She had a lodger and eleven patients. Some of her patients stayed for years. At its peak, her business had 40 beds.
Mary died in 1948.
The houses were taken down in the mid-20th century and replaced by the multi-unit building seen in the lower half of the illustration.
Dorchester Illustration 2593 Treasures Along the Neponset River Trail
Treasures Along the Neponset River Trail contributed by Carole Mooney
Birds and animals including eagles, hawks, heron, ducks, geese, crows, turkeys, deer and rabbits attract the attention of visitors to the Neponset River Trail as well as sunsets over the waving marsh grass and colorful murals under bridges. Reminders of the area’s rich heritage serve as a backdrop for many scenes. In the photograph, ducks and a heron relax on a strip of granite in the river which reflects the Baker Chocolate Company buildings.
The falling waters of the Neponset River provided energy for the country’s first water-powered grist mill and paper mills in the Lower Mills area. Buildings constructed by the Walter Baker Company from 1868 and 1947 border both sides of the river. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, the brick buildings reflect styles from the Second Empire, Queen Anne, Romanesque Revival and Utilitarian Modern.
In 1846, the 3 1/4 mile Dorchester and Milton Branch Railroad was built between Port Norfolk and present day Mattapan Square. In 1899, the recently established Metropolitan District Commission (MDC) acquired 232 acres for the Neponset River Marshes Reservation. In 1990 the rails were removed from the Dorchester and Milton Branch Railway and two years later the MDC acquired the right-of-way to link the former drive-in and dump site parkland in Dorchester Bay with the Neponset marshes. In 2003, 2.4 miles of the Lower Neponset River Trail opened.
Along the trail, outcroppings of conglomerate contain pebbles of older rock that became rounded as they tumbled along the river bed. Because the small andesite pebbles in the compressed silt resembled an old fashioned fruit filled pudding, they were nicknamed Roxbury Puddingstone which became the Massachusetts State Rock in 1983. Found only in the Boston basin, Roxbury Puddingstone has been along the trail for millions of years. Poet Oliver Wendell Holmes described the children of giants who didn’t like their pudding creating the rocks:
“They flung it over the Roxbury Hills,
They flung it over the plain,
And all over Milton and Dorchester too
Great lumps of pudding the giants threw;”
At the eastern end of the trail, lines of pilings which once supported the wharf and dock for the A.T. Stearns Lumber Company rise out of the river. Stearns operated here from 1847 well into the 1900’s with two counting rooms, a lumber building, a planing mill, a dry-house, a molding room, a block of five tenements, two stables and a large shed. The Senator Joseph Finnegan Park now occupies this space. Moldings, columns, windows, doors and other architectural features manufactured here are still part of the fabric of older Dorchester homes.
The trail is easily accessible by public transportation from the red line’s Ashmont station. The Mattapan High Speed Trolley’s stops along the Neponset Trail include Butler, Milton and Central Avenue.
